The Whistling Kettle

The other night we were at a tea tasting and the 3 year old in the group ordered this (as she wasn’t going to enjoy the “grown-up” tea, so she said). Well, let me tell you all the “grown ups” wanted her tea when it arrived. They even added the steamed milk to it for her. It smelled so good I got 4oz. to go.

This decaf chai is great for evening sipping and awesome with milk (steamed or not). Today I’m drinking it straight and I must say there is no need to add extra sweetener to it. This is one of the more cinnamon flavored chai teas I’ve ever had, but it is mighty tasty! I’m glad the little miss ordered it Friday night!

This tea is so comforting. yum. I need to try more Milk Oolongs but everytime I think about trying another milk oolong sample, I just keep making this one instead. haha.

Yum! I’ve been looking for a caffeine free evening tea to replace my sweet snacking and this my friends is it (well, one of two)! Sweet and full of chocolate flavor with a hint of cake. This is one yummy cup of early evening tea (today). I’m really glad I saw it on the menu last night! Even happier that the Mister didn’t bat an eye at all the tea I purchased!

I’ve been drinking tea my whole life yet there are teas I try for the first time and just get blown away. And it reminds me that I still have a lot to learn about tea and many more to try.

Thank-you Emily M for this wonderful sample. The dry leaf is so buttery and milky. I noticed you double bagged this one, I can see why. This tea is so heavenly and delicious. Nice milky texture and buttery aftertaste. It feels thick and has a nice mouth feel. I need to taste more Milk Oolongs to compare but this is a new favorite for sure.

I got this tea in my very first tea swap from EmilyM. I’m not a huge white tea fan, but the champagne part sounded interesting. I enjoyed this tea enough, but it was a little too perfumey for me. The champagne aftertaste was pretty cool though! Now I need someone to make me a Northwest Pale Ale tea. That would be the ultimate!

2 cups today! See other notes!

Backlogging and sample sipdown! Going to keep this one brief…

This one smells a lot like maple, with hints of vanilla/cream and the black tea base.

Taste wise, this one was nice. It wasn’t WOW!, but it was smooth and tastey (which is sometimes all I’m looking for). The maple was probably the strongest flavor, followed by the black tea base, with just a hint of vanilla/cream throughout the sip. There is also a slight floral aspect to the cup. I think this would be a nice fall tea. Sweet, smooth, and warming. I’d try it again, but it’s not a cupboard staple. Maybe some cinnamon would make this a little more interesting?

NOTE: This one gets bitter very easily. The recommended steep time of 4 minutes is a bit high for my tastes.

Sample sipdown, backlogging from last night.

Dry Leaf: Very strong lemon aspects, with a nice balanced ginger component. There is an incredible sweetness, here. And pineapple? Yes, that’s what that is. This smells absolutely delicious! It reminds me of those lemon ginger hard candies…if anyone knows what I’m talking about.

Brewed: Once again, ginger and lemon, with the ginger just a tad more pronounced now. I’m also still picking up the pineapple scent, though it’s subtle. There is also a bit of a floral smell to this now.

Taste: Nice, balanced ginger and lemon notes! Neither is overpowering, which is awesome. When I saw ginger, I was expecting it to be really spicy, as it has the tendency to do. Glad this was not the case. Just as with the smell, there is also a slight floral aspect peeking through. This too is balanced. This is a sweet, slightly spicy, relaxing brew.

Overall, I really liked this one. I think it would make a great “sick” tea, or just a nice “unwinding” agent. In fact, I found it made me so relaxed I said “screw you” to homework and fell asleep!

Ok. So I think this tea has been discontinued, as I can’t find it or any information about it on the Whistling Kettle’s website. I’ve had this one for about 6 months…

Smell: The dry leaves smell like mandarin oranges and a grassy green tea. Once brewed the mandarin stays present, but the grassy smell fades. Instead, it is replaced by the fruity, unique smell of lychee! Yum! (That’s what prompted me to have this one. I was dog-sitting at my neighbors house tonight, and he and his girlfriend left all kinds of Chinese teas out for me to try. They had a lychee black that I made tonight, and it was amazing. Now I just have to find the company/name of the tea…I’ll have to rummage the cupboards tomorrow and see if they still have the bag. Anyway, side note over. Back to the actual tea I’m reviewing). Anyway, this tea smells sweet, fruity, and citrus-y. =)

Taste: What I’m getting in the taste is about 60% Lychee, 30% mandarin, and 10% green tea base. The lychee and the mandarin work very well together in this tea, and the green tea base adds a nice sweet/grassy note. The green tea base seems to like to hover at the end of the sip, while the other two flavors meld together throughout. There is no bitterness, as well. Big plus! As for the bamboo…I don’t really know what it tastes like, so I wouldn’t be able to tell you if it was present.

Overall, I like this one. If they ever get it back (maybe it was a summer/seasonal blend?) I’d probably consider it again. Not an all time favorite, but not something I wouldn’t buy again either. Somewhere in between.

Got this as a sample, but there was no description and no instructions on the bag. It just said in handwriting “Fancy Japanese Sencha”, so I went with it. Steeped it about two and a half minutes with 175 degree water.

Dry, this tea smells slightly sweet and mainly grassy.
Once brewed it smells much the same, but the sweetness is a bit more detectable. There is also a vegetal scent on top of the grassy scent.

Taste: Well, it’s a tad bit bitter, so I may have brewed this one a little too long (or it could be an old sample), but I’m definitely picking up other flavors, so it’s not a loss. It’s slightly buttery, with a grassy flavor (not too strong, but it’s the most prominent). There is a sweetness to it as well as a light vegetal character. Overall, not bad. I’d definitely try another sencha sometime, but this one isn’t one I’d keep stocked. Could’ve been worse, could’ve (I think) been better.

NOTE: As the tea cooled more, it got more bitter. Could’ve been my fault, could’ve been the tea (I suspect this is an older sample, as that’s what they tend to send out in their $2 for 6 samples flash sale deals). Not completely sure which. I have a bit of this left, so I’ll give it another go later. For now, I think I’ll withhold the rating.

Sample sipdown!

This one, brewed, smells slightly buttery with strong notes of marigold and vanilla. I’m also picking up some lemon notes. I’m not thrilled on the marigold being so pronounced… but we’ll see.

Taste: I’m definately getting a lot of the floral marigold and vanilla aspects in the taste. There is a slight citrus thing going on as well. There’s a buttery taste in the very beginning of the sip that disappears into floral/vanilla very quickly. This is a VERY smooth cuppa, but unfortunately I don’t think it’s for me. It isn’t undrinkable, I just don’t think the flavors are working for me. The vanilla, in my opinion, is a little artificial tasting, even though the ingredients are supposedly natural. Maybe it’s the vanilla and the citrus together that is making me get this taste. Also, the marigold/floral taste is more pronounced than I was expecting. Finally, the creamy taste I was hoping for is limited to the beginning of the sip. While very smooth on the tongue, the flavor just isn’t showing up for me. =(

Overall, it’s not a favorite. I wouldn’t say it’s undrinkable. It just isn’t my cuppa. Vanilla can be hit or miss with me sometimes, so I wouldn’t blame the tea. Maybe if the person really liked vanilla/floral teas and was looking for something smooth they would enjoy this one more than I.

Sample sipdown! Got this one in my last sample package from The Whistling Kettle.

Dry, the tea smells like Mango and Pear, with a bit of earthiness from the Pu-erh.

Once brewed, the tea smells more like strawberry pu-erh with a slight pear undertone. The mango has disappeared, it seems.

Taste: I’m getting mostly strawberry/pu-erh here too. I think the white tea has slightly mellowed out the pu-erh, but it’s not detectable. It’s a tad tart, mildly sweet, and mostly earthy/woodsy. There is a little of the pear taste on the finish of the sip, but I wish it had been more detectable throughout. I find it odd that there is no mango taste here.
As the tea cools down, the fruity taste emerges more and the earthiness tones down. The flavors work alright here, but I don’t see anything really WOW about them. I think there is some room for improvement for this blend.

Overall, this is decent. I don’t think I’d buy it and keep it around, but I was happy I got to try it.

Enjoying this one again this morning as the wind whips around outside. Perfect way to warm up and kick off the rest of my day. A nice blend of maple and taffy that now makes me wish I’d made waffles or pancakes this morning!

Of all the green teas I’ve tried there are a few I actually do enjoy. Gunpowder is one of them. I happened to take a quick inventory before we hit up the Whistling Kettle yesterday and noticed I didn’t have any (I sometimes make up my own Moroccan Mint tea). So I made a note to ask our server about their Gunpowder tea and they only had this one, but she assured me it was good.

Side note…the folks at WK won’t try to sell you something they won’t try themselves. I love that about them! So I picked up a bag of it. I steeped it for two maybe two and a half minutes and wow, very silky and very smooth! I’ve had a gunpowder or two that have been super bitter (even when times right), but this just might be green tea perfection (well next to my favorite green from Verdant – Jinshan). I suspect this will go fast and I will have to pick up more very soon. Oh darn!

Drank this at The Whistling Kettle this afternoon with lunch and fell in love. I tried it without cream and sugar to start. But this tea was WAY better with a little cream and rock sugar. The maple and taffy flavors just popped with the additions. I walked out of there with 4oz. :)

This was also my tea of the evening to enjoy while watching the season finale of Downton Abbey. I won’t say more about the episode. But I will say I enjoyed sipping this through the first hour.

I headed to The Whistling Kettle this afternoon for lunch with some friends and well I can never leave there without picking up a few new to me teas. This was one of them. I was looking for a nice light black tea for the afternoon and I think I found one. There are others, but this is really nice and light. In fact I may brew a pot for the Downton finale tonight!

Ok. So this tea…has a very strong smoke and spice odor. It isn’t what I’d call unpleasant, but it invaded my kitchen after I steeped this tea last night. Got this one as a sample from The Whistling Kettle’s $2 sample flash deal. I was very hesitant about this one… dried corn? I don’t even like corn with my meal, let alone in my tea. But I figured I’d give it a shot. After all, I’ve had teas I thought I’d despise that I actually loved! I didn’t end up loving this one, but I didn’t exactly hate it either. I’m going to give it another go later on this week so I can try and describe it a bit better. Until then, I am also withholding my rating.

For now, I’ll try and describe what I remember from last night. The taste of this tea is interesting and unlike anything I’ve tried up to this point. It’s smokey, with a bit of sweetness (maybe from the corn flavor? or the pink peppercorns?), followed by a mild spice. The main thing I get though is the smokey flavor.
Like I said, I’ll try it again and add more to this once I have it in front of me. Should be much easier than trying to do this now.

No notes yet.

So excited to have caught the flash special at Whistling Kettle on this last week. I only have about enough for 2 more cups. Need to refill :) My love of green tea has grown with this, hojicha and genmaicha. All 3 will always be in my tea cupboard!

Tomorrow, I’m going to my favorite little tea spot for a free class on making your own tea journal. So cool! http://www.facebook.com/events/334497076655599/

Made some of this today, as I’m coming down with a bit of a cold. Figured since this oolong is smooth and has wonderful honey hints already in it, adding honey wouldn’t make it taste strange and I could try to sooth my sore throat. It’s doing wonders right now. And of course, as I’ve stated before, it tastes wonderful. I only added a little honey, as I don’t like my tea super sweet, but this oolong can handle it. Yum.

I did not realize this was a green tea when I bought it and I had been hoping for a black base. Oh well, not a big deal. Just means I’m still on the lookout for a blueberry pie like the Teas, Etc one that is no more.

This isn’t bad, I guess. I didn’t really taste much blueberry to it. honestly I would have guessed apple pie. It has a bit of pie spice kind of flavors, not really sure, but it is definitely sweet. I just don’t know why I wasn’t tasting blueberry very much.

Nice base tea too, last time I had a blueberry green I think it was gunpowder and kind of flat. This one is nice, so I enjoyed the cup anyway!

I am amazed at how much my taste in tea has changed in the last few months. I really enjoy green tea so much. I never thought I liked them. Sometimes quality of tea matters.

This was in a $2 sample pack I got from the Whistling Kettle. Of the six samples they sent, 4 were green. All have been great!

This is my first sencha as far as I know. It’s crisp and grassy. Yum.

Bought a sample size of this one, mostly for my sister who absolutely adores Pu-erh. I’m hit or miss when it comes to them, so I’m wondering how this one will go down. I do have one from Upton that I find particularly good, but it’s not flavored. When I think Pu-erh, I don’t think fruit, so I’m a little hesitant. It definately smells like Pu-erh (dirt, earth), but there is a sweet scent coming through as well. It’s not a bad scent, for sure.
Now for the taste. Interesting. So it’s definately got that typical Pu-erh taste, but I’m also picking up a few extra flavors. The raspberry is there, mixed in with the dirt/earth taste. It makes it a bit sweeter. I also taste the crispness/zest of the orange. The white tea also adds an interesting profile, adding a bit of lightness. It’s also got a bit of a creamy dimension, which is nice. It’s definately not a dense Pu-erh. I’d say it’s light to medium bodied brew. It’s pretty good. My sister is pretty into it, so all in all I’m counting this one as a win. Would (I imagine) be great for Pu-erh beginners or those who are wary of them.

Yum. This one smells absolutely wonderful, like raspberry with a hint of champagne. Brewed, the champagne becomes a little more apparent. The taste is much the same; the champagne and raspberry are both present, with the champagne maybe a tad bit stronger. The after taste is also mostly champagne, but I actually really like that. The white tea base gives it a bit of an earthy tone. This tea is smooth and mellow, with a bit of sweetness from the raspberry and champagne. Overall, a very satisfying cuppa. I’m a fan.