Whispering Pines Tea Company

Backlog: I watched Hilda with my brother, and it was super British. I had an old, old sample of this and turned it into an English Breakfast with some cream. This was actually a great idea. Soo smooth and heavy with cocoa. Two steeps. I was happy.

Got too late to make another hot steep of this before bed, so I chucked the flowers in the fridge for a cold brew.

Came out so lovely and refreshing in the morning!!

Lovely flower tea!

For the first time round, I did a half tablespoon in 300mL boiling water for around 5 minutes. It was a light and subtle taste which suited the late evening when I wasn’t looking for too much sensory stimulation. The fragrance is wonderfully mild and I can’t really compare it to anything else. I did read that the Japanese use this flower in fragrances to scent linen and I can see how that would work beautifully. Good resteeped for an unknown number of minutes as well.

The second time, I experimented with a heaped tablespoon in 300mL water at 100C, and forgot about it for some time. I returned to quite a sharply bitter tea which reminded me of the outside coating of antihistamine tablets. However, this bitterness was somehow deeply thirst-quenching? I wouldn’t recommend oversteeping it though.

Also seemed to improve my dry cough symptoms the following morning, and I can see why this is used as medicine.

A rare and wonderful find.

Sipdown 28 – 2025

This was underwhelming. Mild honey notes, but a bit muddled.

Sipdown 26 – 2025

Drank through a 1oz bag of this and remember it being fine, but can’t recall any specifics.

Sipdown no.10 of 2025.

A bit of a finicky one to brew, as oversteeping via too much leaf or too hot water does lead to sourness, and that wonderful chocolate-covered strawberry note will be lost.

I never quite bothered to time my brews and I can’t remember what temp was best, but the packet directions would be a decent shout. Brew it right, and it would be quite glorious.

Got a new glass teapot for my black teas so that I can base it off the colour now. I like my stone pot but the transparency of the glass is fun to watch the leaves unfurl.

Presence is everything.

I got to brew and drink this with all the time in the world today. And it becomes a completely different tea when I do so.

Having this for the first time while I was rushing to get to work, I could not notice a single thing about it other than ‘Chinese black tea.’ But today, I took a sick day and just sat with the tea and my experience of it.

100C, Western style with 1 tablespoon in 200mL for 3 steeps. Afterwards, I contemplated what tea to have next, and then promptly chose to brew another tablespoon of the Imperial Golden Needle.

Beyond words and descriptions, I simply enjoyed it without bothering the cognitive mind with specifics. I like when vendors are detailed with their tasting notes, because it gives me the option to search out those notes in the tea without bothering to go down memory lane to retrieve those impressions myself.

Power of suggestion. Which is what most of reality is, anyway. But sincerely, I agree with Brendan’s descriptions. The chocolate-covered strawberry note comes out more as the tea cools, by the way. It’s one of those teas where I notice that the temperature it is drank makes a change to the notes in each sip.

This tasting note is just to log that today, I steeped a half tablespoon in 200mL-ish for 5 minutes at 100C, and the sweetness was more prominent than when I’ve steeped a heaped tablespoon in 200mL-ish for 3 minutes at 100C.

Very nostalgic to order from Whispering Pines again, and it was the main thing which made me feel justified in the absurdity of ordering tea which went from China to the U.S. to Australia where I live. Mostly I’d just order direct from China.

But the ethos of Whispering Pines is very beautiful to me and I like supporting that.

How lovely to be able to take my time and enjoy this tea properly on a day off. I had previously pounded this down in a rush for work and did I notice much about it? No, because tea appreciation is so often about presence of mind and it just hadn’t been there.

I’m not sure if I oversteep my teas in comparison to the average Western-style brewer, but I always have to use a solid heaped tablespoon of leaves per 200mL to get the strength and depth I like from a tea. It’s contrary to the half a tablespoon suggested, but I’m getting rather good at brewing intuitively.

Would love to have presence of mind to gongfu this one day.

So I had the original Golden Orchid 9 years ago and it left quite the impression on me. I bought this to remember what that was like.

It’s quite a different tea though, with the addition of osmanthus flower. I’ve never had osmanthus before. Picking up a flower to taste on its own, it’s subtly fruity like apricot perhaps.

Hand blended and sold in a bag means that the distribution of flowers, tea and vanilla beans is quite randomized unless I consciously shake it up and reblend it myself in the tablespoon I use for 200mL water. It means that some steeps, I taste the chocolate fudgey notes of the base North Winds more and other steeps, more floral-y or vanilla-y.

I don’t usually go for floral/fruity black teas, but it’s nice to have this one in rotation. I was tempted to buy Harney & Son’s Paris but I swore off flavoured teas because they gave me a headache. The genuine high quality ingredients of this blend are obviously the way better option for me.

The flowers in this tea perhaps make it just the slightest bit tart for me when drunk black. Hence, adding a tiny dash of milk seems to round it out and it becomes apricot and vanilla custard with a lil streak of chocolate fudge sauce. I’m enjoying this for sure.

Hopefully the original Golden Orchid is in stock when I allow myself to buy more tea. That, and Cocoa Amore. 9 years later, I’m still longing for the cherry-chocolate notes of Cocoa Amore.

I like Golden Orchid, but the osmanthus really elevates it. So sweet and creamy. Delightful.

Understeeped this a bit, but still a yummy apple flavor.

Such a unique tea! It’s surprisingly fruity, and reminds me of cooked apples or applesauce.

Sipdown 22 – 2025

Just logging the sip down.

Not a favorite. A touch of bitterness in the aftertaste, and the flavor profile is pretty forgettable.

Sample from a recent order. This is nice. Halva and sweet potato.

Sipdown 16 – 2025

Trying to drink through green teas more quickly once I open them. This was really tasty and easy to finish.

Tasty Dragonwell. Mild, no bitterness. Nutty with a strong chestnut flavor.

I finally got around to trying the 6 grams of tea I received from White Antlers and derk. Thank you both! I miss the first member dearly; I hope they are doing well.

I used all 6 grams in my teapot today, steeping it for roughly 3 minutes—and it was wonderful.

The aroma in the cup was reminiscent of an old antique shop or bookstore. I detected notes of mustiness, a touch of boiled linseed oil, sisal, and a hint of dust. Nevertheless, it evoked a cozy feeling, making me wish I were enjoying it in an armchair by the fireplace. The only trouble is, I have neither!

Tastewise it was mellow, smooth and a little creamy shou; with woody, wet forest floor and a little of mushroomy taste. Earthy aftertaste, but not bitter, savoury and strong, but not so heavy in the stomach.

I’m a little sad that I finished it so quickly, after only one session. We rarely do more than one infusion; in extraordinary cases, we’ll do two. If I particularly enjoy a tea, I might even do a third — but that’s usually just for me.

Hands down, this is a brilliant tea.

I bought this sometime in 2023 to give to my coworker who was trying to manage her pre-diabetes. I saved a mere teaspoon and it’s taken this long to get to it!

Sparkling sweetness mixed with very light vegetal taste. Calm and vibrant. It’s simple and unassumingly soothing. Tonic and moistening. I’d love to try jiaogulan again!

Daylon generously sent me an entire vacuum-sealed ounce of this 2023 Long Feng Xia, which has been sitting in a box for just under a year. However, when I drink gaoshan samples, I drink them fast, so this tea was gone in just under a week. I steeped 6 g of leaf in 120 ml of 195F water for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, 180, and 240 seconds, plus some long, uncounted steeps.

The dry aroma is of orchid, lilac, sweet pea, and mild spices. The first steep has notes of orchid, lilac, sweet pea, cream, milk, sweet corn, grass, cookies, and hints of spice. Along with the cream and delicate florals, the second steep is a bit greener, though not bitter. The next couple steeps have headier orchid and honeysuckle notes, with some greenness in the background. With steeps five and six, the tea acquires notes of pine, spinach, and grass, though there’s still some sweetness and florality. The last few steeps are quite sappy and vegetal, with pine, spinach, grass, faint florals, and some sweetness.

Even though I usually don’t go for more vegetal oolongs, this one is highly drinkable and complex. The spicy florality in the first few steeps is lovely, and the sappy, piney note is reminiscent of other Shan Lin Xi oolongs. Thanks, Daylon, for sending me this tea!

Happy 2025! I’ve been enjoying this ounce of tea from Daylon on special occasions, such as finally regaining my sense of smell after spending a week with a cold. I will need to see how much Whispering Pines charges to ship to Canada, as this tea is as lovely as all the notes on Steepster suggest. I steeped 6 g of leaf in 120 ml of 195F water for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds, plus some long, uncounted steeps.

Wow, this tea is fruity and sweet! The dry aroma is of blackberry, strawberry, caramel, and malt. The first steep has notes of blackberry, strawberry, muscatel, honey, caramel, bread, and malt. I get a lot more muscatel and caramel in steep two, as well as some velvety tannins. There’s a fuzzy, fruity, sweet, lingering aftertaste. I continue to get stewed berries and muscatel in steeps three through six, along with lots of caramel sweetness. By steep seven, bread, malt, and wood become more apparent, though there’s still plenty of berries and muscatel. The final steeps have notes of raisin, muscatel, faint berries, honey, bread, wood, malt, and tannins. (Yes, even the last few steeps of this tea are special.)

This tea is a crowd pleaser for a reason! It’s probably too sweet to be a daily drinker for me, but it’s a wonderfully decadent treat. Those jammy berry notes make me smile.