Whispering Pines Tea Company

This is a delightful shu. It reminds me of Mandala’s Special Dark. It is silky smooth and very rich. Small plantation leaves hold up to a good number of infusions. I look forward to aging some of this, and to buying more when it becomes available again.

Drinking quite a bit of this today to see how I like it. I believe that wet earth is the best description that can be applied to this, but by saying ‘bold wet earth’ may actually do more justice.

This is a fine pu’erh that looks rather young still. While it may not be my favorite, yet still taste great, this may be one of those teas that mellows slightly over the years to provide a warm honey pu’erh brew. I will look into trying this a few years down the road :)

Sipping this for the first time with a tea chum…musty, smooth, creamy, and mmm-inducing.

No idea who sent this to me… but my brother and I really enjoyed it last night. Very smooth with a spice taste that didn’t take away from the golden brew.

This smelled beautiful as I scooped it into the teaball. Sort of earthy and floral at the same time. (I’m not normally a fan of “earthy” smells but this one worked.)

There’s a grassiness and almost butteriness to this on the first sip. As it cools, the grassiness is more pronouced, and it’s approaching bitter, but not quite hitting it. There’s just a touch of sweetness to it.

This is beautiful. It’s calming and serene. This makes me happy to sip it.

I really enjoy the pine in this – it is definitely creamy and grassy with the green tea, and very aromatic when it is warm and refreshing as the cup cools down. I am really glad I got the chance to try, pine needles aren’t exactly a common ingredient in tea. Resteeps nicely too.

A fine drizzle has overtaken athens today, making me especially excited to head out west for family visits tomorrow! For now, I needed something comforting, and pine needles definitely felt western!
I’ve been wanting to try this blend forever, and my recent order from Whispering Pines put me in the mood to. Thanks goes to MissB who generously sent me the remainder of her bag!
The first steep was light, but had a distinct flavor, almost like peppermint. That must be the pine I’m tasting. The aftertaste had a lovely sweetness and vanilla notes. While I was brewing this up, the scent reminded me of western homewares stores, or the Yellowstone NP gift shops, complete with log benches, a fire place, and antler chandeliers. I’m much enjoying this cup!
The second steep was more pine-forward, but still a nice sweet aftertaste!
The third steep smells much more floral. The pine has transformed into a blend of jasmine and mint! So yummy! The aftertaste cools my tongue with far away sweet mint.
The fourth steep (5 minutes) was very lightly flavored.
This is one of those teas that is really good when you’re not paying attention to it, but the second you focus it becomes incredible and complex. I’m really enjoying it, and I hope it comes back in stock at some point in the future.

Drank this yesterday, held off on the review.
I really didn’t find this to be unique or better than other greens that I’ve had. Pretty much taste like a Chinese green tea. While it’s still good, I kind of have this standard for Whispering Pines… who doesn’t?

So, this is less of a tasting note than a brewing note, I guess. After reading this article (http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/06/how-to-make-the-best-cold-brew-iced-tea.html), I decided to try it out, and this is the tea I pulled out to try it with (don’t know if it’s the best tea for this method, but it’s what I pulled out _ ). I used a full rounded teaspoon in…. I think about a liter of water? I keep forgetting how big that pitcher is. I’ll need to re-measure it one of these days. I did use a teaball, and looking back at the article, it looks like the author left the tea leaves loose in the water, so we’ll see how this works.

I will update in the morning. :)

7/21/2015 ETA: I realize I never updated this. Sorry, life happened. I got three ~10oz cups of tea out of my pitcher. It was very refreshing, but I must admit, I lost a lot of the flavor of the pu-erh. It was there, but much harder to find than before. Also, I tried cold-brewing a pitcher of my Star Trek Earl Grey (currently my favorite EG), and got similar results – I got more flavor from the Earl Grey (the lavender and bergamot) than I did from the pu-erh, but they were still muted compared to hot-brewed. I did like having the pre-steeped tea in the fridge, because I could still enjoy it, and it was easy to just pour and move on to what I needed to do. I am going to try this with other teas – still need to try it with some lighter teas, I think. And some ithers with strong flavors. I suspect that the cold brewing will work better with…. strong-flavored teas. I don’t want to say artificially-flavored necessarily, but I think the subtle flavor variations naturally occurring in tea from different regions may get dampened to almost nothing by the cold-brewing process, and you might as well be brewing Lipton (not that there’s anything wrong with that _). It the article, it mentions that cold-brewing can shorten the distance between a decent-quality and a great quality tea, and after the two I tried (both extremely good quality, as far as I can tell), I think that might be the case, since the cold seems to wash out the variation.

Anyway, I’ll continue to experiment, and try to remember to report my results here.

Sniffing this tea dry gave me notes of bittersweet chocolate and greenness. Steeped, it smells a bit vegetal and earthy. Very earthy. The first sip is also vegetal and earthy, but there’s the slightest hint of sugar and sweetness

GCTTB

There was just enough of this left for one session with it. This smells so much like maple in the bag! I was really surprised to read that it’s the mushrooms that are giving off this scent. When tasting the first brew, most of what I was tasting was maple, and a sort of grain like or whole wheat flavor, as well as a sour, fruit like note. To my disappointment though, no mushrooms. Happily, they made an appearance in subsequent steeps, a little in the flavor, but more so in the savoury aftertaste. There’s a slight a stringency and bitterness, but it’s mild. By the third, ah! There’s the chocolate notes, and the fruit notes remain. It just gets more savoury as it goes, as the mushrooms and wood flavors really come out to play. I think I love these mushrooms! The leaves are a milk chocolate brown, and they really expanded throughout my session with them, these are big pieces of leaf, and they lasted well, at 8 sweepings filling the recommended times on the site. Huge thanks to whoever put this in the box. I’ve always wanted to make a Whispering Pines order, but the cost really prevented me from buying blind, even with the good reviews. Now I get all the hype. Chocolate mushrooms are da bomb!

It’s always wonderful when someone swaps with you and you see something from your wishlist :)

I actually brewed this twice before I left for work. Drank around 16oz of it and then took about 12oz with me to work in my thermos. This is a solid green tea. Smooth and strong enough to have a distinct taste that confirms its quality.

I’ve had greens that were better and greens that were much worse, but what I like most about this is the ability to drink a lot in a sitting without any issues of mouth feel.

I guess I haven’t reviewed this one yet! I’ve gongfu brewed it a couple of times, and this one seems to like it if you go heavy and long with it, meaning more leaf, longer brew times. I overdid my third infusion by at least a minute and it came out delicious! Chocolate and stone fruit delicious! Yum! Definitely a good way to start the weekend!

Mmmmmm, smells like chocolate malt with a little bit of grass.

Tastes like chocolate and malt, too. It reminds me of chocolate Horlicks or Bournvita, but without the sugar. At some point, I think I’ll want to try this one with milk and sugar. The chocolate is strong with this one. :)

This smells spicy, both just out of the bag and while steeping. The strongest flavors I’m getting from this is ginger and black peppercorns. There is something else, too – a warmer taste, like turmeric.

This reminds me of my parents’ house. If I added sugar and milk, it would be just like the tea they used to give me when I had a sore throat

I kind of just let the teaball steeps in the water.

This. is NICE!!! There is a strong, sweet mint scent and flavor from this. It’s not a sharp mint, it’s very soft – reminds me just the slightest bit of Winterfresh gum without the minty kick. It’s like it’s reaching for that kick, but then pulls back at the last moment. Mmmmm……. sweet and spicy and absolutely delicious! Using my oversteeping method, at least (I say that like it’s on purpose), this is by far my favorite from Whispering Pines that I’ve tried so far. There is tulsi (holy basil) in this, which I’m extremely partial to (which might be the almost-mint I’m getting), so that might be a factor.

I think I might grab an extra packet of this now, in case it runs out.

This tea had a sweet flowery, grassy scent as I took it out of the bag, with the slightest hint of cocoa.

The scent I’m getting off of this is chocolate and hay. Or really, chocolate and malt. First sip is pretty much chocolate and malt. The malt still has a floweriness to it.

This is nice and mellow.

Not liking this as much as the first time I bought it. It is strong with a note of malt. I might be better with milk.

I brewed this one time with 3 tsp leaf in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 200 degree water for 3 minutes.

Bought a one ounce sample of this with my last order. It is quite good. There is some astringency, and their are notes of malt and what I would either describe as cocoa or dark chocolate, not sure which description is better. I am only western brewing this this morning but it is good nonetheless.

I steeped this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 200 degree water for 2 min. I will probably rebrew the leaves in a little while.

Picked up some of this with my last order (which was spurred by the return of Art of Darkness!) This has beautiful leaves and tastes like sweet potato drizzled with honey. So yummy! It’s probably the first potato black tea that really tastes sweet potato-like to me…maybe because it’s sweet!

Oh man! This smells so sweet and gorgeous right out of the bag!

This smells a bit darker than I expected – heavier on the caramel and nuts, and lighter on the sweetness. My first sips match the scent, with a bit of plum added in. The more I drink, the more sweetness I get, along with a touch of bitterness, bridged with maltiness.

I like this tea, but I got thrown off a bit by the plum flavor.

Gosh golly gee whilikers, I think this is my favorite tea right now. I’ve had it a few times in the past day, and have savoured every sip. I need to try it next to the normal (smoked) version, to see which one I like more… although I think this was a short-term offering, as I don’t see it on the site.

The base is exquisite, and there’s still a smokiness to it, but it’s not like a lapsang. It’s more of a richness than smoke per say, and then there’s the marshmallow, chocolate bits…. gawd this is amazing.

Yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum. Wooooooo. So much nice woo.

This is great. I love it with a longer steep. It ’s smooth and a little sweet. I want more, immediately.

It steeps for a very long time. I started this AM, took a break, came back for more. Nice and relaxy. Perfect for when people are working your nerves!