Blackmint Blend

Ooh, this is nice! I love anything mint, so this was bound to be good. I can taste the mint, the cinnamon, and the oolong. No one flavor overpowers the others. The oolong type is not specified. Looking at it it is a roasted oolong, smelling it and tasting it makes me thinks it is Big Red Robe. It has a definite mineral/river stone quality to it.

It reminds me of being out in the woods, but not in the way that a puerh would, it’s not earthy, just fresh and crisp. Is there a pine note in here or am I just imagining it? I don’t know, I don’t see anything mentioning pine notes, but I can taste it, might be the mint playing with me. Either way this is a nice tea.

Thank you Rachel for sharing this with me!

This has a more Woodsy Minty type aroma to it…like if you were walking in the woods on a semi-damp day and stepped on a patch of spearmint. It’s more than JUST mint and I like that…even tho I AM a MINT FREAK :)

It infuses to a very light brown.

The flavor is Minty-Fresh but also reminiscent of a sweeter-wood. The base sort of remind me of a Big Red Robe type or an oolong with naturally subtle cinnamon hints. Now sweet-cinnamon or cinnamon-powder but cinnamon-sticks prior to grating, I guess.

Yup! This is nice!!! I like this!

Again, thanks to Brenden from Whispering Pines for this sample! As soon as I got it, he recommended cold brewing it for 14 hours. “14 hours?!” I thought to myself. “How will I wait 14 hours to drink my tea?!” Well, let me tell you, it’s worth it.

I have to backtrack a second and say #1 I love mint. #2 I have a stomachache this morning so I needed mint tea. Badly.

Oh why hello Blackmint that has been cold brewing in my fridge all night. Usually I start my morning off with hot tea, but since it’s already fairly warm at 7:30am, this is perfect.

I can’t say enough good things about this tea. It’s not bitter at all. It’s smooth. It’s perfectly minty. I appreciate that there are two different kinds of mint in it; I think that helps the depth of flavor. And then riiiight at the end, when you think the sip is gone, there is a touch of cinnamon. Not too much to overpower the flavors… in fact, if it wasn’t listed I don’t know if I would have noticed it, but since I was looking for it, I do. It’s doing something for the flavors, though, since it’s not JUST mint. Loving this tea! When I make it hot, I’ll let you know how it is that way, too! :)

If you haven’t already gotten your Whispering Pines samples, I suggest you do! This is a great tea company and I’m excited to have found it!

I love mint and I love oolong, but I’ve never had the 2 in combination. There’s a first time for everything though, and I added this intriguing sounding blend to my Whispering Pines sample order because, hey, it’s mint! At their suggestion, I cold brewed this one overnight and opened my fridge 12 hours later to the deliciously powerful smell of mint. Seriously, it pervaded my whole fridge! I mean, nothing else in there TASTES like mint, it’s just a little fresh smelling haha.

This blend is minty perfection. It’s so smooth, crisp and refreshing! The oolong is thankfully not lost but adds a light, almost mineral taste to the cup that keeps this from being an ordinary mint tea. It’s also a bit floral and very strong—I’m not sure if it’s caffeine or the mint, but it woke me right up when I’d finished the glass! Definitely my favorite from Whispering Pines so far, and one I very much think I’ll be ordering in a larger quantity.

Backlog:

Thank you TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this tea. I really liked this Oolong blend. I like the contrast between cinnamon and mint, although the cinnamon definitely was more subdued than the minty taste.

Here’s my full-length review of this tea: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/02/07/blackmint-oolong-blend-from-whispering-pines-tea-company/

So far in my life, I haven’t liked oolongs very much, but I also haven’t tried very many at all either. Certainly none from such an esteemed company as Whispering Pines. This trade is from Alphakitty. She sent it to me back in January and I’m just now getting around to tasting it. I love to do trades, but I have a bad track record for actually drinking the traded teas in a timely fashion. My bad. If anyone is irritated by that that has traded with me, I can put your trade on the top of the pile. Otherwise I’ll just go on picking an envelope at random a couple of times a week.

Back to the tea, this is not as scary a tea as I thought it would be. In anticipation of not liking it, I couldn’t make myself drink it until now and it’s cooled off completely but I think I like it this way. I’m always really torn between how I like a tea most, hot or room temperature. I rarely drink iced tea, even in the summer. This tea, however, is strongly mint and that’s nicely refreshing at the cooler temperature. I can taste the oolong, oh yes, but I can’t really pick out any specifics to the flavour except that I probably wouldn’t like it plain but it’s just fine with the mint. I don’t pick up really any cinnamon which is strange because usually I’m so sensitive to it. Well, it’s a bit ‘warming’ despite not actually being warm so that might be the cinnamon talking. All in all, not bad. I’ve got another cup of the tea waiting for me (I made a pot) but I don’t think I’ll be steeping this again.

Oh I love this one! My 18 month old and I have been sipping it together (he loves it too!) I tried it warm and cold, and I have to say I like it warm the best. I love the way the cinnamon and mint warm my throat as they go down. Yummm, I can’t wait to order more.