North Winds (Old Version)

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Fujian Xiao Zhong, Yunnan Dian Hong
Flavors
Apricot, Caramel, Chocolate, Carrot, Cocoa, Pepper, Rye, Sweet, Toast, Bread, Berries, Dark Chocolate, Fruity, Malt, Vanilla, Brown Sugar, Cake, Molasses, Nutty, Raisins, Walnut, Grain, Hay, Honey, Plum, Dark Bittersweet, Cream, Stonefruit, Cannabis, Yams, Smoke
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
High
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Roswell Strange
Average preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 2 g 10 oz / 298 ml

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88 Tasting Notes View all

  • “I asked for a sample of this tea from MissB because the description was so intriguing. I do end up a little confused since the ingredients list is only “black tea”. Based on the flavors within I am...” Read full tasting note
    87
  • “How have I avoided this one so long?! This is a beautiful, multifaceted, inspiring tea. I’m looking forward to the re-steeps! The first sips were most definitely dark chocolate, then a bit of malt...” Read full tasting note
    96
  • “This was one of the many teas MissB sent my way, and I am quite happy that she did. I’d never tried any Whispering Pines, and this tea is quite nice. Thank you! It’s got that chocolate malt...” Read full tasting note
    86
  • “Thank you Brenden for the sample of this tea! You must read Brenden’s discription of this tea no matter what. It’s charming! A genuine love affair with a place he should live forever! I’m convinced...” Read full tasting note

From Whispering Pines Tea Company

PLEASE MIGRATE YOUR REVIEWS TO THE NEW NORTH WINDS PAGE IF YOU HAVE ALREADY REVIEWED THE NEW NORTH WINDS ON THIS PAGE! Thank you! :-)

Michigan is full of wondrous little towns known for the things they have perfected and small spots of nature that will take your breath away. This tea is inspired by the entire northern area of Michigan, from Traverse City to the Les Cheneaux Islands.

Traverse City is in the northern lower peninsula of the state. They are widely known for their amazing cherries, which are sold alongside other fruits from roadside stands during the summer months. You can get anything cherry here, and it will spoil you for cherries forever. I’ll never be able to eat cherries elsewhere! =)

Heading northward from the cherry capitol of the world and over the longest suspension bridge in the northern hemisphere brings you to Mackinac Island. This island is full of little shops, cafes, and bakeries, and they are very well known for their fudge. Any flavor of fudge you can imagine can be found on this island, but you can never go wrong with a piece of dark chocolate fudge as Autumn is closing in!

As the north winds bring you higher and the first snow begins to fall, the Les Cheneaux Islands and surrounding area of the upper peninsula will send chills down your spine. The wind picks up, the lake begins to freeze, and a snowstorm will keep you indoors with a hefty cup of black tea as company. Looking outside at the winter wonderland, you can’t help but notice that you are in the most beautiful place in the world.

Our house black tea for good reason — North Winds is the essence of northern Michigan. Sweet fruity notes of apricot and white grape bring you to Traverse City while heavy dark chocolate notes allow you to have that Mackinac Island fudge desert without having to take the ferry. Notes of toasted rye with cherry preserves show up mid-sip with a beautiful malt and wildflower honey finish. Light hints of sweet potato and clean white pepper mingle through the malt. These velvety smooth, decadent notes combine into a medium-bodied tea with a bold and rustic feel that makes for a perfect breakfast tea — but you’ll want to drink this all day long!

North Winds is blended seasonally to achieve the most balanced flavor profile. The current offering is a blend of Spring and Autumn 2014 material from Fujian and Yunnan provinces of China.

The recommended brewing style for North Winds is Gongfu Style.

Western Style:
Steep 1/2 tablespoon (1.9g) of leaves in 8 ounces of 205ºF water for 3 minutes.
2nd infusion: 5 minutes.
3rd infusion: 8 minutes.

Gongfu Style:
Use 1g of leaf per 30ml (1 fl. oz.) of 205ºF water
Infusion times: 30s, 15s, 30s, 45s, 1m15s, 2m, 3m

Notes:
Honey
Cocoa
Apricot
Toasted Rye
White Grape
Malt
Cream
Cherry
White Pepper

About Whispering Pines Tea Company View company

Whispering Pines Tea Company is dedicated to bringing you the most original, pure, beautiful tea blends. We use only the highest quality ingredients available to create additive-free teas teas inspired by the pristine wilderness of Northern Michigan. Our main focus is on customer satisfaction and quality.

88 Tasting Notes

90
350 tasting notes

Oh man, this is so good. I mean, it’s not quite as ridiculously decadent as Golden Orchid (same tea, but with vanilla beans added!), but I can see myself just wanting to drink this every day. Damn it. Just as I am vowing to myself to stick to Canadian companies (why did I have to develop a tea obsession just as the Canadian dollar tanked?? the exchange rate is killing me here) with reasonable shipping costs (y’all have already heard my rant about shipping), I discover that I might not be able to live without this tea. Hrmph. Luckily I can’t even stay mad about it, because I have this warm cup of chocolatey yumminess to soothe me. :)

Flavors: Chocolate

Preparation
3 min, 0 sec 2 g 10 OZ / 295 ML
Anlina

I keep forgetting about how bad the exchange rate is and then being unpleasantly surprised.

Lindsay

Me too! :(

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87
109 tasting notes

I miss my Golden Orchid :(

It’s all gone now so the closest thing would be GO’s tea base North Winds, which is tiding me over until my next order. It does the job well enough, though it doesn’t hold up well in a travel flask.

Otherwise, I’m really digging this blend, to the extent where I’ll sometimes even forget about the absence of those glorious vanilla beans for a second.

This is the older version and I can’t wait to try the new one when I can.

boychik

I really really like the new version . Old one was great too but new is just superior

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95
91 tasting notes

I received this tea as a free sample along with the Ailaoshan tea that I purchased from Whispering Pines and I actually like it better! The chocolate flavor is considerably more pronounced – deeper. Toasted rye, apricot and white pepper flavor notes as listed by WP were all present and accounted for. I also picked up on caramel and a pleasantly sweet carrot taste.
This is a cup that you just don’t want to ever end! North Winds is the newest must have in my tea pantry!

Flavors: Apricot, Caramel, Carrot, Chocolate, Cocoa, Pepper, Rye, Sweet, Toast

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 7 OZ / 207 ML
Whispering Pines Tea Company

Hey there! Because the old version of North Winds had a LOT of reviews, and the new version is so significantly different and better, I added the new one as its own tea. If you could copy/paste your review and rating onto the new page, that would be extremely helpful to me. Thanks so much :-)

Here’s the new page: http://steepster.com/teas/whispering-pines-tea-company/55030-north-winds

:-)

Thanks so much!

Cheers,
Brenden

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493 tasting notes

i know i reviewed this tea before. Steepster eats older notes… Sigh…
This time i’m tasting a new version. I liked the older one but this just blew my mind. It is liquid chocolate people. Without any sugar or maple syrup. You dont have to guess the flavors. Bold yummy chocolate, maybe some malt, but not much.
i still have an older one, and was hesitating if i should get another once. Im so happy cause this one is so much better and richer (not that anything wrong w/older one ;)

http://instagram.com/p/ugR-xhBwkB/

http://instagram.com/p/ugSVvWhwkh/

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 2 g 8 OZ / 236 ML
TeaTiff

Brings up web page to place order…….

Sil

yeah i really liked the old version…new one came out after i ordered..

Cheri

I’ve been trying not to order more tea, but this one keeps popping up. I may have to order.

Tealizzy

Me too, Cheri! Must resist!!!

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84 tasting notes

My first whispering pines order arrived just when I needed it most it seems, and I was so happy to come home to find the box at my door after a long day at the hospital.

This is what I brewed to sit and relax with, as I knew I would love it. And I was right.

Cocoa, malt, toasty bread, and a bit of spice and fruitiness. So perfectly sweet and delicious!!

Second steep just as tasty and has more spicy fruit and potato notes. Yum!

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec
boychik

I had it too today. The new version. It is delicious . Period,

caile

It is! This would be the new version also I think – I never had the old one but am happy I have this now.

TeaTiff

I am glad to see a review of the new version.

caile

It is really good, and I’m sure you’ll love it. :)

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83
26 tasting notes

Just finished my sample of this tea. Definitely getting some chocolate notes in this one, quickly followed by a sharp sweetness. These flavors are brought together by an earthy, slightly malty body. I did perhaps notice a tiny bit of bitterness and astringency, but trust me as somebody who dislikes those things a lot – they are not a problem due to the boldness of the fruit flavor here. In fact, this tea may have let me develop an appreciation for how a hint of bitterness and astringency can sometimes work with the flavors to produce something good. In regards to that it reminds me of dark chocolate, where the bitterness is sort of a necessary evil that eventually grows on you. Currently I’m unsure if i would re-order this and I find it hard to rate this tea because I am still kind of ‘exploring’ the spectrum of various black teas… but I would not be surprised if, at the end of my journey, this tea ends up being one of the highlights.

3min/1.5tsp/210F/8oz

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85
199 tasting notes

Light cocoa and bread. Yum. I think this is one I could easily drink every morning :) Thanks for the sample, Ost!

Flavors: Bread, Cocoa

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525 tasting notes

My first Whispering Pines tea!

My first whiff of the dried leaf strongly reminded me of dried cranberries and nori.

Then I thought I followed directions by putting 1/2 tsp in a cup of water. Later as I was thinking Brendan must like his tea weak, I realized the bag actually said tbsp. doh.
I will use less water on the resteep.

The scent of this tea is crusty whole wheat and rye bread. Crusty on the verge of burning even. I love my bread crust like that. Mmm bread. I also get the dark cocoa, but it’s more savory than sweet. Man I’m hungry.
I gulped this down pretty quick. Now I’m warm. :) let’s see if I can get more flavor out of these leaves with less water this time.

Mmm steep 2 is warm toasted bread sprinkled with dark cocoa. Lovely.
Excellent tea for the price. It will be perfect once winter rolls around.

Whispering Pines Tea Company

Glad you like this! Just a secret…this will be changing very soon. Be on the lookout for the new one :)

Mercuryhime

Changing?! :o can’t wait to try the new one!

Whispering Pines Tea Company

yep…it’s a huge favorite of mine, and now i love it even more :D

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90
15545 tasting notes

The more I drink this the more it grows on me.

Last night my brother and I were going to go see Mr. Holmes in theaters but last minute he backed out, so I had a nice evening in doors and I watched Netflix instead. In the end, I wound up watching The Great Gatsby, which I’ve seen many many times now. I still think it’s one of the best book to movie adaptations I’ve EVER seen. It deserved much more attention/praise than it got. And people who find it too visual clearly haven’t read the book (or at least not in depth); nearly every single theme in the book is symbolized/represented by colour. But that’s not the point.

The point is that this is the tea I drank while I watched the movie, and it was phenomenal. There are several scenes in the movie/book that take place over tea and I felt like this would have been worthy of being served at any of those occasions. Can you imagine Jordan Baker convincing Nick to introduce his married cousin to his elusive ‘party boy’ neighbor over a cup of smooth, dark chocolate tasting North Winds? Or how about Gatsby and Daisy meeting up after a five year separation in Carroway’s tiny little house sipping on teacups of North Winds and enjoying the fleeting notes of berry juice on the tips of their tongues as they whisper sweet nothings into each others ears?

I can.

Flavors: Berries, Chocolate, Cocoa, Dark Chocolate, Fruity, Malt, Vanilla

Teatotaler

I can too! One of my all time favorite books/movies/teas! A positively exquisite tasting note! :)

Mikumofu

Agreed on both counts!

Autistic Goblin

Tea and TV/Movies almost as good a combination as Tea and books!!

Teatotaler

Agreed! :)

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99
4164 tasting notes
Three days without tasting notes from me?!?! I guess because Steepster has been loopy. I don’t mind as long as Steepster is back to its awesome self at some point. I’ve already noticed that the tea search has been improved.

Thank you Kimquat for sharing some of this one! I had around one teaspoon, so I didn’t fill my mug all the way, but now that I think of it, it was probably the suggested eight ounce amount anyway. I’ve noticed that it is basically Golden Orchid without the vanilla, and it’s so good, it doesn’t really need the vanilla. I swear there is some magic in these leaves. I can’t imagine how they are this chocolatey. Definitely the most chocolate tea I’ve ever tried without additions. It even has the consistency of melted chocolate. I love this one. I’d have to stock up on this one… but no orders for a while!
Steep #1 // just boiled // 2 1/2 min steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 1/2 min

Stephanie

I haven’t been posting as much since Steepster has been whack lately either :(

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