Whispering Pines Tea Company

Sipdown no. 13 for 2025.

I ought to have tried this gongfu at some point, but it became one of those teas I did Western style on a busy work day when I needed something with briskness to get me going.

Malty, tobacco-y, woodsy and a hint of smoke is what I remember. Good with Western style savoury food.

Sipdown no.12 of 2025.

Some days the chocolate-y base of the Golden Snail came through more. Other days, the bergamot was stronger. Once, it was the most perfect orange-chocolate tea I could dream of. But it seemed to be a bit finicky depending on steeping parameters, and I’m a bit loosey-goosey with that most of the time.

No doubt this is a high quality tea and I love that real bergamot is used instead of flavouring.

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.