Suggestions for spring 2015 focus?

Hey all!

I’ve set aside this spring to focus on green tea and oolong. I’ve already got the ball rolling on some new products in that regard, but I wanted to ask on here, are there any specific types of tea you’d like to see me source this season? I’m planning on bringing in a da hong pao and a mi lan xiang dan cong as well as new greens.

Any ideas?

Also if you have suggestions on ways I can improve the customer experience, please post here. I know that a frequent issue is my turnaround time, which is longer because everything is hand-blended upon order, but I am trying to cut that down to next business day or same-day shipping by pre-blending a few days ahead of inventory updates.

Let me know, and also if there’s anything you love about WP that I should definitely keep doing :-)

Peace, love, and aaaaaaall ze tea,
-Brenden

12 Replies

This is a very ‘out there’ idea:
So I’m in Japan for two months and I’ve been drinking away at the black flight box. During this experience I’ve also been drinking teas from around here and somehow a connection went through in my mind that any of your black teas could be blended with a hojicha and create something wonderful. I know it’s odd to mix green and black teas, but hojicha is roasted and has a completely different taste. I would suggest that the hojicha only be an accent to the tea to add a roasted touch. It’s a wild idea, but I’ve been playing around with it. You’d probably want someone else who might think this to be a decent idea as well because it is quite different.

I would love to see oolongs coming from Whispering Pines!

This is definitely an idea that would work well, especially with something deeper from Fujian, but unfortunately I’ve focused down to only Chinese tea so I wouldn’t be so easy for that. I will definitely keep this in mind though, Roasty + sweet black sounds fun :)

Any specific style of oolong you’d like to see?

Rivendell is on my wishlist like many other and would probably have a successful return :p

Here’s an idea that would be killer, but I’m not sure how it’d be done: Create an oolong version of lapsang souchong.

I mine as well give a third idea: If you’re able to make an oolong have the creamyness of Imperial Gold Bud, that is not a milk oolong, I would have to stock up.

Hehe, I have done a smoked da hong pao before. I’m working on new ways to gently smoke tea post-production, hopefully more on that this summer. And will keep an eye out for creamy oolongs :)

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I think you should host retreats at your cabin. Serve tea, make people slow down, get in tune with nature. :)

What!

I know one stop for this summer now :)

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Equusfell said

I cannot wait for more oolongs (and of course, I really want some of that Rivendell!). Green oolongs are the essence of spring and freshness to me. While some (only some!) greens can be very lush in character, like a meadow of alfalfa and orchard grass, oolongs are the clear snow-melt stream running through the wildflowers in the mountains!
I love your idea of pine needles in tea, and I think a really minerally oolong would pair well with that flavor.
I also like the idea of pairing something creamy with a horchata kind of flavor. Maybe like a genmaicha?
Unfortunately I don’t know enough about specific tea types to be much help in that regard, but suffice to say I will probably be buying every one of your oolongs, as long as it’s not smoked (those are just not for me).
Sorry I’m not of more help. I’m still just at the start of my tea experience, but I already love companies like yours!

I don’t know how I missed this post! :-)

I agree that green oolongs are beautiful impressions of springtime, and I will certainly be on the lookout for that essence during sampling.

I would definitely add pine to an oolong except the very long and hands-on process of wildcrafting and processing pine doesn’t create enough of a final product to be introducing more pine teas. Perhaps with spruce it may be easier. Hmm….

Thanks so much for your feedback! :-)

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One of my favorite ways to liven up my grampa style greens that are nearing the end is to add a tiny squirt of vanilla extract before filling the cup back up. I have actually tried this with your silver snail, with great success. So perhaps a Vanilla snail?

I also like the combo of Maple + Vanilla + Taiping Houkui

Hehe, Vanilla Bean Green is on the list for spring blends ;-)

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