Cocoa Amore Tea by Whispering Pines Tea Company

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118 Tasting Notes View all

“I have to admitt that this was probably one of my favourites. It took a while for me to get a hold of it, but the cocoa tastes are quite vivid. I think, perhaps, I let mine steep for a little too...” Read full tasting note

87

KyleLow 1 tasting notes
“Well, here I am finally reviewing this. I had put myself on the “To be notified” list for this one because it just sounded so yummy. I was infinitely intrigued by the concept of a chocolate cherry...” Read full tasting note

91

SBMShaneomaniac 88 tasting notes
“I just received another order with several teas from Brenden at Whispering Pines—I am always happy with my purchases from Brenden! My order arrived very quickly too. This is another delicious...” Read full tasting note

91

Jlvintagelove 77 tasting notes
“Just opened my bag of this from…years ago. I don’t know how many. More than one. Tastes delicious, definite cocoa note as indicated in the name. Very nice black tea to get through my morning...” Read full tasting note

86

Starfevre 757 tasting notes

From Whispering Pines Tea Company

Quick Sips: Powerful vanilla, cherry, and cocoa notes combine in this beautiful rich dessert tea! Smooth and sweet.

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.

118 Tasting Notes

KyleLow

1 tasting notes

I have to admitt that this was probably one of my favourites. It took a while for me to get a hold of it, but the cocoa tastes are quite vivid. I think, perhaps, I let mine steep for a little too long, as I found the flavours quite rich indeed.
That being said, I do often complain that my teas are too watery!
I drank this tea at around six in the morning while looking out over the garden birds. It was quite lovely within that context. Yum.

Preparation

6 min, 15 sec 1 tsp 100 OZ / 2957 ML

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Shanie O Maniac

88 tasting notes

Well, here I am finally reviewing this. I had put myself on the “To be notified” list for this one because it just sounded so yummy. I was infinitely intrigued by the concept of a chocolate cherry dessert tea. So, naturally, when the tea was reblended recently, I got myself a bag.

Smell in the bag is heavenly. You really get the cherry cordial tones from the bag alone! I had to wonder, would that translate to taste.

So I brewed this according to their instructions, for the most part – I used my Keurig for water which I think is supposed to be about 200F, and steeped 1.5 tsp for 3 min in 16 oz water.

Taste is… hmmm. It isn’t nearly as sweet tasting plain as the bag smells. I am getting some definite cocoa notes, along with cherry notes, but it is closer to cacao and bing cherry than milk chocolate cordial cherry. I drank the first cup plain. It isn’t really bad, so to speak, just not what I was expecting. The resteep, I added a single splenda to it. Ahhh, there is the cordial cherry! With the addition of a bit of sweetness, I am now getting a strong milk chocolate and sweet cherry flavor. I don’t know why I always need that extra sweetness to be satisfied. Maybe it’s my diabeetus craving sugar. But I must say, I enjoy this tea much more with a touch of sweetener. I did try a third steep for 7 mins but it didn’t work out the best. Guess this really is a two steep tea. Overall, a delicious tea with sweetener that really isn’t that bad plain either. I think I will hold onto this one for a bit, as I have other dessert teas I can alternate this with. But if I’m ever in the need for a chocolate covered cherry pick me up, I know where to turn!

Flavors: Cherry, Chocolate, Cocoa

Preparation

205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML

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8 comments

Roswell Strange
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If you had asked me about sweetener in tea three years ago I would have adamantly held the position that a tea “simply isn’t a good quality tea if it requires additions to taste enjoyable” – but I’ve since realized that ideology is something I picked up from a crowd of tea drinkers who were somewhat more snobbish than I would like to be personally and would like the community to be as a whole. Sometimes I still have to combat that mindset; it’s like unlearning a negative behaviour…

Sweetener definitely does make your tea different and I do believe that can be both a positive OR a negative. It really, truly does depend on both your own individual taste preferences (and I don’t believe anyone has “superior” preferences; taste is qualitative) as well as an understanding of how different additives (sugar, milk, lemonade, etc.) both pair with and affect flavour. No wrong choices; just different ones. I definitely have my own arsenal of things I add to my tea when the mood strikes.

Don’t let anyone shame you for enjoying the added sweetness!

eastkyteaguy
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Piggybacking off of what Roswell posted, but yeah, there is really nothing wrong with adding sweeteners to tea. I don’t have a problem with it. For some time there, my beverage of choice before work was either CTC Assam or Ceylon OP with additions of 2% milk and honey. I’ll even take the blasphemy one step further: I enjoy Southern sweet tea. I can’t have it very often, but it was a huge part of my upbringing and I lived off of it in college when I couldn’t afford better quality tea. I also sometimes like to add mango and apricot nectar to unsweetened iced tea on hot days.

Also, for a long time, I had trouble appreciating pu’erh and any sort of aged tea. When I tried to get into them and learn more about them, I ran into a lot of very snooty, rigidly dogmatic people who put me off of them in a big way. There are some fantastic, knowledgeable, and kind pu’erh fanatics out there (mrmopar and Liquid Proust chief among them), but there is also a number of very vocal people in that segment of the tea community who look down on anyone who gravitates to other types of tea and consider themselves the gatekeepers of the true tea community. I eventually just decided to ignore them. Pu’erh and aged teas really aren’t my things. I can appreciate them in small doses, but honestly, I would rather have anything else most of the time, and there is nothing wrong with that. Don’t ever let anyone make you think their personal preferences and experiences are superior to yours. Do your own thing and enjoy it. You’re in it for your own enjoyment, enlightenment, and/or whatever else.

Mastress Alita
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I added sweetener to my tea for quite some time when I first started drinking tea… and suddenly one day I just… didn’t. I don’t even know what changed! I didn’t even “wean” myself from it by progressively adding less, or make a conscious decision that I wanted to drink less sweetener… my palate just changed suddenly. I was used to always needing a little extra sweetness in my tea, and then… just… didn’t. It was odd! But then I’ve heard that our tastebuds and palates can naturally change over time.

When I make tea lattes, though, I still prefer “pre-sweetened” milk in the form of vanilla almond milk… yum!

Shanie O Maniac
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One thing that weighs on me heavily is my IRL BFF who claims to be a tea snob because she refuses to drink any tea that isn’t palatable without sweetener. She keeps ragging on me for adding sweetener, and keeps telling me “If it was good tea, you wouldn’t need sweetener”. However, HER idea of “Good Tea” is hyper-tart grocery store hibi and the occasional raspberry royal from Bigalow. I actually once offered to buy her some loose leaf for Christmas and, long story short, after two months worth of arguments, we didn’t exchange presents this past Christmas. sigh I really need better IRL Friends.

Shanie O Maniac
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And if it sounds like I’m shaming her for liking grocery store tea, it’s not because she LIKES it, it’s because she isn’t willing to accept or try anything else. In her mind, tea ENDS with Bigelow and Stash.

eastkyteaguy
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Shanie, it’s no joke, but I recently made the statement, “I really need better IRL friends” in conversation. I had the same issue you did. A lot of my IRL friends just got to this weird point where we couldn’t interact without a disagreement or an argument. I’m a pretty liberal, easygoing, live-and-let live kind of guy, but a bunch of my friends and colleagues got way into radical activist culture, and suddenly, every interaction was problematic. Everything turned into a political discussion and then an argument. They also seemed to stop having interests or lives outside of their individual causes of the day. I couldn’t talk to them about anything going on in my life and couldn’t expect any form of understanding or support from them. I also got annoyed with the constant condescension. These people would try to explain the concepts behind sociopolitical movements and trends to me, and I’m a former integrated social studies teacher who taught government, economics, US history, sociology, and psychology who made the jump into the community health field! I was pretty positive I knew more about that stuff than they did. Eventually, I just got sick of their hysterics and constantly being disrespected, realized that I had outgrown these relationships, and moved on with my life. Making real life friends is harder as you get older, but it’s far from impossible. Moving on from those people allowed me to reconnect with some older friends and acquaintances with similar interests and gave me tons of time to work on myself. If I were you, I would take a step back from this relationship to carefully evaluate its course, and if you feel that it’s worth saving and should be saved, great. Go for it. If there just isn’t some level of mutual respect, tolerance, and acceptance there, it’s okay to move on from it. Sometimes people change and have to go a different way. Don’t feel bad about it if that ends up being the case.

Kawaii433
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Interesting conversation. Love it. FWIW, the only reason I don’t add sweetener is that I like sour stuff. :P I’ve always been anti-social IRL so I can’t give you good advice like eastkyteaguy. I’ve never had patience IRL for anyone’s BS. My best friend was my dad growing up and now that he’s gone, they are my furkids :D. Hope things improve for you Shanie. (hugs)

mrmopar
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The best tea is made the way you like to enjoy it. It is a personal experience for you in your cup. Every one has different taste buds. Drink it the way you like it.

Jlvintagelove

77 tasting notes

I just received another order with several teas from Brenden at Whispering Pines—I am always happy with my purchases from Brenden! My order arrived very quickly too.
This is another delicious black tea with clear hints of cocoa, cherries, and light vanilla as the name suggests. I’ve wanted to try this one for a long time but it was so often found to be sold out.I would definitely buy this again…
I am giving Ancient Spirit a slight edge for now (so good).
Up next….Alice and Ambrosia =P

Flavors: Berries, Cherry, Cocoa, Vanilla

Preparation

200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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Starfevre

757 tasting notes

Just opened my bag of this from…years ago. I don’t know how many. More than one. Tastes delicious, definite cocoa note as indicated in the name. Very nice black tea to get through my morning with. 2 steep so far in my giant Deadpool mug and I think I’ll probably go for a third, though maybe with a little less water. Then decide what I want to drink next.

New medication causes weight gain and is making me super hungry so I’m triyng to placate with tea.

Preparation

205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 4 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML

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11 comments

tea-sipper
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I’d get lots of healthy trail mixes. I love trail mixes. :D

Evol Ving Ness
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May tea be the salvation!

Starfevre
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Trail mixes have tons of calories, unfortunately and I’m currently on a 1200 calorie diet to lose weight from years of being on OTHER medications that caused massive weight gain. I’m finally of “normal” weight although not at goal yet and I’d really not like to go backwards.

tea-sipper
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Oh sorry. :( I just figured trail mixes were a much healthier option than all the other crap I eat. haha. I guess I didn’t know they had more calories. If they are nuts without sugar then it should be healthy calories? By the way, I’m drinking one of the teas you sent me a while ago today (Bluebird’s Terry’s). So thanks for those again.

Starfevre
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While nuts are healthy calories, they are also LOTS of calories for very small serving sizes. Mostly I’m drinking my calories in smoothies.

tea-sipper
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I just figured nuts would be FILLING though, like protein. Oh well, smoothies are delicious too. :D

Evol Ving Ness
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Yeah, it’s great how doctors don’t seem to mention these potential side effects and often leave it up to the patient to connect the dots. After years of various drug experiments brought on by doctors’ prescription pads and overall appalling side effects during and after, I do intensive research through patient review sites to see how others have fared.

Break a leg! Hope it’s all a good fit for you.

Starfevre
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My doctor and I made a decision to take me off of it (Seroquel, if anyone cares) so I’m back to my regular meds, which I have adapted to already.

Evol Ving Ness
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Another one of my doctors suggested that that would be worth a try, in the exact therapeutic dosage i.e. under the usual, for sleep issues. I haven’t tried it tough and likely will not.

Good to hear that your choice is working for you. YAY!

It’s a tricky thing commenting on such things. I was going to delete my earlier comment, but ultimately thought my experience might be useful. Thank you for understanding my intended meaning.

Starfevre
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If it matters, what HAS been working for me (for the most part, though I’m adapting which is why we’re searching for other things) has been Trazodone at a 100-200mg dose. I haven’t experienced many side effects with it so it seems fairly safe.

Evol Ving Ness
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Thank you for that. For me, the problem is external and Trazodone doesn’t seem to work well for people whose sleep is disturbed. The search continues.

I’ve found magnesium and meditation to be a helpful addition to whatever else I am doing.

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Daylon R Thomas

1099 tasting notes

I swear I’ve written a note about this one before. Anyway, I snagged some to savor when it was back in stock. I feel like I don’t need to write too much about this one. It reminds me a lot like bakers chocolate with extra loads of vanilla, making me think of brownies. This tea does better Gong Fu than Western in my opinion because I can break out the individual notes, like rose,cherry, licorice, bread, squash, and so on. I prefer this one over Golden Orchid because it’s richer, but out of all of the Whispering Pines blended originals black blends, I would still say my favorite is the Jabberwocky. This one is my favorite of the Vanilla Dreams Collection with Rivendell (please return sooooooon). I still recommend this one as a Valentine’s Day treat.

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4 comments

derk
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Will you be my valentine?

<-U HAVE GOOD TASTE-3

That’s a conversation heart if you can’t tell.

derk
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I, too, hope Rivendell comes back. I passed it by because at the time because it was out of my league.

tea-sipper
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Oh my gosh, Rivendell is the BESSSTT.

Daylon R Thomas
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Thank you, derk, I appreciate. You are my tea Valentine. Are there any other takers?

Kawaii433

267 tasting notes

Watching SuperBowl 2019 and had a gongfu session. Nice way to stay relaxed during a tense time lol.

The first time I tried this, I really liked it but the notes were on the light side. It was a busy day, and I had brewed it Western style, as per the suggestions. At the time, I felt it didn’t do it justice. Tonight I went gongfu style, and I prefer it this way. Very creamy, rich, decadent, malty, with strong cherry-chocolate notes. The first couple of infusions were of dark cocoa, but as I progressed I got more and more fruit, cherry-chocolate, some caramel notes, a hint of licorice, vanilla and cinnamon spices. Remained creamy till the end.

7g, 205°F, 110ml, rinse, 10 steeps: 10s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 30s, 35s, 40s, 45s, 50s, 55s

P.S. The team I was rooting for… Didn’t win. lol

Flavors: Cherry, Chocolate, Cinnamon, Cocoa, Dark Bittersweet, Dark Chocolate, Licorice, Malt, Spices, Sweet, Vanilla

Preparation

205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec 7 g 4 OZ / 110 ML

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tea-sipper

2777 tasting notes

I always wanted to try this one and I’m now able to because of Ost’s sale. Thank you! The age of this tea might not be the newest, so I will take that into consideration. I didn’t want to use all the leaves I had for this steep session, so I used one teaspoon while not pouring water to the top of mug. The leaves are dark and wiry and I didn’t notice too many actual vanilla beans if I was supposed to? The resulting brew is a light copper. I expected a darker brew almost? Probably because when I think of this tea, I’m always thinking of people mentioning chocolate. The flavor is DEFINITELY still cherry which is surprising if this is a natural flavor coming from the tea. I’ve never tasted that before — natural cherry notes coming from a plain black tea. Possibly it tastes mostly like a Ruby tea to me, but here there are many more flavor notes that are much more unique to this tea. It also reminds me of a Fujian tea for having those light starchy chocolate notes while also being sweet. The mouth feel is very smooth. So this hits the cherry notes that I expected but I’d love to have noticed more of the chocolate and vanilla notes. The third steep was a bit tapped out on flavor. I’m thrilled I finally was able to try this though.
Steep #1 // 1 teaspoon for partially filled mug // 14 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 7 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #3 // just boiled // 5 minute steep

Flavors: Cherry

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4 comments

Maddy Barone
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I am so bummed that this tea isn’t available. Or the Golden Orchid, which was my fave. Maybe Brendan will bring the Vanilla Dreams collection back again someday.

derk
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I got a very defined cherry note in a 1.5 year-old bag of WP’s Cheshire Black which has a base tea from Ailaoshan. I’m guessing some of that leaf in is Cocoa Amore.

Mastress Alita
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Tea goals!

Nattie
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I always wanted to try this one too.

evol-ving

69 tasting notes

It was my birthday the other day and this what I reached for. Not that I don’t have other teas that are stellar but that day it happened to be this. And yes, still celebrating.

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Lexie Aleah
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Happy Late Birthday! __

Mastress Alita
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Happy birthday!

VariaTEA
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Happy belated birthday! Yay for celebratory teas!

Roswell Strange
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Happy birthday!!!

evol-ving
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Thank you!

mrmopar
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Happy Birthday!

tea-sipper
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Happy birthday!

evol-ving
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Thank you!

Sil
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happy birthday lady! sorry i missed it….apparently steepster unfollowed you? :(

evol-ving
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Thank you, Sil. No, I wasn’t in followed but rather my original acct is on my laptop, as is FB, and I still am without WiFi at home. This acct is what I can access on my mini tablet out in the world. Hence, my very short posts and being mostly incommunicado. Typing with this stick sucks. (I need to get your little pouch of tea to you. I’ll send a couple of dates/times soon. Are you away or at work the next couple of weeks?)

Sil
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I head in to work about 2 days a week – mondays are almost always a given. I’ll be in ottawa for a week though, but around over the next few weeks.

evol-ving
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K, I’ll prrpose a couple of times on a couple of mondays

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Sakura Sushi

125 tasting notes

The cocoa-y, chocolate fudge notes are all there, strong and delightful. A bit of creamy vanilla, too. I can detect the cherry, but only if I really focus – maybe I’m willing the flavor into existence. Handed the cup to the husband for him to sip, only telling him, “It’s Cocoa Amore.” He gets the cherry flavor immediately. I’m jealous.

It brews up quite light in color, although the leaves are deliciously super dark and promising. Still, it packs a lot of flavor, regardless of the color of the liquor. Great tea, as expected, but I still love Golden Orchid more. I’m impressed, though, at the richness and complexity of this tea.

Flavors: Cocoa, Dark Chocolate, Malt, Vanilla