Second Breakfast

I allowed myself another Whispering Pines start this morning, because I’m off work and have time for second breakfasts and all that…I used 1.5 tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it a good 4 minutes while I pottered around doing a few first-thing tasks. I added a splash of milk, just because.

I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but this genuinely is full-bodied and flavoursome while also somewhat light. I like breakfast teas that aren’t too heavy, especially if I’m drinking them on a mostly empty stomach, so this one fits the bill perfectly for me. The initial sip is very smooth and sweet around the edges. I definitely get honey and a touch of caramel, with a mildly fruity sweetness reminiscent of apricots. The mid-sip is lightly chocolatey, with just a hint of red berry – maybe cranberry or raspberry? There’s a slight sharpness at this point that cuts through the sweetness and is really appealing. The end of the sip had breadier notes, and tastes a little salty. All in all, totally delicious! It’s one of the more complex breakfast blends I’ve tried in terms of flavour, but I like that about it. I’m glad I chose to try it on holiday so I had time to sit and appreciate it! It’s thoroughly deserving of a much higher rating than it seems to have at the moment – it’s sweet without being cloying, flavoursome without being heavy. Perfection in a cup.

Thank you Nichole so much for this tea! This was one I really wanted to try from Whispering Pines for obvious Tolkien reasons. The description is very accurate for this one; it is like picking berries in the Shire. Very light and short, like a halfling of a black, but fully packed and prepared to take you on an unexpected journey.

……..sorry….I had to. I’m such a geek! XD

The first infusion at 20, it reminded me of blackberries and a little bit of malt thrown in, and wildflowers. Second at 15 one was more like black currant in throughout with a chocolaty surprise in the middle of the sip. Third at 30 was more floral, less chocolate, and more currant. Fourth at a minute and 15 seconds was mostly malt with a caramel like texture and honey sweetness. Fifth at two minutes was too faint, so I upped it another 30 seconds. It reminds me of a later steeping of a Dian Hong because it has lingering sweetness that’s kinda like a very watered down sweet potato. The final sixth is light and very similar to the first brew. I’m there and back again, looking for the last few berries in the Shire, but it’s different. It’s a faint memory now, a memory that drifts nothing…then towards grey shores….

Okey, bit of an exaggeration. I’m not apologizing at all for that. Now, for what I think of this tea.

I’m surprised that this one doesn’t have a higher rating. Maybe people expect something stronger and maltier like North Winds or an Irish Breakfast, but this is a lighter black tea that is packed with flavor. I tasted no astringency or bitterness, it was just sweet and smooth. I actually preferred this much more to the Golden Orchid sample I have, though I’m going back to that one to figure out my preferred brewing parameters. This one might the same age though, and it’s brewing fine as an older tea. Also, preference: I had this one at night, so I want something lighter.

Another GIANT reason why I’m rating this one so higher and why I think that the rating should be higher is the cost. Yes, I got this one in a trade, but it’s priced at $7.75 on Whispering Pines. This is so much more affordable than a lot of the other teas that Whispering Pines offers, and it’s honestly just as good as some of the more expensive selections I’ve had from the company. It’s a pity this one isn’t in stock.

The only other two that I might prefer over this one so far are the Ailaoshan Black and Imperial Bud, though again, I think it depends on my mood. They are altogether very different teas. Ailaoshan is like having fine currant wine with buttered bread and a side of chocolate. The Imperial Bud is like cooked, almost caramelized sweet potatoes lightly sprinkled with butter and brown sugar with coconut water to wet your mouth. In a Tolkien narrative, the Ailaoshan is like Aragorn, the Strider, and the Imperial Bud is the one ring, the one tea to rule them all. After I had Imperial, my taste preferences for blacks completely changed. I can imagine it turning some people into Gollum like creatures because it’s so…precious. I’m so tempted to get some more, but I need to budget better. There’s a lot I want to trade or sell, though I’m not sure how much of them I am able to.

This was an amazingly pleasant surprise from a tea friend. I am in love with this company, and I love it when one of their products ends up in my tea room. I opened the package to take a whiff. The dry leaf carries a subtle smoky aroma. The package contained small black curls speckled with golden tendrils. I placed these treats in my warmed gaiwan and gave them a shake. The warmed leaf scent heightened to a black currant and a deep smoky undertone. I brewed up a cup and took in this aroma. The liquor was deep crimson ruby and smelled of caramel, malt, and slight dark chocolate. The initial sip was amazing and robust. The brew tasted of salted caramel, baked bread, and a hearty malt. This brew kept consistently bold and the flavors remained distinguished throughout multiple steepings. The tea became sweeter with a buckwheat honey undertone and blackberry flavor. This was yet another amazing brew from this company, and it suited well for an early morning tea session.

https://instagram.com/p/3JvcYyTGTb/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

This is the first time that I have ever tried a Whispering Pines sample….I know…I’ve been missing out. Although my tea journey is taking me down a different path (away from blacks) I still want to try the snails and the orchid.

I am not one of those people that can easily pick out/name particular flavours and notes that a tea is giving, but I have found that it is becoming easier. I found with this tea, a few notes were easily noticeable.

First infusion I found strong fruit notes and bread. The floral came out as the cup cooled.

Infusion two I found that salty baguette!!! I am impressed that I found it!! That was followed up strong notes of honey and then floral again as the cup cooled.

It was a nice intro to Whispering Pines, and I have TheLastDodo to thank for the sample…so Thank You!!! :)

The Cookie Lady included a generous sample of this tea in her HUGE swap package last week. I’ve loved the other things I’ve tried from Whispering Pines and I’m a huge Tolkien fan, so I was really excited to sample this one. However, I didn’t love it as much as I was expecting to. It’s certainly a high quality black tea blend with beautiful large twisted leaves and it’s good for multiple re-steeps, but it isn’t my favorite flavor profile for a black tea. I found it to be quite light and fruity with a touch of floral in the aftertaste. I’d certainly drink it again, but I don’t feel like I need this one in my cupboard.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

This was the most festive tea I had, so I served it up in my antique cream white and green teacups, a la a Irish breakfast.
I may have underleafed here, because the flavor was lacking. It was thinner in body than I had hoped, and there was not much to it. Maybe some wildflower honey and bread crusts? But all very subdued.

Sigh. I will have to try this again at elevensies.

This is a sample from Zack. Thank you!.

I have been a little leery of ordering the blended teas from Whispering Pines, because the pure tea is oh so good. This is a combination of Alioshan Black and Keemun. The Keemun is what stands out to me in this blend, but with the Alioshan, it seems to be a much softer cup. Slightly fruity, a rounded bread flavor with hints of chocolate. A great morning cup.

Very nice breakfast tea. I like the subtle flavors with nothing really sharp as you drink it. I get a nice grain/bread taste with a subtle cocoa aftertaste.

Bought this as part of my most recent WP order… it was one I just added on a whim because I wasn’t sure if Keemun was my thing. I’ve had some before that was a bit too smoky for my personal tastes.

The Hobbit in me made sure I ordered it to try, despite my initial reservations.

Am I the owner of a very refined pallet? No, I am not. However, I really enjoyed this tea. I could tell upon first sniff that it was going to be one of those juicy sort of fruity black teas, and I was totally right.

I enjoyed this as my “Second Breakfast” today, it was very satisfying. I had coffee first thing in the morning, and I had brought this to work to make sure I could try it asap. I wasn’t disappointed. It had bready notes and a slight maltiness to compliment all the juicy mouth watering flavor.

I wouldn’t call it a chocolatey tea, personally, but that’s ok by me, because I wouldn’t want a chocolatey tea for breakfast anyway.

Not regretting my inner Hobbit’s decision to order this tea :)

I’ve loved the concept of this tea since the first time I set eyes on it. I guess that’s no surprise… I’ve felt like a kid staring into a toy shop and Second Breakfast was that special toy that I wanted for Christmas, but I never actually bought it for myself. Shame on me. But luckily I received several samples of Whispering Pines tea from the best people ever, and I got this tea. I was super excited. Best. Day. Ever. So, I actually waited to try this. I drank it Christmas Day. Happy Christmas to me.

This is another Chinese Black tea. I don’t know much about them, but I have noticed that there is a huge difference between Chinese teas and the traditional Indian teas that we drink every day. Something almost mysterious that I can’t ever describe. But anyway, I would say this was similar to the Mountain Nectar that I tried previously, yet milder. I don’t know if I used enough tea, but I steeped it twice. It’s very mild and not very bitter – but I might need to drink some more, because it hasn’t left much of an impression on me… I was very distracted yesterday, though. That might have been the problem. I could… drink the last of the sample that NayLinn sent me… I do think my favorite so far out of the three teas that I’ve tried is the Jabberwocky. That kind of surprised me.

It takes me back to that primary school apple experiment where we stated which of the three generic apples were our favorite than picked after a blind taste test. Just so you know, I knew exactly which apple was my favorite. Granny Smith outshines Golden and Red every time for it’s tart flesh and tangy skin. Red always has a bitter skin and Golden Delicious is more like overly sweet wood pulp. Sorry, that was quite a tangent… But the point was that I was certain that Second Breakfast would be my favorite, and it wasn’t. It was the Jabberwocky tea! So I’ll have to buy this one too.

P.S. I drink Whispering Pines tea now. Whispering Pines tea is cool.
P. P. S. Even though I think fandom teas at Adagio are super cool, I could never see Second Breakfast as anything other than a Whispering Pines tea. Second Breakfast and Whispering Pines is my OTP (Original Tea Pairing). I need to stop.