2015 Moonlight Sonata

Tea type
White Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Citrus Zest, Dandelion, Dill, Floral, Forest Floor, Green, Herbs, Black Pepper, Brown Sugar, Citrus, Citrusy, Flowers, Ginger, Hot Hay, Malt, Medicinal, Mineral, Mint, Pastries, Perfume, Sweet, Tangy, Tannin, Thick, Wood, Bamboo, Bok Choy, Cherry Wood, Corn Husk, Grain, Honey, Musty, Osmanthus, Tea, Vegetal, Wheat, Dry Grass, Clay, Dirt, Grass, Spices, Orange Blossom, Bitter, Hay, Pine, Spicy, Smooth, Creamy, Grapefruit, Peppercorn, Tart, Vinegar, White Grapes, Herbaceous
Sold in
Not available
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by TeaNecromancer
Average preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 2 min, 0 sec 5 g 8 oz / 225 ml

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34 Tasting Notes View all

  • “Sadly only one gong-fu session. So, it’s technically a SIPDOWN. I got 3 grams from derk, who might have it from, yes, White Antlers. But maybe not. No “WA” mark there. Anyway thanks anyone who...” Read full tasting note
    90
  • “Moonlight white tea with snow chrysanthemum flowers, the orange ones that as of late, I’ve realized can be a polarizing flavor due to pickle perception. I’m not going to lie about what the dry leaf...” Read full tasting note
    88
  • “What a lovely tea! First of all the tea cake is gorgeous, you almost don’t want to chisel through. The initial aroma gave me hints of citrus and spice. The soup started out a beautiful golden and...” Read full tasting note
    90
  • “Just realized that, without meaning to, I’ve basically been “checking in” on this tea yearly – and now I’ve got a pretty cool record of the flavour progression. Only thing is that I seem to have...” Read full tasting note
    85

From Whispering Pines Tea Company

Flavor wise, the best way to describe Moonlight Sonata is smooth, sweet, spiced honey drizzled into fresh white grape juice and infused with springtime wildflowers and a touch of tangerine. These 100g cakes consist of moonlight white tea and snow chrysanthemum flowers, both from spring 2015. They are ageable and will develop deeper, more malty base notes over the next decade, eventually tasting like a mix between an oolong and black!

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.

34 Tasting Notes

90
1837 tasting notes

Sadly only one gong-fu session. So, it’s technically a SIPDOWN.

I got 3 grams from derk, who might have it from, yes, White Antlers. But maybe not. No “WA” mark there. Anyway thanks anyone who bought it.

Stale urine is indeed an aroma of dry tea. As well the dill, maybe cilantro or something of those greens. It was actually pretty bad. But I don’t want to throw away the tea based on initial contact.

I decided to use all 3 grams I get in my gaiwan. Oh well, the rinse was quick and then the aroma was… ehm… even worse. Something again like urine and dill. Quick colour changer.

I was doing 10-60 seconds steeps.
Somehow weird, foul, but tasty. I get forest floor, herbs strongly, hints of florals as well citrus (sweet ones like tangerines) zests, dandelion and dill.

Weird. But smooth. Not velvety feeling, but mouth-coating for sure. As well it had thick texture that I quite liked indeed.

That was amazing experience, but it’s tea for now and then. Not really for daily drinking. It changed my point of view on pressed whites. Would I like to try it again? You bet!

Sound pairing (only for writing the note): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Tr0otuiQuU

Flavors: Citrus Zest, Dandelion, Dill, Floral, Forest Floor, Green, Herbs

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 30 sec 3 g 4 OZ / 125 ML
White Antlers

Yep, that was a WA Swedish Death Purge tea. The urine/dill odor you encountered was pretty universal, Martin. Even dry, I recall the tea smelling like dill.

derk

I’d buy a tiny tong if it were still around. One of the most unique teas I’ve had. I’ll never forget the smell of the leaf but a few sips in and it didn’t matter.

Martin Bednář

White Antlers thanks a lot for this experience!
derk I was thinking same! Or at least the cake. It was sooo interesting!

White Antlers

Brenden of WPT is living in Hawaii now. I doubt he’ll bring this back.

derk

Moonlight Sonata pairing, of course!

I wonder how Whispering Pines will change with Brenden’s move. Good for him :)

Martin Bednář

Let Brenden surprise us White Antlers.

derk: Could I choose something else? Haha!

White Antlers

derk Brenden has his best friend at the helm of WPT now.

Martin it has been interesting to see Brenden’s evolution and it makes me think of you. I have been buying tea from Brenden for at least 8 or 9 years. He has gone through many changes; moving from Pennsylvania, performing as an athlete, starting a tea company, living in a cabin the woods, falling madly in love, losing a lot of his inventory in a flood, moving to a bigger city and now acting on one of his dreams-living in Hawaii. It reminds me that we can and do always re-invent ourselves.

Whispering Pines Tea Company

There will be a movement II of Moonlight Sonata, 100% for sure, hehe. I am also so grateful to have read these words here, you guys are so amazing! Actually working on another something right now. Big things, always. My goal is to offer the best tea I can find. :-) much love to you all

Brenden

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88
1557 tasting notes

Moonlight white tea with snow chrysanthemum flowers, the orange ones that as of late, I’ve realized can be a polarizing flavor due to pickle perception.

I’m not going to lie about what the dry leaf smells like. It’s stinky — perfume, stale urine and dill. Care to read further? Stewed in my work thermos with water off-boil, the tea is fantastic. Brilliant orange-red with a strong aroma. Aging white tea taste with a hearty melding of the snow chrysanthemum taste. Medicinal, savory, sweet, thick, tannic, tangy and tingly; tangelo, hay, forest floor, Demerara sugar, white florals, pastries, minty cooling, black pepper, ginger and yes, I finally taste the dill pickle, quite strongly actually.

More, please.

Flavors: Black Pepper, Brown Sugar, Citrus, Citrusy, Dill, Floral, Flowers, Forest Floor, Ginger, Hot Hay, Malt, Medicinal, Mineral, Mint, Pastries, Perfume, Sweet, Tangy, Tannin, Thick, Wood

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 8 min or more 3 g 20 OZ / 591 ML
Martin Bednář

That aroma doesn’t sound good, but the result sounds great.

White Antlers

I remember when WPT was carrying this. Many folks who purchased complained about the dill smell/taste. I think I tried a sample; the toilet paper-iness of the chrysanthemums and the negative associations I had with them from acupuncture/TCM made this a no drinker for me. So glad it worked for you, derk.

derk

A small amount will be heading your way, Martin.

White Antlers, I can see how this would be jarring to people not expecting such a flavor! The pale yellow chrysanthemum is not something I care for at all, but these orange ones… something soothing about them. Thanks for passing this one on. I did really enjoy it.

Roswell Strange

Haha, I’m with you Derk – Snow Chrysanthemum is one of my favourite straight herbs, and I adore them in this tea. Didn’t realize how polarizing they were until recently though.

tea-sipper

Oops, my fault on the pickle note! Hopefully some people actually like the flavor, now that I have pointed it out. haha

White Antlers

tea-sipper Don’t blame yourself. So many people got that dill note, not just Steepster-ites but folks who reviewed the tea on the WPT site, I’m surprised WPT didn’t rename the tea-maybe Pickle Sonata.

tea-sipper

haha. okay. I hadn’t seen any WPT reviews. Just as long as I’m not the sole ruiner!

Roswell Strange

tea-sipper I taste the dill in it too; it’s just a positive for me ;)

tea-sipper

Ros – that’s good that you enjoy it anyway!I think you also noticed the dill before I did anyway. haha

derk

Oh cool, I can see my notices now. Time to catch up on comments.

tea-sipper: annie (Where have you been annie?) also says pickles regarding the buds. And yeah, there’s a whole posse of dill or pickle proclaimers hiding in the 3 pages of reviews here for Moonlight Sonata.

If this were pressed again, I’d buy a cake for sure.

tea-sipper

OH okay. I didn’t see any other notes for this tea. I thought it was my other note recently about another Chrysanthemum tea that did it.

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90
4 tasting notes

What a lovely tea! First of all the tea cake is gorgeous, you almost don’t want to chisel through. The initial aroma gave me hints of citrus and spice. The soup started out a beautiful golden and with each steep making its way to an amber. I started my steeps and progressed as follows:
1: 20 sec @170F / 2: 20 sec @170F/ 3: 20 sec @170F/ 4: 20 sec @ 200F / 5: 30 sec @ 160F / 6: 1 minute @ 140F/ 7: 1 minute @ 140F

At the last steep I was loosing flavor…I am thinking I should have gone back up to a warmer temp to try and push it…which will be my note for the next sesh with this tea.

Overall, I loved this tea, it was very very delightful….although this m y first go around with this tea it left a very good impression on me. I plan to explore this more throughout the week.

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 0 min, 30 sec 6 g 5 OZ / 150 ML

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85
15575 tasting notes

Just realized that, without meaning to, I’ve basically been “checking in” on this tea yearly – and now I’ve got a pretty cool record of the flavour progression. Only thing is that I seem to have brewed a different prep method each time… Oops…

Today’s cup was Grandpa Style at work; my general workplace steeping method ‘go to’. Definitely stronger notes coming from the florals – distinct chysanthemum, with orange-y undertones comparable to chenpi, as I’ve observed from other chrysanthemum teas as of late. Some of that same sort of dandelion profile; and malt/hay. This brewed thick, and strong – perhaps a touch stronger than I was desiring? Not a bad Grandpa contender; but I think I preferred this with other prep methods overall.

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80
2955 tasting notes

This is a really old sipdown with a sample I got from JK7Ray over on reddit.

I rinsed this 15 seconds in cold water just because its been at the bottom of my bag for a while and I didn’t know what scents it might have absorbed.

Brewed ~2-3 minutes in 600 mL of hottish water (half boiling water, half cold tap water). Once again I end up with a deep orange/amber brew that smells medicinal and fruity.

This is one of those teas where you describe what you taste and wonder why anyone would drink that (puerh drinkers get it). It does have a medicinal chrysanthemum flavour (might be osmanthus) and the white tea is light and slightly vegetal. I get an overwhelming flavour of dill and dry grass. It certainly seemed medicinal, like what you expect dry osmanthus and dill to taste like. There is only one flower and no dill, but that sums up the major flavours.

This is quite a unique tea and I do recommend people try it, but it isn’t something I’d buy/trade for again.

Flavors: Dandelion, Dill, Dry Grass, Herbs, Medicinal, Osmanthus, Vegetal

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 3 min, 15 sec
hawkband1

I liked this so much a bought a 2nd cake! I get dill weed from this tea too (but I like it).

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82
239 tasting notes

This tea tastes like spring. There are happy, bright flowers. There’s honey and citrus. Maybe there are some orange blossoms.

Floral is the main descriptor though.

Good tea, but not my thing. I’m just not a fan of citrus.

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 3 OZ / 100 ML
twinofmunin

the citrus is just so strong. i think i’d like this one a lot more with a bit less citrus.

Hoálatha

Yes! I think I would too.

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88
533 tasting notes

Backlog.
I used my new pu knife to break a chunk off this cake. It really smells of dill weed.
5g, 75ml gaiwan, 190F
Rinsed once. 20s/30/20×6/25/30/35/40/1m/1/2/5m
Long lasting tea. I eventually stopped when flavor started to fade, though my water was cooling off and I didn’t want to heat more.
Beginning steep was thick with dillweed and a slightly floral flavor. 2nd steep went a little longer and brought out savory and dillflower in addition to dillweed and thick mouthfeel. I didn’t like the savory taste, so I returned to 20s for a while.
Over the next 6 20s steeps, it returned to dillweed, but sweet. Mouth coating, thick and sweet aftertaste. Cause my mouth to tingle. Dill came out more in longer steeps. Faded toward end.
I liked this. Different but good. I’ve entertained getting another cake or two next time I order. 88

Flavors: Dill, Floral, Sweet, Thick

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74
2965 tasting notes

Now, white tea and myself do not always understand one another. But when Super Starling! sent some of this my way, well, who was I to refuse?
So I brewed it up this morning, and boy, if this isn’t some good stuff. It had none of the muskiness that I can sometimes get from white teas, and a lot of really lovely, almost earthy flavor. I might be forgiven for thinking this was a black tea, for a split second. Its very rich, and I really enjoyed it this morning!

Super Starling!

Yay! I liked this one, too! :)

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78
206 tasting notes

This tea has flowers that you can watch open while you steep it. That’s really fun — and an inkling of what’s to come.

This is a super foresty and earthy blend. At first sip, I didn’t care for it. I was like “am I eating dandelions out of my front yard? Am I a rabbit?” (No. But I am a philistine.)

But as it’s cooled, I really like the deeper notes in here. It’s a claylike*, round taste that I appreciate.

*Disclaimer: I don’t eat a lot of clay, but it’s what I imagine clay would taste like. And, oddly, “clay” is a flavor you can pick below. So I am not the only person that’s like “it’s, you know, a pottery-in-progress kind of taste.”

As I approach the bottom of the cup, I’m really coming around. This isn’t something I would have picked out, but I’m glad I tried it.

I’m going to take this home and try steeping it before bed sometime. I think it would be a nice evening tea. As, I suppose, one would expect from something called “Moonlight Sonata.”

Flavors: Clay, Dandelion, Dirt, Flowers, Grass, Spices

Daylon R Thomas

That stuff actually keeps me up. Did you brew it Western or Gong Fu?

Super Starling!

Daylon, I think that my blood is mostly caffeine, so it’s a wash. I brewed it with a gravity steeper. I think that counts as Western style. I almost never re-steep.

Daylon R Thomas

Western to me is anything longer than two minutes with less than one tea spoon of leaves per eight ounces lol.

Super Starling!

I tend to over-leaf and over-steep for a super rich flavor, but yep, I’m Western style, basically.

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90
266 tasting notes

Gongfu brewed, Moonlight Sonata has a smooth sweet taste that is a cross between being floral and fruity. It also does very well with numerous infusions. All in all it makes an excellent light evening tea to drink at night.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C

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