Straight out of the oldest tea forest in Yunnan comes the finest wildcrafted black tea we have had the pleasure to taste. Picked from wild trees up to 300 years old, Ancient Spirit is a pure embodiment of deep, ancient wilderness.
Toss the leaves into a warmed gaiwan and you take in the aromas of an old growth forest in the summertime, with powerful notes of warm wood, citrus, and medicinal herbs among a slight floral background. The wet leaves smell herbaceous and hint at aged tobacco, malt, and wild berries.
The taste is huge and complex. Medicinal herbs and flowers take the front, with orchid and jasmine being the most prominent florals. A grounding bitter note pulls it together with a middle of tart and sweet — black cherry and elderberry. Near the finish there are notes of spruce and a touch of mushroom, finishing with a light mineral bite and spice not unlike that of fresh wintergreen berries. You may find yourself lost in the taste and the powerful aroma of petrichor, not noticing the immense energy this tea brings with it!
Please take time to savor this tea…it is truly a huge gift from nature and I have never been more excited to share such an incredible tea with my customers. Take from it what you will…but for me, this tea is transcendent and brings me back to my roots.
Sweet
Tart
Berries
Herbaceous
Florals
Aged Tobacco
Old Forest
Medicinal Herbs
A name has never been so appropriate for a tea, one that transports me through environments and time. Ancient Spirit hits all the right notes and feels. Complex (see the other reviews!), substantial yet light, stimulating yet grounding. P…Read full tasting note
I am going to break a long-standing rule of mine with this review. I have previously made it known on at least a couple of occasions that I will not assign a perfect score to any tea. Honestly, I'm pretty free and easy with grades of 80+ be…Read full tasting note
Thank you Derk :D for this sample. This has been on my wishlist for a very long time. Like many of my wishlist items, it was a tea that is long gone (at least for now) and the likelihood of being able to try it …Read full tasting note
I slept with the sliding door to the garden open all night, toasty under the down comforter. It was in the low 40s when I woke up. I wanted this tea specifically -- my favorite red tea even though I drink it rarely. In fact, I shared mos…Read full tasting note
It's always nice to get tea from Whispering Pines, since shipping costs from the U.S. to Canada are so high. Thanks to Daylon for the generous sample! I steeped 6 g of leaf in 120 ml of water at 195F for 7, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 5…Read full tasting note
I thought I wrote a note on this a while ago. What I was going to say was that this was a clean black tea with a very light berry sweetness, a pine woodsy aged quality, and a calm qi. All thanks to Whiteantlers. Anyway.
A very interesting tea that was a gift from a friend. The dry leaf smells of strong herbaceous grape leaf, fresh rain fallen forest floor, white grapes, clay, and milk thistle. A medley of unique scents. I warmed my gaiwan and placed some i…Read full tasting note
I tend to compare every wild arbor black tea from Yunnan to W2T's Arbor Red nowadays, it has become the staple tea of this category for me. As for Ancient Spirit, this one seems to have a really good reputation on here so I was excited to t…Read full tasting note
I feel a bit like a caveman with this tea -- my second session with it. I get the bread, camphor, prunes, berry, tobacco... most of the notes that folks have mentioned. Less tree and forest, I suppose. The overall impression is just a ligh…Read full tasting note
Not sure if it's because of the age, but this tastes way different than I remember. Super fruity. Lots of stone fruits. Really tasty, I drank through the remainder of the bag pretty quickly.
