Golden Orchid

(From the Unflavored Traveling Tea Box)

This tea is outstanding. I knew it would be given that North Winds is the base, but I’m still impressed with the layers of flavor here. The sip starts out mildly fruity and then morphs into dark chocolate and sweet vanilla with a bit of a crusty bread note. Every now and then there is a hint of cocoa. It’s not bitter but a deeper chocolate note than the dark chocolate. It’s so good, and even though there are all of these heavy flavors the body of the tea manages to stay light which I find charming. As the tea cools I get another hint of the fruity, cherry like note. Love, love, love it.

Wow, did this tea get better? I’ve had it once or twice since my order came in a couple of weeks ago, and somehow it seemed…lacking. Maybe it was because I wasn’t in the right mood, maybe it was because I had different expectations. (It does seem different from the old version but it’s not just the vanilla bean.)

Oh! I just realized, the last few times I brewed I forgot about drinking it until it was lukewarm. It could be an issue of temperature…I’ll take note of that. It’s much better when it’s still hot.

The dry and wet leaves smell absolutely decadent, like cocoa and sweet sparkling vanilla. The tea liquor has an aroma of chocolate fudge, whipped cream, and cherries. Mouth-watering delicious. The taste is very similar, too! It tastes like dark chocolate! Thick, rich, wonderful dark chocolate. I for one think that the darker the chocolate, the better, so this is heaven. It’s so smooth too. Mmmmm. The vanilla bean adds an element of sweetness and smooths out the tea base. Makes it velvety soft, creamy. It’s like a liquid chocolate dessert. I’m noticing fruitiness but it’s not quite cherry. I was thinking plum, then I second-guessed myself and read the tasting note. I guess it is plum! Neat. It’s not very strong, it’s just a subtle hint beneath the chocolate and vanilla. After sipping there’s a slight nutty aftertaste and caramel sweetness. The notes of cocoa carry through. Oh my, my, my. This is so good and I can’t get over how SMOOTH and RICH and VELVETY it is! It’s a keeper. I was unsure, but I’m convinced now. AND it’s good for resteeping. I am so on board.

Upped my rating.

I got my Whispering Pines order in this weekend! Woot Woot! I wasn’t in the greatest of tea moods last night, BUT I was craving chocolate so I had a cup of this.

When I received the sample of this from MzPriss awhile back i didn’t realize at first that it was a flavored tea so I brewed it in a gongFu. Gongfu and this tea weren’t the best mix at least for me. This was much better brewed normally. This was my dessert last night. Chocolate, vanilla and creamy yum. 3 steeps out of this bad boy. Thanks for inventing such an wonderful tea!

Sipdown (insert melodramatic tune here). Every time I drink this, it reminds me of good chocolate milk: sweet, creamy, with rich chocolate and a bit of malt. So long Golden Orchid. We will see each other soon, I swear.

Golden Orchid, I wrote a haiku for you:

Rich silky liquid
Flavours blossom in my cup
Indulge. Joyful mouth!

It’s really that good. Cocoa and vanilla, what a taste.
I loved the base tea as well (North Winds), but the vanilla is the secret. Vanilla makes everything taste better, literally, everything.

First two steeps were very rich and dark, third a bit weaker but still worth it.

I’d tried this yesterday in the middle of painting but didn’t have time to sit and properly enjoy it and take it all in, so I had it first thing this morning again, so worth it.
I also used bottled water, what a difference….

Definitely a restock!

“Lights flicker from the opposite loft
In this room the heat pipes just cough
The country music station plays soft
But there’s nothing, really nothing to turn off” Visions of Johanna, Bob Dylan

I appreciate everyone’s enthusiasm for this tea. For me the joy of this tea is in its understatement. It is not a bombardment on the taste buds, but so well balanced; a tea that has been built, not blended. Each of the pieces critical, there, but not there. A handful of rain, if you will, tempting you to defy it.

I have a big problem with this tea. It just keeps resteeping and giving me more cups. Well actually I guess that’s not a problem. But I’m sort of ready to do something else!

In other news, textbooks are expensive. Crazy expensive.

In other other news, my husband figured out that I love another. I suppose it was obvious, the evidence is all over me. And I keep meeting him in the bedroom for some heavy petting. The way he gazes into my eyes makes me so happy, and I have only known him for two months. Hearing him snoring next to me is the happiest sound ever. All I have to do is make a little tongue clicking sound and he comes running, just like a dog. And if I stop paying attention to him, he headbutts me to remind me that he is there.
http://imgur.com/a/Og5b3#5

Okay, okay, I get it now. This tea is pretty fantastic! It lives up to the hype!

It had a little side-trip on its way here, though. I thought it was going to arrive on Monday with the 52teas I ordered…would have been the perfect mail day. Instead, USPS failed, and sent my package 90 miles north of me, and then sent it back. Good job, USPS. Oh, and in the 100-degree heat. Poor tea! But it’s here now, so I’m happy.

Real vanilla and cocoa notes makes this one of the few teas I could drink instead of hot chocolate. It reminds me a lot of Tealux’s chocolate delight; however it is much more amazing, since the only flavoring here is vanilla beans. Delicious milk chocolate in a cup. Yum!!!

Now, if only I had ordered North Winds, I could have tried the base tea….!!!

this is NOT going in my cupboard…bad Cavocorax! who sent this to me, forcing me to drink this right away so as not to increase my cupboard.

I was curious about this one because it’s pretty popular right now and seems to be getting good reviews on the whole. I haven’t yet ordered from WP yet – well beyond my really small joint order with Cavo.

This tea is pretty tasty. I dunno if it’s rock your socks off sort of tea for me, but i’d pick it up again and rotate it in through my cupboard. It’s a chocolatey, malty, vanilla like tea…though there’s a note in there that makes me think of oolongs that made me less enthusiastic about the blend. I think it might? be the vanilla, though i can’t say for certain. On the whole though, a really nice cup of tea that started this insane day for me and set me on the right foot. Thanks Cavocorax!

I received my order today. i was so excited to try this tea. its the most popular fr Whispering Pines and i was curious to try. prepared according to the WP instructions. this blend is unbelievable, i didnt imagine how amazing could that be . its chocolaty smooth, bready, vanilla, in other words, perfection in a cup. Nothing artificial. its notes remind me Verdant’s Laoshan Black on steroids. bold and smooth. i made 3 steeps. 2nd and 3rd were pretty good, maybe a little less vanilla, but still were close to the original. I’d say more bread came out. I kept sniffing my empty cup, it smelled like handmade fudge.
i’m very happy that i ordered from Whispering Pines. i placed an order last Friday, got on Monday. And i really love to get handwritten notes. Thank you Brenden