Whispering Pines Tea Company

Thanks to Katiek for sending this to me in her incredibly generous mystery tea box.

I’ve been on an herbal/decaf kick the last few days due to Travelling Tea Box C (there was a huge amount of herbal/decaf teas in it) and now I’m suffering the consequences. I’ve got a bit of a caffeine withdrawal headache and need to do something about it. I decided to cold steep this today since it has assam as well as peppermint in it. The assam and mint are perfectly balanced and this makes one tasty iced tea. It was also the perfect cure for my caffeine withdrawal.

I’m always amazed with the tea I get from Whispering Pines. When I opened the bag the aroma of cinnamon was sooo strong. I thought it was just going to be a cinnamon party. But it’s much, much more than that. It’s sweet with lovely roasty red apple notes. It has a lovely cinnamon background that compliments the oolong quite nicely.

I tried this one again today with a longer steep time (8min30sec). This resulted in a much bolder flavor, but I didn’t notice anything particularly different aside from this. I didn’t get any of the coconut-like aftertaste this time around, but I am nearly certain that was caused by the cookies I had last time rather than by the tea.

I shared this brew with my family. My father said it went well with dinner and my sister said it tasted like burnt coffee (she hates coffee and I’m having a heck of a time finding any tea she likes either, so I wouldn’t take her opinion too seriously. LOL)

It’s already a given that I love dark roasted oolongs. The darker and roastier the better.

I was curious about this one, being labeled “dark chocolate” oolong. Obviously, it’s not chocolate flavored, but I wondered how it came upon the name. I did not detect any obvious chocolate notes, but the same hidden sweetness that I find in all dark roast oolongs. Who knows, maybe that is supposed to be ‘chocolate.’ There was however something slightly different in the aftertaste of this tea, but I thought maybe it was my imagination. Something vaguely coconut, possibly caramel (caramel teas tend to leave me with coconut-esque after tastes). I really do not like coconut in tea, at all, ever. I kept drinking my cup to cover the aftertaste and by mid-cup, I didn’t detect it anymore. Either I developed tolerance for it or there was just something funky going on with my senses at the time. Oh well!

This tastes… odd. I wonder if this was contaminated with some of the other stuff I ordered. The dried tea smells minty, which it should not, so I wonder if the bags aren’t as air-tight as they should have been. If I concentrate, I can taste the milk oolong but there is definitely a spearmint flavor that is mingling in and I’m not sure I like it.

I received my first order from Whispering Pines today and this is the tea that I tried first.
As all the teas from this and three other orders were sitting out on my counter, the scent from this one stood out the most. I didn’t recognize it as safflower as I didn’t know what safflower smelled like before. To be honest, the smell wasn’t terribly inviting, yet I chose to try it first anyway. I was excited about an elderberry tea. Elderberry syrup is my remedy of choice every flu season and it works! If I could have it in tea instead, bonus! I brewed 16oz to take in a thermos and share with my parents this evening. I only poured a small bit for myself to sample. I was undecided about the first couple sips, but as I finished my small cup, the taste became more comforting and I can definitely see myself stocking up on this for winter time. My mother and sister really loved it and my father liked it OK too so I sold them the rest of the bag (They are moving to Montana in a week, so I thought it more convenient to sell them mine than to place an order when their address in in limbo :p) Now I need to buy more for myself! But I’m out of money for a couple weeks :(

I tried this again tonight with a tsp of rock sugar. Steeped 1 tsp of tea in my 16 oz IngenuiTEA steeper for 5.5 minutes. I remain unimpressed. All I can taste is the sugar.

Steeped 10 minutes per instructions.

I was not impressed with the smell of the dry tea. I guess I was expecting it to smell like a graham cracker. The brewed tea smells yummy! It tastes okay. I don’t think rooibos is for me. This is the second one I’ve tried (the first a blend from Persimmon Tree) and I am not very impressed with either.

I can see this possibly working iced with some sugar but fresh-brewed without any sweetener just isn’t doing it for me, which is a shame because I could really use something caffeine free to drink at night. I guess I’ll go back to a cup of regular tea at night, and just hope I can still fall asleep.

This is a very pleasant green tea. It’s light, and the pine is extremely subtle but tasty.

stomach virus be damned!
let’s drink some tea!
oops i just burnt my mouth.
re-do.
this one isn’t one of my faves. it was pleasant, just not very mint in my opinion.
no worries though!
there is a tea for everyone!
thank you KallieBoo! for the great samples!

I could’ve sworn that I put a note up when I first tried this, but apparently not. Huh. Anyway, not the first time I’ve drank this, but unfortunately the first time I’ve recorded it here I guess.
Fruity, smooth and nicely malty. Pretty average to me. But it’s one I seem to keep coming back to. I think this is mostly because I forget what it tastes like so I brew it up again to see. Lol. But it’s a nice, comforting tea to brew up when I just want something to drink and not to have to think too much on it.

I also blended this with a vanilla black tea (georgia tea co.) I had around because I thought I had a note written on this package about adding vanilla to it. (It turns out it wasn’t this one but the Formosa Oolong. Oops) But it does add a nice mellow vanilla-ness to it that supports the whole comfort tea for me. Pretty much this tea gives the vanilla a much needed boost to the base, and the vanilla makes this one overall a bit tastier. ^^
(Rating is based on just the straight Mountain Nectar tea, not on the blended version I made later)

Another retry.
Pleasantly vague smokyness that’s thankfully not in your face, just background. Mildly fruity, but has a strange, almost sour, note to it. No idea where that’s coming from, but it just came to mind as I was drinking. It’s not malty, or there’s so little malty-ness that it’s unmentionable. (maybe that’s just me?) Strange to drink a black tea and have no malty note to it whatsoever. Not bad strange, just strange strange.
I’ll keep this one in my ‘Finish off’ bin, but I can’t see myself reordering it unless there’s a crazy good deal on it.

I’ve had this tea once, though apparently I never put a tasting note up about it. Lol.
I like this tea, though maybe not as much as some of the other teas I have in my cupboard. It’s a nice black tea for anytime I think. Kinda woody, has a mildly sharp bite to it, and it’s a smidge smokey with nice black tea maltyness. Stands up to sugar nicely. Not sure about milk since I don’t take my tea at way.
This is probly one of the teas I’d consider making when I want an easy, plain black tea. And I’d consider reordering it when I run out/if it comes up on sale.

Holy crap! Look at me all reappearing over here and stuff.

I know it was almost a month ago, but I did get better in time to head up north with Fiance for the 4th. We had a blast tubing, four-wheeling, bonfires, and being nature-y

Fiance also never showed symptoms of strep. Jerk.

Anyway. It was probably a good thing I stepped back from here for a little bit. I’ve been able to curb my buying habits at least a little better. It’s not quite as cringe inducing when I check my bank account now. Unfortunately it seems I can’t stay away too long because loving tea and sharing that love kinda doesn’t go away. So I’m back.

After a long (for me) hiatus, I’m back with a review of a sample I got from KallieBoo! Thank you!

I’ve also only had a couple Keemum’s before this, so this is fun!

This cup brews up into something that’s the color of antique cherry wood and has a nice plummy earthy aroma. I didn’t really get smokey, but I’ve found that if the smoke is really subtle it comes across as earthy to me.

The taste is honey and sweet potato at the open, then morphs into an earthy rich maltiness with a slightly sweet and sour plum note. The aftertaste is that honey flavor with a more lingering taste of rich plum. It has a really smooth mouthfeel.

There’s some mild (very mild) astringency that lessens as the tea nears room temperature.

I really enjoyed this, and could see this being a great straight up iced tea.

I am super impressed with my Whispering Pines teas! Haha, I’ve probably said this already :P but yeah, oh and also, I forgot to mention the hand-written note that came with my teas was a nice surprise, good customer service! I had a cup of Honeysuckle White tea by them earlier and didn’t rinse my cup, so there might be a bit of honeysuckle taste in this cup that is not normally present lol. I’ll have to write a review about that one at some point too! Anyways, onto this tea.

First off, this one has a very faint green tea scent dry, nice and light. I steeped for 1.5 minutes at 175 degree water. The steeped smell is of jasmine, fresh little buds of it. The taste is very delicate and fresh, I definitely taste a floral element, whether that is the honeysuckle adding to the jasmine from the previous cup, I’m not sure, but it is quite nice. The green tea is very light and smooth, with the slightest hint of grass. I can see how this is likened to rain in a forest or on blades of grass, it is just fresh and sweet and pure.

Overall, I am quite enjoying this cup, I am finding it quite relaxing and I love the images of a forest it evokes for me. Ahh feeling a bit Zen-like, much needed after a busy busy day at work. I will hold off rating until I try it in a clean cup to make sure the white tea isn’t messing with the flavor.

Drinking another cup of this tea..that I keep hoarding lol. It’s just so good! I love the maté and eucalyptus, so fresh and yummy. It’s getting me through the day..only 4 more hours until the long Easter weekend! Can’t wait! See previous notes on this tea :)