Autumn Foxtrot

meh. not terrible, not enough to make me want more, glad i tried it. still hate steepster.

I’m becoming less afraid of pu’erh teas as time goes on. I wasn’t at all convinced by my first two, but as I’ve tried more, I wrinkle my nose less and less when I’m drinking them. Surely a good sign! I don’t have many black teas with me at work at the moment, so I pulled this out as a reasonable substitute for a cold, dull morning. It’s my first week back at work after my week’s holiday, so it’s been busy and stressful and more or less completely awful. A good strong tea is just the thing I need.

I was cautious with the leaf and brew time of this one, for a first try. I used 1 tsp and added it to boiling water for about 2.5 minutes. I figure I can always work upwards from here, but I wanted to break myself in gently. The liquor is a golden red-brown.

The main flavour is definitely earth. Damp, composty earth. There’s also a hint of smoke, although it’s not overpowering. It puts me in mind of a bonfire on a damp autumn night. There’s a coolness towards the end of the sip that’s making me think of mint, or menthol. That, too, is fleeting, but pleasant all the same. I’m not really getting any of the berries or sweetness mentioned in the description, but I guess a longer brew time with more leaf might bring those flavours out. Other than the liquor colour, I’m also not picking up any rooibos. I can’t say I saw any amongst the dry leaf, though, so perhaps my bag just needs a good shake! What I will say is that this is such a pretty tea. The red safflower petals make such a distinctive contrast with the dusky black-brown leaves and black-red elderberries. I like that they were inspired by a red fox in a forest, too — very atmospheric!

I’m looking forward to experimenting with this one a little more — varying leaf amounts and brew times until I find a balance that works for me. I’d never have thought a smoky pu-erh would be a tea I’d find myself enjoying, but there you go. This one has obviously been put together with such care that it’s hard not to like. A surprise hit :)

This is pleasant enough, in a smokey kind of way, especially with just a touch of sweetness added. Sorry I don’t have more to say about it.
The rest of this sample goes to Sil, so this is a sip down!

Tea of the morning. I’ve been curious about this tea for awhile, and thanks to kimquat I am finally able to try it. My recent experience with the Unflavored Traveling Tea Box has made me much less afraid of pu’erhs, so this made me doubly excited to give this tea a try.

My first thoughts with this tea were earth and smoke. I get forest floor and wet granite with a campfire smokey note. As the tea cools there is some honey like sweetness and a sweet/tart berry flavor. I like the berry flavor mixed with the earthy notes a lot. The combination is delicious. When the tea was close to room temperature the earthy flavors were a little too dark and dusty for me. This is a tea I’ll drink hot.

I’m so glad I got to give this tea a try. I’ll likely pick up more of this come autumn.

I’m starting today with the newly redesigned Autumn Foxtrot, waiting on spring teas to arrive…exciting! :)

Also, HAPPY EARTH DAY! Did you know that Whispering Pines Tea Company plants a tree for every ounce of tea we sell? Well, today we are doubling that amount for the sake of our Earth!

Today only, every ounce of tea sold will plant TWO trees!

Read more about our project here: http://whisperingpinestea.com/a-tree-for-a-tea

I spent a lot of time redesigning this tea…as the memory that inspired it is one of my favorites. Read the story below :)

It was a misty evening in the autumn of 2007, just after a light fall rain. Flocks of cedar waxwings flew by the entrance to my favorite forest in Glen Arbor, Michigan. As I entered the forest, a warm breeze blew from the depths of the woods, allowing me to catch the indescribable aroma of moist earth layered with fallen berries and leaves, trampled down upon by the resident deer, bobcat and foxes. As I walked on the trail, catching glimpses of the setting sun through the pine, cedar, oak, and ash tree canopy, I spotted some movement behind one of the fallen, decomposing trees. I crouched down and snuck up behind the tree. When I slowly poked my head out, I stood ten feet from the most beautiful red fox I had ever seen. The fox playfully trotted away and hid behind another tree. We played hide and seek like this for a good five or ten minutes before the fox spotted some dinner and took off.

Autumn Foxtrot begins with the warm and sweet aroma of wet moss, cedar leaves, and old campfire wood. At first taste you can note a thick honey sweetness with lingering blackberry notes, remniscent of the moss-covered logs beneath wild berry bushes on the forest floor. An aftertaste of cooling cedar leaves lingers on with the damp forest notes of aged pu’er, perfectly embodying the humid forest after an autumn rain. In the second infusion you will find deeper wood and berry notes with warm lingering clove and smooth, fresh mineral notes comparable to cool mountain spring water. Infusion number three is filled with pure sweet cedar woven into an unbelievably smooth body, with stronger clove and berry notes playing in the background. This beautiful blend is an etereal manifestation of humid, deep autumn forests and the wildlife that resides beneath the canopy.

Note that the loose puerh in this blend was harvested in 2007, the same year as the memory that inspired it!