The Jabberwocky

Whispering Pines order has arrived! Huzzah! I’ve been wanting to try this one for a while so decided I’d give it a go first.

First sip is malty, chocolatey, and salty with a hint of some kind of stone fruit. After that it turned to sweet potatoes and sweet corn/corn husk. Surprisingly light a refreshing for a black tea, not to mention remarkably smooth. Would definitely consider picking up more of this (though shipping to Canada is sadly a deterrent).

I used about 4.5 grams to 11 oz of water in a Smacha autobrewer (feeling lazy today). This brewed a beautiful deep orange color with a malty spiced aroma. It turns almost neon orange on the second steep, crazy color.

Taste was a good balance of black tea malty body with a pinch of cinnamon, cocoa nibs, and a light creamy character. Nicely balanced and aftertaste of something kind of like sweet potatoes, although a bit bitter and raw in later steeps, closer to raw potato. A nice, pleasing tea to get you started on a rainy day.

As I’m entering the world of loose leaf teas Whispering Pines has been a solid company and I like how there is much variety yet it’s small attention to detail. This tea got my attention by how bold it stated to be. Indeed the brew (in a giawan gongfu style) brewed up a nice amber elixir that was very fruity, jammy and a bit musk not very much cocoa noats as some of the other teas, but this is just me, and it’s a rich mouthfeel this one is a wake you up fruity yet earthy black. I liked it very much and the name is just too cute.

I shared this little sample with my girlfriend on a misty Ohio day—finals week is in full swing, and it really makes me appreciate the little down time I have.

I think I’m starting to move away from black teas—they tend to have a sort of bitterness that I don’t really like. It’s not like the sweet bitterness of a shou (or even sheng), but a more tangy, astringent bitterness. This isn’t a bad tea by any stretch, but I’m not nearly as into black tea as I used to be.

Anyway, as far as flavor, I tasted classic bready notes in the first infusions, with later infusions tasting more like bitter honey. I’m also getting some mineral notes. Body is not super thick, but it’s nice and mellow. My girlfriend kept getting notes of soy sauce, which was interesting, and it brought her back to her mom’s cooking. She started craving broccoli and tofu—crazy that tea can do something like that.

Anyway, this is a good tea, if not a blow-your-socks-off tea.

Fruity, chocolaty. Coats whole mouth with a warm sweetness. Cup gone way too soon.

I’ve been waiting to try this for so long. Thank you Whiteantlers!

And I need to try it again. I did it western, and it was quite pleasant. Longhan fruit, salt, and malt were what I tasted. I need to do it again Gong Fu before I judge it.

30Mar- dry leaf malty, fruity, hay? wood? I’ve made this both westren and in a gaiwan. Both ways got flavor notes of chocolate, cherry, malt, and cream/thick body. Also some honey. Very complex tasting tea. No astringency, especially as at one point I forgot to time it. I was able to get 4 steeps westren style and I don’t know how many steeps gaiwaning. I lost count.
It was so good, it just kept giving flavor. I drank this until my kettle was empty.

More tea! There’s no stopping me today :) I made up a cup of this after dinner, and I loved it tremendously. I wasn’t sure at first exactly what I was tasting, but a few sips sorted me out on that front! This is a fairly complex tea, to my mind, at least in terms of the flavour combinations it presents. It starts off smooth and sweet, with notes of blossom honey and a slight saltiness. The mid-sip is all about the chocolate, dark high-cocoa chocolate with some fresh baked bread notes. After this comes a reasonably strong fruitiness – I thought black cherry at first, but it’s deeper than that, and more reminiscent of plum or maybe damson at times. It ends fairly sweetly with a hint of caramel and just the faintest touch of cooling eucalyptus. I found it a very refreshing cup, and incredibly moreish. A tea I could (and will!) drink at any time of day. I’d forgotten how much I liked Whispering Pines, but this has been a timely reminder.

1.5 tsp of leaf, 3.5 minutes, boiling water. Splash of milk.

So I picked up some teas from Whispering Pines for the first time. I got them today and I started with this one. I am a fan of Black Tea and use it to give me a break from my ripe pu’erhs. I brewed up about 5 grams gongfu style in a 100ml gaiwan. I feel it was a bit light so maybe a bit more leaf would be better. The wet leaf smells sweet and woody with a bit of some kind of fruit. I could tell this was a blend as it tasted like two other teas I have combined (a Jingmai Wild Arbor Black and nice malty Yunnan Black). This was quite enjoyable and had a lingering sweet aftertaste that was really nice. There were notes of baked bread and brown sugar along with a little wood. I also got into some floral notes in the middle steeps. It gave surprisingly well considering leaf size and it being a black. I think I will try this one again Western style as I often like my blacks brewed that way. Not sure what to think about this vendor yet and I have about 3 Oolongs I also bought from them to try. All in all I would say if you like black tea give this one a try. Pretty tasty.

im on the 3rd infusion atm.. all is going well. the liquor is a nice reddish copper color. smells kind of like brown sugar being cooked slowly on top of a piece of wood. 4th infusion, this tea has a certain syrupy sweetness for me, toffee, a brisk woodsy feel. i dont get the same “rounded” taste/smell that i get from golden snail or yunnan gold tips. i pick up a strong molasses note, and i think black cherry or plum.. nice.

the dry leaf smells similar to to the brewed aroma but add fine dark soil and also “barnyard smell” (moist hay.) the look of the dry leaf does not have that cool blueish tinge that the WP photo shows.. they are light black to dark brown and some lighter brown on the bends.. looks a bit like a frizzy beard.

inside the pot: between 4th and 5th infusion leaves have almost doubled in size and are looking helter skelter, but before this the leaves sat more uniform with each other and kind of bended around the pot together.

as for caffeine level i cant tell really, i have a kind of tolerance. im drinking this at 7:43 yet i think i’ll be alright, so it couldn’t be too high.

my steeps have been improvised (no exact timing) though ive given generous amounts of time per steep.. lots of flavor to savor.

- nycoma