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I just slipped this into our sample section for those of you that want to try before buying. To buy it by the ounce, though, you’ll have to wait until the 1st! :)

http://whisperingpinestea.com/samples.html

Having a cup now since I love it so much. Always hits the spot with that salted caramel note :D

Enjoy!

Our newest limited availability tea! :)

Expertly roasted in-house in very small, select batches, our House Tieguanyin is one of our most prized offerings. This tea begins its journey in the tea fields of Anxi, in the Fujian province of China, where it is picked in the springtime and processed completely by hand by skilled tea masters. After the long and masterful process of processing the tea, it is exported. Its next stop is at our headquarters, where we carefully select a small batch for additional processing.

Our slow-roasting technique is done in-house by Brenden, the owner of Whispering Pines. By using low heat and basing the roast level mostly on the aroma, he is able to produce a traditional-style tieguanyin with absolutely perfect flavor balance. At first, the aroma of the tea morphs into melting butter before filling the room with popcorn, toasted rice, and finally the sweet aroma of salted kettle corn and oven-fresh wheat bread. The heat is slowly reduced at this point and the tea is covered until cool.

The taste of our first batch of House Tieguanyin opens up with a smooth, juicy body with brilliant light floral notes and the signature mineral notes symbolistic of the best Chinese oolongs. The middle and end of the sip carries the thick and warm sweetness of caramelized bananas and the finish is long-lasting with notes of salted kettle corn and oak!

A truly beautiful roast of an already perfect tea, our first batch of House Tieguanyin won’t be around for long!

Due to our extremely limited batches, we have decided to limit the purchase of our House Tieguanyin to one ounce per customer per order.

http://whisperingpinestea.com/house-tgy.html

Okay, for all of you that have ordered this tea in the past and loved it, please beware…you may not want to read this for the sake of your wallets.

Now shipping with Grade A Madagascar vanilla beans. The level of depth and richness in this is beyond words…but I tried :)
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Pure decadence, this black tea blend is packed full of deep creamy cocoa notes! My goal for this tea was to bring the ice cream shop on Mackinac Island into your cup! I began with North Winds – our black tea with dessert notes inspired by the island’s famous fudge. The next step was to seek out the highest quality vanilla beans in the world, hand chop them and blend them into the base tea. Blended with a careful hand and the utmost respect for letting all of the flavors shine, this tea exceeds all expectations!

Golden Orchid carries a rich and exceedingly smooth body with a perfectly balanced flavor profile. Unlike many other vanilla black teas, our base tea shines through the vanilla, creating a mouthwatering synthesis of bold and smooth dessert notes. While the vanilla is noticible by the trained palette, it does more than just add the depth of vanilla notes. Our premium (grade A) vanilla beans sourced from the island of Madagascar accentuate the deep fudge and cocoa notes of the base tea as well as add a thick creamy aspect to the tea, reminiscent of masterfully-crafted dark chocolate. The fruity notes of the tea are ever present, too, with light notes of plum and a mouthwatering layer of dark-chocolate covered Michigan cherries! This tea extends far past the last drop, with the flavor of melted chocolate and sweet vanilla lingering for hours. We recommend enjoying Golden Orchid with shortbread cookies or breakfast pastry’s for the ultimate experience. Click here for our gluten-free shortbread recipe!

Over time, the tea will absorb the vanilla notes and smooth out. We recommend drinking this tea once or twice a week to taste the way it transforms over time. Also note that mixing up the tea prior to scooping out your desired amount of leaf is recommended due to the tendency of the vanilla beans to sink to the bottom of the bag. Enjoy!

Notes
Fudge
Dark Chocolate
Dried Cherries
Vanilla
Pluot
Honey
Malt

Our top-selling green tea blend is back in stock! Our June harvest White Pine was harvested from a grove near Lake of the Clouds in the Porcupine Mountains, Michigan on June 4th. This month’s harvest yields only 10 ounces of The Sleeping Bear Blend, so get yours while it lasts!

This harvest is even better than the last, with an indescribable sweetness brought out by a longer heating process!

http://whisperingpinestea.com/the-sleeping-bear-blend.html

I have some big news — Whispering Pines is headed back to Michigan!

For the past two years, I have been growing the company in hopes that eventually it would fund a move back home. While being located in different locations over the past two years, my heart has always been in Northern Michigan. After all, it is the land of inspiration — the place that created who I am, and in turn, what Whispering Pines has become.

I am proud to announce that because of my amazing customers, I am finally able to go home! On June 1st I begin the journey from Arizona to White Pine, Michigan, just southeast of the Porcupine Mountains. The expected arrival date is no later than June 4th.

I will keep the website open to orders during the move, but they will not be fulfilled until I complete the move and settle into my new home. All orders after Wednesday the 28th at 11:59pm will be filled after the move and sent out no later than Monday, June 9th.

I can’t thank you all enough for helping me grow the business to this point, though I can promise you a few things. Firstly, be on the lookout for new teas. With inspiration comes new teas, and finally going home is sure to provide me with plenty of inspiration! Secondly, rest assured that no matter how much Whispering Pines grows, my quality, handmade traditions, and customer care will always be top-notch. And finally, I can promise you many photos of my new homeland! You can follow my photography on Facebook at Whispering Pines Photography (http://www.facebook.com/whisperingpinesphoto) or at www.lifethroughthepines.blogspot.com.

Once again, than you for making all of this possible! I couldn’t have done it without you!

Cheers,
Brenden Gebhart
Owner and Tea Mixologist

I’m sipping on this tea. It’s a comforting tea and it’s bringing me home :)

Woot! Finally have my comfort tea in stock :) Pine, cocoa, and marshmallow notes with a light body and smooth deliciousness! :D

And one more top-secret release for Steepster people only :)

About the Tea
Silver Moonlight White tea is a very unique autumn-picked white tea. It is minimally processed to preserve the purity of the leaf as well as a beautiful taste and aroma. First, the large leaves generally used to make pu’er are carefully picked and allowed to become lightly oxidized under the moonlight. The following day, they are brought into a shaded area and warm air is blown over the delicate leaves to dry them. Silver Moonlight has delicious sweet fruity notes generally found in white tea but also malty notes generally found in black tea. Notes of honeydew melon and raw eucalyptus honey take the stage as a velvety sweetness coats your mouth, similar to the fuzz on a peach. Light cinnamon spice and malt play background notes and the aftertaste is that of honey wheat bread with melted cinnamon butter! With a medium body and a strong, lingering aftertaste, this makes a great afternoon tea as well as a tea to sip while on hikes. This tea will develop a much deeper body over time, eventually tasting just like a black tea! Silver Moonlight is great iced, too!

Harvest
March 2013
This tea was dry-aged in Yunnan, China for one year

Notes
Honeydew Melon
Raw Eucalyptus Honey
Peaches
Hay
Cinnamon
Wheat
Butter
Honeysuckle

How to brew the perfect cup:
Steep 1 tablespoon of leaves in 8 ounces of boiling water for 3 minutes.
2nd infusion: 5 minutes
3rd infusion: 8 minutes

http://whisperingpinestea.com/silver-moonlight-white-tea.html

Hmm…another tea that has only been released to Steepster people so far… :D

About The Tea
Our Yunnan Silver Needle White Tea was harvested in early to mid-spring (2014) and carefully processed to preserve the purity of the leaf. With pure nearly-opened buds covered in down white hairs, this tea is as beautiful to look at as it is to taste! Yunnan Silver Needle opens with a velvety sweet body with base notes of honeysuckle and melon, complimented by light cinnamon and hay notes. The aftertaste is reminiscent of fresh-cut sweet basil leaves, and lingers on for minutes after the last sip. A fantastic silver needle!

Harvest
March 2014

Notes
Honeysuckle
Melon
Hay
Cinnamon
Fresh-cut basil leaves

How to brew the perfect cup:
Steep 1 tablespoon of leaves in 8 ounces of 190ºF water for 3 minutes.
2nd infusion: 5 minutes
3rd infusion: 8 minutes

http://whisperingpinestea.com/silver-needle.html

I may or may not be posting these before they are released for Steepster people to get first dibs…Who knows… ;)

About the Tea
Ailaoshan Black Tea is one of the most breathtaking teas I have had the chance to indulge in. This tea is grown at over 2000 meters above sea level and shrouded in warm mist nearly year-round. It is harvested from tea bushes that have been cultivated on the edge of one of the most diverse subtropical ecosystems in the world — The Ailao Mountains (Ailaoshan) Nature Preserve. This nature preserve is home to at least 550 plant species and 460 animal species, including the black gibbon and bengal tiger.

Harvested in mid-spring of each year, Ailaoshan Black Tea is carefully processed and carries a warm aroma of toasted cocoa and caramelized plum. At first taste, a range of fruit notes can be identified amongst the delicious cocoa and caramel undertones. The most noticible fruit note is that of caramelized plum, followed shortly by a mix of black currant and longan fruit. A savory quality is experienced at mid-sip as well as in the aftertaste, and salted caramel with a hint of roasted fruit lingers on past the last sip. This is a truly memorable cup of tea and will please any connoisseur of rare and extraordinary black teas!

Harvest
March 2014

Notes
Toasted Cocoa
Caramelized Plum
Black Currant
Longan Fruit
Salted Caramel

How to brew the perfect cup:
Steep 1/2 tablespoon of leaves in 8 ounces of boiling water for 3 minutes.
2nd infusion: 5 minutes
3rd infusion: 8 minutes

http://whisperingpinestea.com/ailaoshan-black.html

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!