OLD VERSION - Manistee Moonrise - v93 (2011-4/2014)

I am such a smoke weakling I can’t even handle this tea.

Sad times.

Loose
Appearance: dark, loose leaf, large pieces of lemongrass, mint
Aroma when Dry: bright,earthy, woodsy mint
After water is first poured: sweet, chocolate notes, minty, smoky, no astringency
At end of first steep: smoky, earthy woody notes, hints of mint
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: light brown
Staple? Likely Seasonal
Preferred time of day: evening
Taste:
At first?: smokey, faint mint and lemongrass
As it cools?: notes get smooth, deep, very creamy lemongrass notes lengthen, no astringency, then gets thick and smoky
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No
Lingers? With a lemongrass smoke texture, no astringency

Second Steep (5 min)
Aroma: Light smoke
Taste: Light smokey woodsy notes

Third Steep (8 min)
faint smokey notes, as it cools mint notes surface slightly

Fourth Steep (6min)
Smokey water
Fifth Steep
Smokey water

This is another one that came in my box from Azzrian. My husband and I certainly have different tastes in tea. We do like some of the same ones, but he never sweetens anything except the occasional iced tea. Oolongs are his favorite. I made this one up for him, double strength, since he likes his tea strong. He thought it was a winner, said it had a lot of flavor-he is not one to get into specifics though. I took a little sip and thought it had a light smokiness, but he didn’t pick up on that. Not sure if this is really to my taste, but I’ll try it again before I make a final verdict. It won’t go to waste because my husband will finish it off. You can get at least 3 steepings from it.

I’m happy I ordered this one! It’s such a unique tea. When it’s hot all I’m getting is the smokiness. I thought eh… But then my mom called.. and my tea got lukewarm.. I took a sip and fell in love. All of the flavors come out. It starts out smokey and then turns sweet and earthy and then turns minty and clean. Gaaahh Whispering Pine’s teas always make me crave camping, hiking, and all that jazz.

thanks so much for sending a bit of this one to try, Kasumi no Chajin! Whispering Pines seems like such a nice creative little tea company. This is my first tea to try from them. It certainly is a unique blend! A smokey black tea with lemongrass, spearmint, and elderberries. I’m not exactly sure if I’ve had elderberries before, and I couldn’t detect any of those. But I love smokey teas! This one is clearly authentic, and doesn’t have that weird fake smoke flavor that I’ve found in other teas. (It seems odd that teas would need a fake smoke flavor anyway.. it’s smoke. Cavemen knew about it.) But I really love that it is combined with lemongrass and spearmint! I don’t mean to discourage anyone from trying this one, but it reminded me of the dentist’s office, and I don’t think it is just the spearmint. Hmm. Very odd blend but it works well!

Been cold brewing all of the teas I was kinda meh about when tried hot, letting them sit overnight in the fridge in my Takeya Flash Chill pitcher, and setting aside a little mason jar of simple syrup with mint from the deck herb garden for my husband (you don’t want to know how sweet he makes his tea given he’s a southerner, ha). So far this has definitely been the winner in terms of having the biggest gap between how I felt about it hot and how we feel about it cold—it is so delicious iced! There’s more flavor (that was what disappointed me about it hot; the taste wasn’t bad, just too weak), and it’s thirst-quenching, but also a smoky, mysterious element that makes one think of campfires, appropriate for iced tea. Really great. Husband loves it too.

I’m gonna keep the score for the hot tea so I don’t confuse myself when I look at my rating logs, but I’m definitely making a note for myself on a “favorites iced” list.

On the bag, this tea recommends a 4 minute steep, and on here a 5 minute steep is recommended. A lot of people seemed to have success with a five minute steep, so I went with that. It smells really good, very naturey and campfirey. I really like smokey teas, and this one is good. It’s very smokey at the beginning of the sip, with the mint coming in at the end. I’m not really getting much of a berry flavor, I think it might be mixing in with the smokey flavor to make it nice and earthy. I wonder how this would do as a cold steeped. Maybe the berry flavors can come out more

Tasty! I liked the smokiness. I think next time I’ll steep a little longer to bring out the other notes people tasted. Even though I accidentally did longer than ten minutes on my second steep, it wasn’t bitter (the smokiness was greatly reduced on the second steep, though).

I’m not sure why this one has gone neglected in my cupboard for so long. One of life’s mysteries, I suppose! The first sip reminds me of Bluebird’s MojiTEA, only with a stronger and deeper flavour. I think the difference is partly in the base tea — this is black whereas the Bluebird is green. I also get lemon here and lime in the Bluebird, but both have the distinctive herbal-hay-citrus flavour of lemongrass, and both are drinks to be sipped in the sun! Bluebird on the beach, and the WP in a sunlight dappled forest on a warm spring day. I love that WP teas are so evocative. It’s obvious that a lot of thought and care goes into putting blends together, and that they’re inspired by strong, distinctive memories or occurences.

I used 1tsp of leaf for this cup, and gave it 2.5 minutes in boiling water. Cautious, I think, but I like starting small and working upwards, especially with teas I’m uncertain of. The liquor is a golden brown, and the main flavour is, surprisingly, pine smoke. In my initial sips, I was picking up mainly lemon with a hint of citrus from the lemongrass. It was quite light and and very fresh tasting, with a strong hint of mint. Successive sips seem to build the flavour to more of a darker intensity, which is where the pine and smoke notes come out. The mint remains in the aftertaste, and offers a refreshing counterpoint to the heavier, more resinous flavours.

I’m not usually a fan of smoky teas, but this is another surprise hit with me. I think perhaps because the smoke is so well done in WP teas — it’s integrated well, never overdone or heavy handed, and it always sits well with the mood and atmosphere the overall cup is trying to generate. I think I’m officially a WP convert!

another one from cavocorax I was hoping that i would really like this one but i found that the mint is just too over powering for me, or at least today it is. I’m not really getting and of the elderberry flavouring or the lemon grass. Oh well…. at least i tried heh