Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Dark Chocolate, Honey, Malt, Chocolate, Cocoa, Dirt, Wood, Smooth, Bread, Fruity, Cherry, Sugarcane, Grapes, Mineral, Nutty, Roasted, Roasted Nuts, Caramel, Bark, Cacao, Grain, Toast, Spices, Graham Cracker, Earth, Autumn Leaf Pile
Sold in
Not available
Caffeine
High
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Tea Pet
Average preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 3 g 10 oz / 291 ml

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63 Tasting Notes View all

From Whispering Pines Tea Company

This black tea from the Wu Yi mountains of China carries the boldest dark chocolate notes that I have ever come across in a tea! Slightly roasty with a sweet finish, this has quickly become one of my absolute favorite teas. The dry leaf aroma is pure dark chocolate and I commonly steep this in a pot with the lid open just to make my house smell like chocolate! Fujian Black Tea is the base tea in our Mint Chocolate Chip Black Tea!

About Whispering Pines Tea Company View company

Whispering Pines Tea Company is dedicated to bringing you the most original, pure, beautiful tea blends. We use only the highest quality ingredients available to create additive-free teas teas inspired by the pristine wilderness of Northern Michigan. Our main focus is on customer satisfaction and quality.

63 Tasting Notes

96
268 tasting notes

OMG this tea smells like CHOCOLATE! The taste too is roasty, toasty, smoooooth chocolate. Um. I can haz moar? There is no bitterness and no astringency. Just a little piece of tea bliss :-). The cool thing about this tea is there a wave of chocolate flavor that rolls over my tongue after the sip and it’s more intense than the flavor during the sip, at least for me. I still love Ailaoshan black a little bit more, but this tea is excellent! I used a full tablespoon rather than a half, which turned out to be a good decision.

Also, I had a weird dream that there was a communal Steepster refrigerator. MzPriss opened it up and opened up one of the fruit/veggie drawers and it was full of mushrooms and dirt. She looked at me and said “Oh look, Brenden teleported us some mushrooms!” I have no idea what MzPriss actually looks like, but this person in the dream was her somehow. What is wrong with me?

Flavors: Dark Chocolate, Roasted

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 3 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML
MzPriss

Snort laff!! If Brenden could I’m sure he would teleport us some mushrooms. And a communal Steepster fridge would be awesome!

TheTeaFairy

Hahaha! You know your addicted to tea when??? this dream was hilarious and I wished it was for real! A communal cupboard would also be awesome!

And yes, told you this tea was pure gooey fudgy chocolate goodness :-)

Whispering Pines Tea Company

This is the best thing I’ve read, like…ever. :D

mj

This is not the first tea-related dream I have had. The problem is fully developed, I think. I suppose this dream came from my not-so-subliminal desire to eat all the good things TheTeaFairy and MzPriss are always talking about and for Brenden to have the ability to teleport things, which I think I can safely say would improve all of our lives. Thanks for the dream mushrooms, Brenden :-). And yes, a communal Steepster cupboard would be completely clutch!

Ost

Haha that’s hilarious! XD

Suziqzer

Oh cool! A shared Steepster cupboard! Wouldn’t that be fun?!?! Although, with as much swapping as happens around here, we may not be too far from that :)

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155 tasting notes

I’ve been looking forward to making cornmeal pancakes with fruit (started out thinking about ripe Texas peaches) and cottage cheese all week. One of my favorite breakfasts. I decided to use a different cornmeal pancake recipe this morning. And who better to go to for a good recipe than Mark Bittman? Apparently, in the case of cornmeal pancakes – almost anyone. I have no pancakes. I have a bowl of fried-ish polenta-ish cripsy globs with some AMAZING cherry compote I made from frozen organic cherries, some lemon zest, freshly ground cardamom and little maple syrup. I knew better than to attempt pancakes with no leavening. I started in my extremely well seasoned cast iron skillet that is basically non-stick because it’s been cooked in for well over 50 years as it belonged to my grandmother. I used a little oil to ensure success. My poor skillet has crunchy chunks of polenta-ish stuff clinging to it like I would be to George Clooney’s leg if he showed up. I decided to try in the non-stick skillet which I almost never use. I have chunks of crunchy polenta-ish stuff which was scooped into a bowl along with the yummy cherry stuff and some cottage cheese.

In need of comfort and reassurance and inspired by TheTeaFairy, I turned to this tea. Chocolaty, chocolaty goodness. It goes really well with my cherries (also inspired by TTF this morning), and I am getting less hostile toward Mark Bittman by the minute. A big chocolate bomb that is smooth and delicious with zero bitterness or astringency even when steeped around 5 minutes is something that makes my semi-broken heart happier.

Flavors: Chocolate

mj

I’m sorry for your epic pancake fail but this made me laugh so hard!

Cameron B.

Pancakes with no leavening…? How bizarre. Imagining the clinging to George Clooney’s leg… Priceless. :)

MzPriss

The recipe ingredients:

1 1/2 cups fine or medium cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk, or more as needed
2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil, plus more for frying
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup pine nuts
Honey, for serving

The recipe: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/19/dining/19minirex2.html

Sil

oh god, i’m so hungry…. this sounds soo good.

MzPriss

@Sil – it does until you try to MAKE it. I still kind of have a heart ful of hate for ol Mark Bittman at the moment. I wanted pancakes

Sil

LOL we love bittman – have 3 cookbooks in our kitchen haha

MzPriss

I do too! Who would have thought he would try to pass off fried polenta as pancakes????

mrmopar

I got one of those skillets, over 100 now belonged to my great grandmother. And I miss her so and how she taught me to cook.

TheTeaFairy

How did I ever miss this note this moning? Omg my spleen hurts that how much I laughed!
(Being attached to George Clooney’s leg brings all kind of images…)

And really, homemade cherry compote? Let me book a flight to Texas…

And count me in! I also have my grandma’s cast iron skillet…with a wooden handle. Almost as heavy as I am, but everything tastes better in it!!

Mrmopar, this is so priceless that your grandmother taught you how to cook…how precious that skillet must be.

MzPriss

@mrmopar – I learned to cook from my grandmother and great grandmother as well and I miss them both. My cast iron skillets are priceless to me

@TTF – LOL I’m feeling better about the whole thing now (except for the having to clean my skillet part) but I was grumpy this morning. The cherry compote was easy-peasy, just simmered the cherries and lemon zest and cardamom and some maple down until it thickened up some. I have some left for later.

Terri HarpLady

Poor girl! I hate when something like that happens.
I’m thinking this recipe needs to have eggs in it, or egg replacer. Or ground flax seeds would probably work. Something that would bind things together.
I have one of mark’s books, in my crazy who’s who collection of vegan & vegetarian cookbooks from my 30+ some odd years of non-meat eating. Lately I’ve been feeling really nostalgic about all those tasty grain & bean based dishes, I really miss that stuff.
Side note…I use to love polenta, especially Fried polenta!
Maybe you were suppose to refrigerate the recipe in a loaf pan & slice it before cooking it? :)
At least the cherry compote was good, & thank god for tea!

MzPriss

Well if I had thought it through, I would have realized how it would turn out. I did briefly think about no leavening or egg – but Mark Bittman! They really are polenta cakes and not pancakes – but he calls them pancakes and they look like them in the recipe photo. I’m mostly over it now because I had great tea and I hsve some of the cherry stuff left over

Terri HarpLady

You could spread it on toast (another food I REALLY miss).
Or layer it in a fancy wine glass with coconut whipped cream & other yummy stuff…

MzPriss

It JUST so happens I have some coconut whip and that had occurred to me :)

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85
1598 tasting notes

Thanks Courtney for allowing me to steal a small sample of this from your stash! it was just as dark and rich and chocolatey as I imagined and I can totally see how this is the perfect base for the Chocolate Chip tea.

OMG. Just. It’s so good.

Thanks! (157)

Cameron B.

I ordered a sample of this earlier today and I’m pretty excited about it. :D

Sil

feck. i want to place an order…. whines

TheTeaFairy

Sil, you already know what I think of your pseudo hesitation…we both that you will end up DOING IT!!!

Sil

hey… i have not yet succumbed to a Mandala order..i know that i WILL end up doing it…but i’m TRYING for August…

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91
359 tasting notes

Chocola-TEA covered cherry recipe:

1 strong cup of Fujian Black
1 cup of fresh and crunchy cherries

Take a sip, bite into a cherry. Mmmmmm.

Oh yeah! This is making my morning.

MzPriss

I want cherries

TheTeaFairy

Lol, wish I could share them with you…I have to admit these are so good, I just don’t care where they came from!!

MzPriss

We have them in the stores now. I always get some every summer – but I dream of what they would be like if they didn’t travel so far.

TheTeaFairy

Well I must say the ones I’m having now are pretty darn close of “bing” prefect!!

MzPriss

Did you see the snail pictures mj found to go with the Bi Luo Chun? They are amazing and adoreable!

SarsyPie

This sounds amazing. I want a black cherry tea! But one without artificial flavors. Does that exist?

Christina / BooksandTea

Tealux does have a black tea with whole cherries and fig pieces in it, but the ingredients list also includes “flavouring” – http://steepster.com/teas/tealux/33776-cherry-fantasy

TheTeaFairy

MzPriss, those snails, OMG!! Did you see the cherry kiss?

Sarsonator, I gave up on finding a good flavoured cherry tea…I really don’t think it exists… I think my version of it this morning is much better :-)

MzPriss

YES @ the cherry kiss! Those pics make me want to have pet snails :D

TheTeaFairy

Lol, pet snails ;-)

Christina, thank you…unfortunately, I have tried that tea and did not like it. Cherry flavoured teas always end up tasting weird for my own personal taste.

SarsyPie

I’ll give it a try Christina!

Maybe I can use dried cherries and make my own cherry tea. I like your method, TTF, but I can’t always get fresh cherries here. So I’d like to find something for the winter months, too.

mj

I’m glad you liked the snails MzPriss! I’m a little obsessed with those snail pics. They’re just so stinking cute

mj

Also, I have a samples of this and now I’m going to have to bust it out this morning! Sans cherries though, although I don’t really mind. Cherries are ok, but aren’t a favorite of mine

MzPriss

I’m having this tea next and looking at the snails some more. But :O cherries aren’t a favorite???

mj

I’ll make some now and we can be tea twins :-). MzPriss, moment of inspiration brought on by madametj’s recent turtle tea pet acquisition: you could get a snail tea pet?
Yeah, I mean I like cherries but berries are more my thing. Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries….mmmm. The best I ever had were in Germany, of all places, last summer

Cameron B.

Firm, crunchy cherries are the best kind! <3

mj

Also, fair warning: If you look up the photographer that took those snail pics, he has some other very cute insect pics on his site, but also some total boob pics which I discovered AT WORK. Total panic! I haven’t been fired yet though. Such a weird combination of subjects

Dexter

I pretty much love all things cherry, and I’ve found a few that are pretty good (obviously have different tastes than TTF) – this is my favorite cherry tisane, but it’s showing out of stock. :((
http://www.nmteaco.com/Pondi-Cherry_p_404.html

MzPriss

LOL @ boob pics with the adorable snails

Skulleigh

Oh man, I wish I had some cherries now! And those snails are the cutest thing! It’s like he has permission to go to fairyland and take photos!

MzPriss

That is exactly right – they look like snails in fairyland!

TheTeaFairy

Skulleigh, that’s EXACTLY what fairyland looks like!!!

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1440 tasting notes

This one is delightful!

At first sip, I thought Laoshan Black! But subsequent sips revealed a hint at Bailin. It was subtle, and not there at every sip, but very intriguing. And very tasty.

So far, Whispering Pines is 2/2.

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96
218 tasting notes

THIS TEA.

I got it as a sample with my Whispering Pines order and now I want more of this. SO MUCH MORE. Well, at least an ounce.

I made it one morning when my husband and I were at the cabin. We went out on the porch with our mugs, we were getting ready to make some beer. We took our sips…

ME: Wow, that’s a good tea!
HUB: It is a good tea. I was just going to say that! I don’t know that much about tea but this is good. I guess your tea snobbery is rubbing off on me.

Well, like his beer snobbery doesn’t rub off on me!

Anyway, this tea is the embodiment of all the gorgeousness, gorgeousity, gorgeouting of Chinese black teas. Bold with sweet notes, no bitterness, just happiness. And peace. And love.

(Yes, this is a valid tea review.)

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
TheTeaFairy

Lol, beer snobbery!
I’ll make sure to add this one to my next order…yum.

Kat_Maria

Yeah, I just ordered 2 ounces… ;)

Cheri

Beer snobbery has a way of rubbing off. I caught that, too. It’s always a great sign when the husband also says it’s a good tea.

TeaLady441

Sounds so delicious!

Angrboda

In our house it’s whisky, primarily, rubbing off. Beer to a smaller degree. (I really don’t like the word ‘snobbery’ as a way to describe interest) I don’t like either of those things, but I’ve taken to having a sniff when Husband has a dram. I can definitely tell a difference in how they smell. Some are sweet and others are more alcohol-y.

Cheri

I’m a whisky “snob” too. And yes, I love to suit and just take in the aroma before I drink. I love a good single malt scotch, or bourbon, or Irish….yeah, I love whisky.

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790 tasting notes

A sample of this was included in my recent order. It was a good choice based on my other teas. :) It was a good tea. However, even with filtered water, I get smoke out of this. Smokey cocoa. Not strong enough to be bad, but too strong for me to want to keep it on hand. Glad to have had the chance to try it, though. It was one I was on the fence about maybe ordering more of.

Courtney

Noooooo. I hope I don’t get smoke. :/

Whispering Pines Tea Company

Smoke? Really? Hmm…I haven’t tasted or ever heard of anyone getting smoke from this…that’s very strange!

Sil

courtney… if you do i have a nice toasty seat waiting for the tea at my place lol

Nicole

My taster is weird about smoke. I get it in all kinds of things that no one else seems to get it in. It is more than likely just me. That’s one of the reasons I follow lots of people – everyone seems to have at least slightly different taste buds, especially when it comes to tea! It may not even be my taster, it may be my sniffer, which is very hypersensitive to smoke of all kinds. So maybe I’m just smelling something that isn’t really there and that is coloring what I taste.

Courtney

Sil haha! :P

Nicole I also get it in things others don’t. I guess we will have to wait and see. I’m glad it was just a sample for you, at least. :)

Whispering Pines Tea Company

Hmm…I do sort of get warm pinewood in this one, but I agree, we all taste different things :)

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89
652 tasting notes

I’m so silly. Or I have major “mom brain” now, officially.

I was sure I’d ordered the Ailaoshan Black but it was this! D’oh. I think I had it in my cart but changed my mind. Regrets taste bitter.

I was painting my living room all day so I didn’t have too much time to sit and enjoy my tea, but my WP order finally arrived so obviously I made some :)

I need to have more Golden orchid before I review it, but I had this earlier and it was super fudgey and delicious. I did one resteep and it was great.

I even used filtered water because I thought it deserved the best, my husband is going to kill me when I figure out how to tell him that we need some sort of filter or water machine for all of my future tea drinking :)

Brenden – love your packaging, it seems so earthy and natural and simple. Rubber stamps make me happy. And so do handwritten thank you notes :)

I will be back at some point for that Ailaoshan Black!

Whispering Pines Tea Company

Yay! So glad it arrived! :) Enjoy!

Courtney

I ordered this one and the Ailaoshan Black, yay! I can send you some of the Ailaoshan if you like. :)

TheTeaFairy

Oh no!! You must have been so disappointed not to find Ailaoshan…But I think this is a great one, i usually love Fujian blacks. I had the Mint Chocolate Chip yesterday and I think WP uses that same fujian as a base, it was really good and chocolaty.

ohfancythat

I was disappointed for sure, but this was delicious so it’s hard to be too disappointed :)

Courtney I definitely wouldn’t mind trying a cup! :)
And by " wouldn’t mind" I mean “would love”

Courtney

Haha! As soon as it arrives, I’ll send some along.

ohfancythat

You’re the best :)

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100
557 tasting notes

This is my #1 comfort tea for a while now,I have many favorites but this one has been on top for sometime.
I think the other reviews did well to describe this one, it is very dark and chocolatey and malty and just plain delicious. I currently drink it daily because i’m hooked on it and just can not get enough.
Sometimes I put a little Imperial Gold Buds(also from WP) in the steep with it just because I like the way they taste together.
I usually don’t drink a favorite tea on the daily I will sit on them and have them from time to time if I really like it because I wouldn’t want to tire of the taste but this one I will never tire of, I crave it and need it daily. Damn Good Tea, I also love all the WP blends that use this tea :)

Flavors: Chocolate

TheTeaFairy

I spent the night with this one yesterday ;-) and i agree, it could easily become a daily favourite for me as well…

Tommy Toadman

:)it is delicious! I just can’t get enough of it for some reason lol

TheTeaFairy

The reason is CHOCOLATE Tommy ;-)

Tommy Toadman

my weakness

TheTeaFairy

Mine also!!

Bonnie

I finally am able to comment. It’s been ages since Steepster would let me logon. My data was screwed up. Brenden has some good stuff coming up soon…Can’t wait!

TheTeaFairy

Aww! Finaly our Bonnie is back ;-)
(myself and MzPriss have early reviewed some of the “good stuff” that’s coming out soon today if your interested to find out !!)

TheTeaFairy

(I meant “sooner” today)

MzPriss

LOVE my FB

MzPriss

Tommy – I am enjoying your delicious Fujian Gold combo right this minute and it is divine!

Tommy Toadman

it is delish isnt it :)

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