Golden Orchid

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

I absolutely love Brendan’s North Winds and this is it with Vanilla in the mix, what a wonderful creation.
Notes of Smooth Chocolate and Creamy Vanilla are just OMG so good, If you are a fan of North Winds you will prolly like this one alot too.
The Vanilla in this one is just amazing, it is the perfect compliment to the dark chocolate and malty notes that this tea carries, it makes for a very smooth creamy sweet delight.
Brenden mentions an Ice Cream shop on Mackinac Island in his description on this one, tho I have never been in that particular shop, I have to say that he hit the mark with that statement.
When you walk into an Ice Cream Shop and you get a whiff of the Vanilla ice cream they are making in the back combined with the sweet scents that you get from the other ice creams and candies, you can very easily compare that to the aromas that you get from this one. That is a very comforting and welcoming aroma that just makes you feel good.
The taste OMG totally matches the aroma, what you smell is what you actually taste and that is a wonderful thing that don’t happen often enough.
As I’m writing this I’m sipping and trying to think of more write but alls i can think is “oh Vanilla, you are so good to me”
It’s amazing how good the Vanilla in this tea is, this is no nasty vanilla flavoring that leaves a funky film in your mouth, it is real and clean and creamy sweet goodness that you only get from real Vanilla Beans.
I can’t say enough good things about this one, it is delicious to me just like Brenden’s other blends I just can’t get enough.

Oh Yeah, after the tea is steeped out the Vanilla keeps going, very interesting and very good :)

I’ll be order lots of this one for as long as it is available :)

Tea, cocoa, and goofy chaos with my fifth and sixth graders today. Highlights:

(re: lapsang souchong) Uh, that’s just not natural.
(Joseph was originally from Nazareth, not Bethlehem) Since when?
(An innkeeper is not specifically mentioned in the Luke 2 Christmas story) That must be in one of the newer versions.
(“What in the world are you doing?”) Sanding off my Oreo into the cocoa.
(Out the door) Can I take some of that tea home to my mom?

…after which, a quiet afternoon was welcome, and this little treat from derk added an extra layer of cozy elegance. Some vanilla teas taste like artificial vanilla extract. These are quality long, blond leaves, that have snoodled up under a blankie with real-thing vanilla beans. So nice!

So comfortable. Well rounded and soft. Dreamy.

I had a small cup left of this swap from Shae, and it brewed up sweet and light, like vanilla cotton candy. What an enjoyable cup, I wish it was available on the Whispering Pines web site. Thanks for sharing Shae!

Finished off a 1oz bag. The last couple cups in this bag were significantly better than the first. The vanilla must have all sunk to the bottom.

Nice and calm Sunday and thought I’d go through each of the Whispering Pines black tea that I have in stock to re-evaluate them. Sometimes when I get a lot of tea in, my head starts spinning lol. It’s nice to note which ones you really want on your shelf.

Instead of gongfu style, I’m putting 2 g in a 60 ml porcelain gaiwan for 3 min and 5 min.

Yunnan Gold Tips, Wildcrafted Dian Hong, and Golden Orchid so far. So, I had to stop and make an additional note on this one… This one is so good.

I want more. :)

Update: Just finished North Winds (Imperial grade), Ailaoshan and Golden Snail (this one was for 5m/8m instead of 3m/5m). The rest of my day will be Jabberwocky, Cocoa Amore, and Taiwanese Wild Mountain Black.

I’ll be playing Civilization 6 Gathering Storm, watching the news, maybe watch a musical later tonight, maybe finish a couple of books. Haven’t been in the mood to knit the past month so nah on that one. lol

You gotta love free days. Have a wonderful Sunday, all. ^^

note: I’ve done this with What-Cha, TeaVivre, Mandala Tea… Etc. It helps me realize which ones I really like.

Oh man, I forgot how tasty this tea is. It’s a couple of years old at this point, but still ridiculously good. The dry leaf doesn’t smell like anything special, but as soon as the water hits it it turns instantly into rich dark chocolate. This actually carries through unbelievably into the flavour, and I swear this tastes way more of chocolate than any tea I’ve had with chocolate flavour added to it. The vanilla bean isn’t a pronounced note on its own, but I imagine adds more of a decadent sweet note to the already complex tea. I’m glad, as someone who doesn’t love vanilla, that it doesn’t overpower the tea. There’s a slight bitterness and mouthfeel that you might associate with good quality dark chocolate, but no astringency, which is something I’m pretty sensitive to usually. This was somewhat of a gateway into straight blacks for me, and it’s a tea I would purchase in a heartbeat (now I’ve said that I bet it’s not available any more). Thank you so much Sil for allowing me to try this wonderful tea!

Well… hello lovely. Currently enjoying steep #2. Delicious, balanced & complex.

I was excited to get some of this tea, between all the glowing reviews here and on Youtube, I figured it must be incredible. I must say, the hype is true, it is wonderful tea. Each steeping seems a bit different which adds to the excitement. I enjoyed each subsequent steeping tasting and smelling different things. Overall, I think the most prevalent scent and taste was of baked bread. Maybe the fact that I am gluten free added to the appeal of this tea? Overall, delicious. I will guard my supply of this tea :).