Ailaoshan Black Tea

Here’s another one of the Spring 2016 teas I have desperately been trying to finish. This was one of my first purchases from Whispering Pines Tea Company and I totally forgot I still had it. At first, I was a little concerned about the tea’s age, but after opening the pouch and catching a whiff of ridiculously herbal, woody tea leaves, my concern melted away. I found this tea to be an exceptionally balanced black tea with enough depth and complexity to keep one coming back for more.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 205 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 14 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of malt, wood, roasted nuts, spice, and molasses. After the rinse, I began to catch hints of citrus, camphor, sweet potato, and leather. The first infusion produced an almost identical bouquet. In the mouth, I detected a mix of wood, nuts, leather, and malt underscored by hints of citrus, camphor, sweet potato, molasses, and spice. Subsequent infusions allowed the nut impressions to more clearly define themselves. They reminded me of a combination of roasted almond, roasted chestnut, and beechnut. The sweet potato, camphor, and molasses notes strengthened slightly, joined by notes of caramel, butter, pine, smoke, honey, minerals, and dark chocolate. The indistinct citrus impressions morphed into a clear orange presence, while the melange of spices also came into focus, resembling a mix of anise, black licorice, ginger, cinnamon, and black pepper. The later infusions were clean and smooth on the nose and in the mouth. I detected mild notes of malt, butter, leather, roasted nuts, and minerals underscored by lingering citrus, spice, pine, camphor, and honey tones.

Overall, this was an exceptionally refined Yunnan black tea. I could see what all the fuss was about and only wish that I had gotten to this one a little sooner. I guess that just means I’ll have to pick up a pouch of the 2017 harvest at some point in the near future.

I received this as a sample from Whispering Pines and loved the tea. Sad to say it is not available or I would have definitely bought more of this tea. Loved the malty rich flavor caramel flavor.

This is the first tea that I’ve tried from this company, it came my way via the GCTTB. This tea smells more like a dark oolong than a black tea to me. It has the dried fruit flavour that reminds me of some of the darker Wuyi oolongs that I’ve tried. There’s some of the dried fruit notes in the flavour as well but overall the dominant flavour is more malty with a slight hint of cocoa.

I’m mostly a flavored tea drinker, but I am slowly moving into the world of unflavored blacks.
This is very smooth, and goes down a treat. Its a good, sturdy cup.
There is no bitterness to it, just a pleasant trace of maltiness.
I’ve got a bit of this left, and will enjoy my next cup.

I generously received this sample as a part of my WP order.

Unflavoured black tea currently resides in the “unfavoured” pile, along with sheng puerh, flavoured green tea, and honeybush. That’s not to say I dislike those guys, or that I don’t have all-time favourites residing in those categories, but they do get a low priority stamp when I’m trying to decide what to steep next.

This Ailaoshan black is smooth, has some great flavours, and I can easily drink a whole pot serving, as opposed to a single mug steep and/or a gongfu session. Still, drinking through my black teas right now is a bit of a chore. My most voluminous teas are currently (mostly Chinese) black and rooibos blends, and I’m done with all them for now.

Maybe my tastes will change in the winter. Maybe I need to mix up the black tea section with a little darjeeling. Oh, hum.

Savory, smooth, cocoa, peat, bakery, a wisp of smoke and the faintest bit of anise. Medium-rich for a black, full-flavored. A nice cup, would be delighted to find this tea in a restaurant.

Sipdown (143)!

Thank you Scheherazade for the sample!

I drank this one on the commute to work this week, I’d have loved to brew it Gong Fu but I was a little hesitant that the sample wouldn’t be quite enough leaf and my session would be a little week. And, in the end I ended up putting the rest of the sample in the GCTTB because Jillian had asked to try it, and I just had to take advantage of the chance to share a WP tea since everyone wants the chance to get to try them. Usually for good reason.

You’ll have to forgive my lazyness; I’ve built up a queue of posts this week and I’m feeling too tired to reword all of the jot notes into paragraphs, so these next few notes will likely just be copy and pasted jot notes for convenience/speed.

- Brisk/Astringent at first
- More of a round/clean flavour as it cooled
- Malt/Raisin/Honey top notes
- With some woody, cinnamon, and nut body notes
- Little bit of a sweeter marzipan finish?

This is the third Whispering Pines black tea sample I am reviewing. I mentioned that I found them all to be a bit generic, that is generic to eachother, not among tea in general. Now the other two, I was very curious to try, but this one I just KNEW I was going to like. Why? Because I have had cocoa amore, and other black teas from the same region, with similar notes, and this one was a shoe-in. I am still not sure they send me the correct tea Haha. Bad is definitely not a word I would use to describe it, it was decent, but really, really weird. My first reaction was “This is what they use to make cocoa amore”? MY second reaction was “This tastes like pesto” No I’m not kidding, it really does, I think primarily like pine nuts but with some earthyness too that makes it very pesto-y. Very little chocolate or cocoa at all. I brewed it pretty strong but still, just not as I expected. Very fruity, very floral. Not bad by any mans though, I’m going to give it a lowish grade for now but reevaluate with the rest of my sample.

I just got this sample from Whispering Pines Tea Company yesterday! I am so excited to try the other teas I ordered (look for tasting notes on Port, North Winds, and 2013 Ontario Pu-erh coming soon). This tea is a smooth, sweet treat. I’d like to add a longer tasting note at some point but we are starting case rounds so ta-ta for now!

I brewed this based on Brenden’s recommendations!

Had this tea first thing this morning, no milk. I enjoyed it, but I think I need a milky tea in the morning — it feels comforting and soothing and I need all of that that I can get in the morning! I think, for drinking teas without milk, I might prefer a brighter, fruitier tea. I’d like to get some good green samples to drink in the afternoon.

I also purchased some spring water to make my tea with at home because I made a cup of the Wild Grey with our tap water and felt like there was something in the way of the flavor, but then tried again with the spring water and liked it much more. Related: I learned online that Earl Grey isn’t traditionally served with milk! I feel like a doofus.

I’ve noticed that the Whispering Pines teas have made me quite jittery even from the first few sips, while teas from teabags usually give me a gentle energy. I’m a bit worried that loose black teas might be a bit too much for my body, which makes me sad. Especially since I just placed an order with Upton for an Assam sampler and a bunch of other samples.