2015 Moonlight Sonata

Trying this for the first time tonight. Wow is it a beautiful tea. Drinking this with my wife by the fire place this evening.

1st steep, 20 seconds: Wet leaves give off a strong dill scent. That is amazing! The color of the liquor is a golden orange. The flavor certainly has a slightly sweet dilly type flavor. So unique. And smooth too!

2nd steep, 10 seconds: The wet leaves give off the dill aroma. So fascinating. The liquor itself is a light tawny brown. The flavor seems to be less dilly and a bit more sweet. Wildflower sweet. Not cloying and not quite tart. A tangy sweetness.

3rd steep, 10 seconds: Strap in, baby. Dill is here to stay. And that is fine by me. I should mention this isn’t a dill pickle type of dill. This is more fresh picked dill from your garden. And even then, not overpowering but still definitely in the forefront. And in this steep, the sweetness seemed to finally be it’s equal, dancing along side it on my tongue.

4th steep, 15 seconds: This isn’t going to be too detailed probably from here on out. Why? This stuff is so smooth and delicious that I am drinking it faster than I can really think and type notes on it. The main thought I had from this round is that I would drink this all day long. No problem.

Well, I’m on my tenth steep of this (5 minutes) and it is still pretty flavorful. I might have to buy another cake of this.

I hesitated to get this one at first though I was immediately attracted to it. I’ve started a quest to look for white teas, and I nearly got the Glendale Silver Needle because of how rosy it was, but, I’ve also yet to be satisfied with a Pu-Erh. Amanda and Haveteawilltravel’s notes had me convinced that I might otherwise enjoy this for the price. I did, and I gotta say it’s pretty unique.

Followed the steeping suggestions save one extra five second rinse. Pepper corn and light citrus like tangerine are in the tastes. But they are so strong that they really fall into the category of flavor. Twenty seconds, and it has a very present dill taste with more florals, citrus, and honeyed sweetness. The next two are more herbaceaous and malty, but still spicy, and I get the grapefruit taste Haveteawilltravel is talking about. I expected it to be more of a hint, but no, I actually tasted grapefruit changing back and forth from tangerine. It gets sweeter to me in these two steeps because the honey and light citrus tastes remain with the spiciness. Later on more fruity, but not as sweet and very near being vinegar like in texture and taste. This is past the minute and thirty second point, and it can probably go on. I’ll stop for now.

I would say I feel like I got my money’s worth for this tea and it is definitely a Pu-Erh that appeals to me. Yunnan Moonlight Whites are actually my favorite, and as with any of them, this tea gives me a really controlled but enduring energy flow. I’m just not sure how often I’d drink it.

The tasting notes of peppercorn, dill, citrus, and a bit of the honey sweetness are all highly discernible and not flavors I’d all want over and over again. Like I said before, they are so strong that they are practically flavors. I’d be surprised if someone, even if they don’t drink tea that often, would not taste the strong spiciness, herbiness, and fruitiness this tea has. I’d recommend this if you’re exploring white tea and pu-erh because this shows a dimension to the teas that you may or may not imagine.

I celebrated the full moon last night with this gorgeous tea! This is truly a unique and special tea. There is no question why it was used to catch fairies. The wrapper is yet another beautiful design from this company, and it complements well with the cake itself. The tea beeng is an array of spectacular colors of silver, ebony, and brilliant orange. Honestly, the tea’s beauty is what had me hooked on trying it. I gave the cake a sniff and took in some dry grass with a slight tang in the background. I warmed up my gaiwan and placed a hefty chunk inside. I sat for awhile and enjoyed the full moon. There was some clouds covering the sky, but it was still simply incredible. While I gazed at the moon, I could smell the magic from this tea already begin to fill the air. I lifted the lid and let all the aroma spread through out my tea room. I was picking up strong notes of grapefruit, flowers,and nectar. These platinum leaves were crisp and sweet with citrus scents and smoothed and woody with a herbaceous undertone. This was going to be a treat. I washed the leaves once and prepared for brewing. The liquor was a deep and vibrant orange. The steeped leaves moved into a sweet tang with an alcoholic white wine finish. The grapefruit scent had been replaced by a fresh tangerine. I took an inhale of the sweet liquor and took my first sip. The initial sip was super sweet with potent citrus scents filling the air. This such a good feeling tea. The flavors are crisp and sweet and remind me of a summer fruity drink. The drink begins stevia sweet and moves into a crisp sparkling tang. The tea clears the head and lifts the spirits. This brew has an almost detoxifying feeling. The drink moves progressively into a strong heavy body of syrupy sugarcane sweetness. I didn’t detect the grapefruit taste until later steeping. These silver leaves lasted for a long time, and they continued to yield a heavy orange liquor with fresh sweetness. The leaves unfolded and my gaiwan was full of a flowery arrangement. The qi was long lasting and quite powerful. The feeling was an uplifted sensation with lots of energy and giggling. This is a perfect tea for any gathering, and is likely to bring a lot of laughter. I noticed that if you add more leaf the brew becomes heavily sweet; if you use less leaf the brew moves into the more grapefruit and tangy tones. This is a wonderful tea, and it’s beauty alone is enough to show off. I’m so happy to have been able to try this.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BA6L3lbzGTc/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

https://www.instagram.com/p/BA6MafszGUk/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

There is absolutely EVERYTHING to love about this cake. The wrapper is gorgeous. Once you open it, your eyes get to feast on a confetti of fabulousness. This cake is so gorgeous, you’ll have a hard time breaking into that beauty. But DO it because a mouth party awaits.

Moonlight Sonata is a blend of The Hobbit’s moonlight white and snow chrysanthemum. When I first heard about this tea, I wasn’t sure I was gonna love it. I should know better by now.

This? Well basically, it tastes like candy y’all. Reallyreallyreallyreally GOOD candy. Like honey flower candy. It is nectary and golden delicious lovely florals. There is some stonefruit, but to me the honey is the thing here.

I’m not generally a white tea drinker or even a lover of the snow flowers – but this combination works so beautifully. And that is the bottom line here – simply EVERYTHING about this tea is beautiful.

Happy first full moon of the year! According to the various almanacs that divulge such info, January’s full moon is the Wolf Moon, named so because of the hungry wolves that would prowl around settlements. It is a fun bit of American folklore, some of which originated with this country’s indigenous people and some brought from Europe with settlers, and of course some is a blend of both! Since I grew up either near or in the Appalachian mountains, I was very fond of learning that region’s folklore, and they called it the Snow Moon…and considering my mother, nestled in Cumberland Valley near the Susquehanna River between the Blue Mountain and South Mountains Ridges, sent me photos of a massive blizzard they are having, I think the Appalachian name might be more accurate!

So what’s with this sudden obsession with the moon you might ask, well it is not really sudden, but it is certainly egged on by Whispering Pines Tea Co’s newest tea Moonlight Sonata! This is a blend of 2015 Moonlight White Tea and 2015 Snow Chrysanthemums ‘originally blended to steal the heart of faeries’ and as the daughter of a changeling, this should be right up my alley!

After ogling the wrapper and flowers compressed with the ‘Shadow elf tea’ as I lovingly call the Moonlight due to it being shadowy dark on one side of the leaf and silvery on the other, I chipped some off with my pick and gave it a good long sniffing. The aroma is quite delectable, blending notes of aster, wild flowers, honey, hay, sugar cane, sweetgrass, and dill flowers with a touch of tomato leaf and dried tomato. I am not really sure why Moonlight smells like dried tomato and tomato leaf or why Snow Chrysanthemum smells like dill flowers to me, but they do and I admit I kinda love them because of those notes. At the very end of the sniff I pick up subtle notes of pollen and tangerine, which add an extra depth of sweetness.

Gaiwan time! I kinda agonized over which gaiwan would compliment the colors best, so I picked one of my celadon ones, and I was pleased I did! Holy wow is the wet leaf fruity smelling, strong notes of nectarine and dried apricot mix with warm honey and wildflowers with a finish of dill flowers. For anyone who has not sniffed a dill flower, it smells like a blend of dill (but faint compared with the leaves) and hay, it is very pleasant, and tasty too, though they taste stronger than the leaves. The liquid is a blend of nectarine and dried apricot with honey, hay, and clover flowers with a finish of faint dill flower and wildflowers. It smells very sweet!

First steep and already my notes are crooked! I consider it the mark of a good tea when the notes in my notebook start to go sideways. It starts with a creamy mouthfeel, coating the mouth while also being light and smooth. The first taste to pop up hay and clover blossoms with a slight mineral note, this moves to rich honey and nectarines, which in turn moves to apricots and wildflowers with a finish of lingering sweetness and pollen. The first steep is light and refreshing with a slightly cooling feel to it, similar to drinking a large glass of water on a hot day, it quenches the thirst.

Onward to the second steep and the liquid is getting dark, it looks like a moon low on the horizon on a summer’s day. The aroma focuses on the hay and honey, with side notes of pollen, aster, and clover flowers, while the finish has a blend of nectarines and dill flowers. One thing I am really liking about this tea, other than the taste, is the refreshing thirst quenching quality it has, each steep even though the tea is hot, reminds me so much of drinking spring water on a hot day. The slight mineral notes at the start do not dissuade me of this either. This steep is richer, though not sweeter, with strong notes of nectarine and apricot, dill weed, hay, pollen, and honey. Towards the end of the steep the feel, while still refreshing starts to go to warming internally, making me feel extremely relaxed.

The third steeps’s aroma stays strong with the honey and hay, with an accompaniment of strong clover flowers, pollen, and nectarine. The notes that are present are subtle but their presence is strong. This steep loses its mineral notes and picks up a subtle malt note, giving the tea an extra depth. There is a strong nectarine and honey taste to this steep, much like eating a nectarine drizzled in warm honey, this moves to wildflowers and a touch of dill with a nice finish of hay and pollen. I got many steeps from this one, it is one of those you can sit with for a while, perhaps while watching the moon or while being snowed in!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/01/whispering-pines-tea-co-2015-moonlight.html