River Rain

River Rain is just okay for me. A weak green tea that quickly goes bitter if you let it steep for too long past the 2 minute mark. It’s just a little buttery and a little vegetal, but there’s nothing surprising or overly complex about it. It’s forgettable for me.

Catching up on teas of the last few days…finished off a bag of this when I needed something to get going while waiting for breakfast.

Very straightforward, unsurprising green tea. Clean, green, and just a tiny bit nutty. I don’t drink a whole lot of green teas, but this is one I sometimes have on hand for when the mood strikes. Just a little astringent, which I think makes it a nice wake-up tea. I only made one cup this time, but on previous occasions have gotten quite a bit more out of it.

I’ve been holding off on this review for most of the day, but I finally decided to just go ahead and post it. This is apparently intended to be Whispering Pines’ house green tea, the sort of basic tea one may generally refer to as a “daily drinker.” I do not know much about this tea’s origin-the Whispering Pines website did not go into specifics-but I’m willing to bet this tea is Chinese in origin. A glance at the leaves revealed that this is a Bi Luo Chun, so this has to be Chinese, right? Teas of this type traditionally come from Jiangsu Province, but these days they also come from Yunnan, Sichuan, Zhejiang, and even Fujian Provinces. If I had to place its origin, I would guess Yunnan Province, but beyond asking the vendor directly, it’s not like I can be sure. Regardless of this tea’s origin, I found it to be a basic, pleasant, drinkable green tea.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. I usually do not rinse green teas, but I decided to do so here. After the rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 175 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 11 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 35 seconds, 45 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.

Prior to infusion, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of grass, asparagus, bamboo, sorghum, and smoke. After the rinse, I detected wood and straw. The first infusion brought out hints of nuts and spinach. In the mouth, I detected mild notes of smoke, asparagus, grass, straw, wood, bamboo, and sorghum underscored by traces of nuts and spinach. Subsequent infusions brought out spinach, chestnut, hazelnut, seaweed, mandarin orange, lime zest, pine, green pea, corn husk, and mineral impressions. The later infusions were dominated by straw, mineral, seaweed, spinach, and wood notes underscored by subtle smoke, pea, grass, and citrus impressions.

This was not a bad tea. It would most definitely do the trick as a reliable, basic house green tea. I, however, had difficulty giving it my full attention over the course of a session. In truth, I found it kind of predictable. It did not surprise me much at all. I expect a lot out of the offerings from Whispering Pines Tea Company, so maybe I’m being somewhat harsh, but I just don’t think this tea compares to many of their other offerings. Also, I feel that while it is a quality green tea, I think it may be a hair too expensive for what it is. In the end, I would say that this tea is worth a try, but there are better teas of this type out there, and it is certainly not representative of the best this particular vendor has to offer.

I decided to try this tea because it’s the base of the Sleeping Bear blend, which I greatly enjoyed. The leaves are dark green twists, and the dry aroma is very heady and fragrant, like a good quality green tea should have. After brewing, the tea liquor is very light and clear in color, and the leaves unfurl in interesting ways—it was kind of fascinating to watch them move around in the cup. The first cup is vegetal, slightly sweet, with a faint (and pleasant) astringency. It fits nicely in the spectrum of other Chinese green teas I have tried. The second steep becomes more buttery and smooth, with a plum-like sweetness, and reminds me of what (in addition to the pine needles) had made Sleeping Bear special in the first place. Overall, a solidly good green tea!

Back Log

Just before I left yesterday, I got a wonderful package from Whiteantlers. She spoiled me thoroughly and I thank you so thoroughly! A package with Harry Potter stamps no less, and a wonderful sampler of a few teas that I was actually looking to try. Four of them were from Whispering Pines.

River Rain is a good name for this tea. The look and smell of the dry leaves was like a usual green tea. I gong fu’d with about 2 grams in 3 ounces, first 10 second rinse, then 5 and five again. I felt like I was drinking rain water or dew because it had a really clean mouth feel and body. It was a little bit vegetal, but not nearly as grassy and vegetal as the leaves smelled. It was closer to being crisp, more like pine than grass alone. There was a bit of a lighter creamy feeling quality to it, but a fresh snap pea creaminess. I had to stop at those three cups because this tea had a focused cha qi. As in, power clarity energy cha qi.

I looked up the instructions online and Brenden described the powerful cha qi that I got. He also recommended to Grandpa Style it which I totally did not do. Some of his notes were more accurate to me than others, but I have to finish a few cups before I make judgement. I am getting a floral quality in the tea bordering jasmine, yet nothing quite like a jasmine scented tea.

So far, I agree with Liquid Proust in that it tastes like a good version of a standard Chinese Green Tea, specifically like a Dragonwell but cleaner. It is a Bi Luo Chun after all.

Drank this yesterday, held off on the review.
I really didn’t find this to be unique or better than other greens that I’ve had. Pretty much taste like a Chinese green tea. While it’s still good, I kind of have this standard for Whispering Pines… who doesn’t?

Green teas were my first loves in the tea world. I drank nothing but green tea for years before exploring other types. Needless to say, i am very picky about my green teas. I drink only the best ones!

This particular green is pretty good. It starts out with a familiar high mountain green taste and finishes with a unique, but pleasant, nutty flavor – almost reminiscent of a dragonwell tea.

One of my favorite teas, almost bought more before I finished the amount I had.