North Winds (Old Version)

Oh man, this is so good. I mean, it’s not quite as ridiculously decadent as Golden Orchid (same tea, but with vanilla beans added!), but I can see myself just wanting to drink this every day. Damn it. Just as I am vowing to myself to stick to Canadian companies (why did I have to develop a tea obsession just as the Canadian dollar tanked?? the exchange rate is killing me here) with reasonable shipping costs (y’all have already heard my rant about shipping), I discover that I might not be able to live without this tea. Hrmph. Luckily I can’t even stay mad about it, because I have this warm cup of chocolatey yumminess to soothe me. :)

I miss my Golden Orchid :(

It’s all gone now so the closest thing would be GO’s tea base North Winds, which is tiding me over until my next order. It does the job well enough, though it doesn’t hold up well in a travel flask.

Otherwise, I’m really digging this blend, to the extent where I’ll sometimes even forget about the absence of those glorious vanilla beans for a second.

This is the older version and I can’t wait to try the new one when I can.

I received this tea as a free sample along with the Ailaoshan tea that I purchased from Whispering Pines and I actually like it better! The chocolate flavor is considerably more pronounced – deeper. Toasted rye, apricot and white pepper flavor notes as listed by WP were all present and accounted for. I also picked up on caramel and a pleasantly sweet carrot taste.
This is a cup that you just don’t want to ever end! North Winds is the newest must have in my tea pantry!

i know i reviewed this tea before. Steepster eats older notes… Sigh…
This time i’m tasting a new version. I liked the older one but this just blew my mind. It is liquid chocolate people. Without any sugar or maple syrup. You dont have to guess the flavors. Bold yummy chocolate, maybe some malt, but not much.
i still have an older one, and was hesitating if i should get another once. Im so happy cause this one is so much better and richer (not that anything wrong w/older one ;)

http://instagram.com/p/ugR-xhBwkB/

http://instagram.com/p/ugSVvWhwkh/

My first whispering pines order arrived just when I needed it most it seems, and I was so happy to come home to find the box at my door after a long day at the hospital.

This is what I brewed to sit and relax with, as I knew I would love it. And I was right.

Cocoa, malt, toasty bread, and a bit of spice and fruitiness. So perfectly sweet and delicious!!

Second steep just as tasty and has more spicy fruit and potato notes. Yum!

Just finished my sample of this tea. Definitely getting some chocolate notes in this one, quickly followed by a sharp sweetness. These flavors are brought together by an earthy, slightly malty body. I did perhaps notice a tiny bit of bitterness and astringency, but trust me as somebody who dislikes those things a lot – they are not a problem due to the boldness of the fruit flavor here. In fact, this tea may have let me develop an appreciation for how a hint of bitterness and astringency can sometimes work with the flavors to produce something good. In regards to that it reminds me of dark chocolate, where the bitterness is sort of a necessary evil that eventually grows on you. Currently I’m unsure if i would re-order this and I find it hard to rate this tea because I am still kind of ‘exploring’ the spectrum of various black teas… but I would not be surprised if, at the end of my journey, this tea ends up being one of the highlights.

3min/1.5tsp/210F/8oz

Light cocoa and bread. Yum. I think this is one I could easily drink every morning :) Thanks for the sample, Ost!

My first Whispering Pines tea!

My first whiff of the dried leaf strongly reminded me of dried cranberries and nori.

Then I thought I followed directions by putting 1/2 tsp in a cup of water. Later as I was thinking Brendan must like his tea weak, I realized the bag actually said tbsp. doh.
I will use less water on the resteep.

The scent of this tea is crusty whole wheat and rye bread. Crusty on the verge of burning even. I love my bread crust like that. Mmm bread. I also get the dark cocoa, but it’s more savory than sweet. Man I’m hungry.
I gulped this down pretty quick. Now I’m warm. :) let’s see if I can get more flavor out of these leaves with less water this time.

Mmm steep 2 is warm toasted bread sprinkled with dark cocoa. Lovely.
Excellent tea for the price. It will be perfect once winter rolls around.

The more I drink this the more it grows on me.

Last night my brother and I were going to go see Mr. Holmes in theaters but last minute he backed out, so I had a nice evening in doors and I watched Netflix instead. In the end, I wound up watching The Great Gatsby, which I’ve seen many many times now. I still think it’s one of the best book to movie adaptations I’ve EVER seen. It deserved much more attention/praise than it got. And people who find it too visual clearly haven’t read the book (or at least not in depth); nearly every single theme in the book is symbolized/represented by colour. But that’s not the point.

The point is that this is the tea I drank while I watched the movie, and it was phenomenal. There are several scenes in the movie/book that take place over tea and I felt like this would have been worthy of being served at any of those occasions. Can you imagine Jordan Baker convincing Nick to introduce his married cousin to his elusive ‘party boy’ neighbor over a cup of smooth, dark chocolate tasting North Winds? Or how about Gatsby and Daisy meeting up after a five year separation in Carroway’s tiny little house sipping on teacups of North Winds and enjoying the fleeting notes of berry juice on the tips of their tongues as they whisper sweet nothings into each others ears?

I can.

Thank you Kimquat for sharing some of this one! I had around one teaspoon, so I didn’t fill my mug all the way, but now that I think of it, it was probably the suggested eight ounce amount anyway. I’ve noticed that it is basically Golden Orchid without the vanilla, and it’s so good, it doesn’t really need the vanilla. I swear there is some magic in these leaves. I can’t imagine how they are this chocolatey. Definitely the most chocolate tea I’ve ever tried without additions. It even has the consistency of melted chocolate. I love this one. I’d have to stock up on this one… but no orders for a while!
Steep #1 // just boiled // 2 1/2 min steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 1/2 min