Fujian Black Tea

And the Whispering Pines black-tea-a-thon continues on. I love Fujian black teas, so I am excited to try this one (even though I feel like “Fujian Black” is kind of a generic term?). Thanks again to Cameron B. for sending these samples on!

First off, the brewed tea smells pitch-perfect for a delicious Fujian. Like cacao nibs and roasted, molasses-covered grains. The flavor is quite good. Deifnitely chocolatey in a roasted, unprocessed cacao nib way, with lots of toasty grain flavors and malt. It has a thick, bready texture that is quite nice as well.

Overall quite tasty! I definitely enjoyed my cup this morning.

I mostly tasted spice and a hint of cocoa. I would love to be able to find the graham cracker that is supposed to be in here. I’ll work on finding that next time and wait to rate it because I also think I oversteeped this just a tad. I prefer Golden Orchid so far from my tastings of Whispering Pines. This was another sample from Ost from when I ordered from her :)

i don’t know what else to say about this one. I rather enjoy it and that’s why i drank it, love it, will get more hahaha. In tea cupboard related news though, i have no teas left from may, so i just need to finish off my three remaining teas from april in order to have a cupboard that is only 6 months old! that’s pretty exciting in my silly books :)

Thanks to Cameron B for this sample. It smells so awesome, malty cocoa. Not sure why, but I get a lot of Smores in the flavour. Very good. I’m really liking their black teas.

After having the black blends, I like this one even more.

Backlog
Hot, this tea is like rich dark cocoa, but as it cools it gets much more roasty.
First sip of my cup, and wow, cocoa. Dark dark cocoa. My boyfriend accidentally turned off my timer so I don’t know how long this was steeping for, but I’ve decided I like it this strong.

We had company over last night, so I added a splash of Coconut Rum that I picked up while I was in the Caribbean, and it was superb. I love chocolate and coconut, so the two went together perfectly. Like a perfect dessert drink. All it was missing was whipped creme. That should totally be a thing. A tea bar! Serving mixed drinks made with tea, like strawberry tea in a daiquiri, chocolate tea and rum. Pumpkin chai and Baileys. If I ever win the lottery that’s what I’ll do. Open a Tea Bar.

Anyway, so I resteeped, and while waiting for it to cool, totally forgot about it. A couple hours later, it’s cold, but I take a sip. Deep dark roasty-ness hits me. And something else, that I might even call an autumn leaf pile (not that I’ve ever experienced autumn, let alone an autumn leaf pile. I love the sun sand and surf of Florida, but sometimes I’m really jealous of you northerners).

I put the leaves in the fridge last night, so depending on if they still smell fragrant, I might go another round with this baby.

Method: 1.5 tsp, 8 oz, 208 degrees, 3 minutes, brew in mug strainer

Dry Leaf Aroma: rice, malt, also something familiar, like a sweet candy

Brewing Aroma: Smells like malt

Flavor: Toasty with a hint of rice. This has a stronger, dark malt flavor. It’s also got a little bit of harshness on the end of the sip. I like the tea, but wasn’t not wowing me. I decided to try this Terri-style, since I’ve heard that term several times today. LOL. I added about a teaspoon of maple syrup and there’s the wow! The tea smooths out and has a lightly sweet finish.

It tastes like something I’ve had before. Maybe something like a sweet bread or bun. The maple is obviously there, but it brings out a bakery note in the tea. Very interesting! I can see why the maple syrup is so popular with tea!

Update 7/13: tried again this AM and used 200 degree water. There’s a little less bitterness, but I’m still not finding those chocolate notes. Sometimes it’s just not meant to be!

Almost done with these samples I’ve gotten with other orders. D: Don’t think I noticed the earthiness of this tea so much before, but I actually still like it.
Lots of cocoa notes among the earthiness.
Still really enjoy it. (:

I am on to your plan Brenden! You think just because you are nice and put a sample of this in my order, I’ll love it and order it.

Ok, you’re right.

Drinking a Whispering Pines tea this morning in celebration that my order will arrive today. Hooray! GOLDEN ORCHID, I WILL NOM YOU! Anyway, I was curious about this tea since it was described as being very chocolately, and I generally fail at tasting the cocoa in teas… We shall see. The leaves are very thin, dark, and twisty – they remind me of miniature Taiwanese Assam leaves. For some reason they smell like peanuts in the shell to me… There’s cocoa there too. Good sign!

The aroma has raisin and tobacco with an interesting spicy edge. I also get cocoa and honey scents. Hmm, this tea… There is definitely a spice note in here. At first it reminds me of fennel or anise, but there’s also a warming sensation that makes me think of cinnamon later in the sip. Interesting! The main flavor for me is roasty autumn leaves which goes very well with the cocoa notes. Roasty, cocoa-y, spicy… It’s almost like some kind of Mexican hot chocolate without the creaminess, and would probably be exactly that with milk.

I saw that Nicole also got smoke out of this one, and I can see that. The combination of the roasty leaves and the spice could definitely be similar to smokiness. But I really enjoyed that dynamic. ;)

oh my num num num num num……. I can’t even think to type to busy drinking.. Delicious.