Dark Roast Anxi Tieguanyin

I got my Whispering Pines Tea order in the mail today.
I have been wanting to try this tea since Brenden first introduced it.
So badly have I been wanting to try this, that even though I live 40 minutes away from where my mail arrives, and even though I still had a day of running around and doing errands to do, I actually drove all the way back home to prepare this tea and put it in a go mug.
( I would not admit this to many people, but, I know you dear fellow Steepsters understand this tea-driven bit of craziness )
Now, if I had not been listening to Sense and Sensibility on audio book in the car and if I had turned on the tv or radio once I got home, instead of dancing impatiently ’round the kettle I would have heard the major storm warnings, and the telling people to stay off the roads.
Instead, I left the house, noticed that it was a rather black looking sky (where we live every couple of days it looks as if our world may end, we get storms blowing through from Nevada, Utah, Montana and Wyoming…when to be scared is when those storms collide with one another, such as today)
Just as I was getting to the bit in the book where Marianne insists on taking a walk even though its stormy, and as the audio book lady said “suddenly the clouds united over their heads and a driving rain set full in their faces”,blinding sheets of rain and hail hit my car fast!
I could barely see, but thought I saw a turn out or a dirt road or something other than the main highway I was on, so I pulled off as far as I could and waited out the storm, which lasted 20 minutes.
Lightening struck all around me.
It was frightening, BUT I had hot tea.
To distract myself from probable electrocution I concentrated on the tasting of the tea.
I am not one for chocolate flavored teas.
Then why on earth did you want to try this tea so badly, I am sure you are asking, because it is as I hoped, not really exactly like chocolate.
Its more roasty and toasty, more like toasted nuts.
Has notes of oak and seaweed.
Its rich and dark and unexpected.
And yet, still not losing one bit of its oolong-ness.
Although a Mr. Willoughby did not come to my rescue, I had something better accompanying me during the storm.
I very much look forward to drinking more of this tea…from the safety of my arm chair at home.

Having a pot of this for breakfast! I love the rich flavors of this tea. It’s deep and has lovely dark chocolate notes.

Traveling Tea Box C #13
This is a very roasty oolong. I steeped it 4 times. The first steep smelled like burnt coffee but was definitely a creamy tea. Dark chocolate is not supposed to be creamy. It’s bitter. I took a whole class on chocolate and tasted what raw cacao tastes like and all types of high quality dark chocolate taste like. And this resembles that perfectly. And I love it. I will be keeping the last teaspoon of this :) thank you Shelley_Lorraine for adding this! I had this all day today!

This was another one in my Whispering Pines order.
Disappointed, if you are going to call a tea dark chocolate, there should be quite a bit of chocolate notes to it. Yes understand this is a straight oolong, but I also understand that most dark oolongs have a hint of chocolate notes to them. I don’t think this one is special, or has any more chocolate to it than any other oolong. It’s a decent dark oolong, but certainly not dark chocolate. (Or maybe I’m just fussy because I’ve been drinking so many straight blacks that have tons of chocolate notes to them that I was expecting that from this oolong). All in all just ok.

I’m, umm, not even going to put this one in my cupboard. The rest of the sample will go to my mom and brother. Thanks, Dexter3657, for sharing. :)

Interestingly, even with a 5 minute steep, the leaves are still fairly tightly curled. I wonder how long it would take for them to look like leaves..?

Smells like burnt chocolate dirt pie. It’s a flavour in tea that I just can’t wrap my head around, and I really can’t stand. I know other people like it, and more power to you if you do!

I’ve had two sips. I can’t drink this tea. If you like those dark roasty chocolatey earthy teas then you might like this one. I’m going to have to pass.

Cold-brewed this last night. I like it better this way but it’s nowhere close to a favorite. It’s just too roasty. This way the dark chocolate notes come out much more strongly, so it’s like drinking a dark chocolate bar mixed with a really dark oolong. Maybe my problem with this tea is that they don’t seem to blend together? I’m really not sure, but the remaining little bit is probably going to the swap pile.

Oooh yeah! TY to Brewteally sweet for a sample of this!

Today was another operation mega clean. I gotta say, having american thanksgiving so late in November (vs the Canadian Thanksgiving) means my house is still somewhat clean for Christmas cleaning from cleaning I did for Thanksgiving. A good roasty oolong or more often a pu’er is the tea I drink while cleaning. Must be that getting tea drunk makes for a more fun and productive cleaning.

This tea is tha bomb! I love a good dark toasty oolong and this is it! Tastes like a dark roast Big red robe oolong! Dark chocolate notes, roasty campfire, and creamyness. I might have to buy this tea for my collection in the new year.

Thank you bluebelle for a sample of this oolong! This tea confuses me, but in an exciting kind of way. It’s definitely unlike other oolongs that I’ve had (& I’ve been drinking a lot of them lately). First off, it has that nice, roasted taste with a bit of nuttiness in there as well. What confuses me is the “dark chocolate” part. I’m not detecting any chocolate-y notes, but I’m rather getting a roasted seaweed taste from it. I actually quite enjoy it, but I do not think it is aptly named.

It’s already a given that I love dark roasted oolongs. The darker and roastier the better.

I was curious about this one, being labeled “dark chocolate” oolong. Obviously, it’s not chocolate flavored, but I wondered how it came upon the name. I did not detect any obvious chocolate notes, but the same hidden sweetness that I find in all dark roast oolongs. Who knows, maybe that is supposed to be ‘chocolate.’ There was however something slightly different in the aftertaste of this tea, but I thought maybe it was my imagination. Something vaguely coconut, possibly caramel (caramel teas tend to leave me with coconut-esque after tastes). I really do not like coconut in tea, at all, ever. I kept drinking my cup to cover the aftertaste and by mid-cup, I didn’t detect it anymore. Either I developed tolerance for it or there was just something funky going on with my senses at the time. Oh well!

Alright so once this steeped up I was really worried about it because it smelt so much like coffee.

I dove in sitting at work, slacking. Errr my fear is realized it tastes so much like coffee. I’m sure there is some chocolate linering at the end of the sip, but I can’t get past the coffee taste.

I’m sure this is a great tea, if you like coffee. I just can’t get behind this one.