Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea

easter holiday = holiday tea hahaha, just a few months late but i don’t care. delicious and exactly what i needed for the drive back home today.

it snowed all night last night, but didn’t give us as much snow as i wanted to see. gave me the perfect excuse to pull this one out of my cubpoard since it’s got pretty snowflakes on it. yes, that’s the sort of complex decisions that go into deciding which tea to drink. haha. still really love this one, which is of course why i hoarded it..thinking it might not come back..but then it did…so now i’m allowed to drink it up!

need to pack, finish work and get things settled for the next couple days… sooo just stopping in to say THIS arrived and THIS is what i’m having for dinner. so there. Over the past few days i’ve had some old favourites, some new teas and mostly been successful in not killing anyone. Mostly. Hope everyone is doing awesome and having a grand ol’s time in the hood. :)

I had just enough of this left for one cup, out of the incredibly generous sample that ifjuly sent me in the fall. The smokiness of this tea is absolutely perfect to me. Leather and malty wood, all brewed up in the most glorious colour. I am going to really miss this one.

Oh man, this is good! I don’t taste any smoke, but that’s okay. This is so malty and sweet and delicious I don’t miss it much at all. Maybe the smoke comes out as it cools, but I sipped this one so quickly I wouldn’t know :) Even steeped at around 3 minutes it’s incredibly bold and flavorful. So delightful. I hope they put this out again next year. I’m totally bummed I missed out on it.

Thanks for the sample Sil!

Brought some of this tea with me to the office today and it was AWESOME! I got notes of cocoa, bread, malt, and that fresh taste from the Darjeeling! I think Stephanie is right that, even though I have 4.4 ounces, it probably won’t last long! I’ve also decided I love it at 2 minutes steep. I tried their recommended 4 minutes and I think the malt takes over and you lose some of the complexity. 2 minutes is perfect. :)

Pic of the leaf: https://www.flickr.com/photos/97273956@N03/15728744884/

This was surprise tea from Stephanie! Thank you!
I think the only times I’ve gotten to try A&D teas were from swaps with Stephanie. :) They are very good, but I wish they sold smaller sizes, like 2 oz. packets because I don’t really want 4.4 oz. of one tea in my cupboard. I like variety too much!

This tea is really good! It has a baked good quality to it, like freshly baked bread! Mmmm! My mom used to make bread…buttermilk loaf to be exact. Freshly baked bread is so amazing…I used to cut a really thick slice and toast it with butter spread on top for breakfast. Delicious!

This tea is also smooth and you get a little freshness from the Darjeeling at the end of the sip. I brewed it for 2 minutes and that was delicious, but the website says 4! I’ll have to try that with the remaining sample. This would be on the “buy” list, if not for the ridiculous size, because it’s really yummy!

10" of snow fell on us yesterday and the temperature is hovering in the single digits. I’m not complaining as I’ve seen what Boston is dealing with lately. Trivia – I looked up the Fahrenheit scale. You know what it is based on? Neither does anyone else. There are some guesses but the truth has been lost. 32F being the temp water freezes is the only point of agreement. Just glad I don’t have to go outside where the amount of snow is higher than the temperature.

Needed something to warm me up. This is perfect. Well it was, cause now its gone.

Down in the back today. The kind where it hurts to breathe. Took some anti-inflammatory pain killers and brewed this comfort tea. The pills are for the back. The tea is for the rest of me. The ‘rest of me’ is happy. Hoping the back gets over itself and joins in soon.

I’m not sure why, probably because its from Andrews and Dunham, but I kind of expected this to be more Grrrrr, before I tasted it. Then looking at the leaf I realized I should have known better. This has lots of golden tips from the Yunnan leaf. It has a malty, honey, chocolate scent that is so good. So the brew taste is kind of the same, along with smooth and complex. The Ceylon does offer a healthy briskness mid sip and lingering long into the aftertaste to counter the smooth nature of the Yunnan. The the Darjeeling kicks in late in the sip offering up a woodsy fruitiness that is a neat topper. Somewhere along the lines there is a touch of smoke. It isn’t obvious but there if you wait for it.

I am not sure why this is called a holiday blend and I don’t even care. It is really good. Thanks Stephanie for sharing this one.

Got this in the mail yesterday and drank it. Sorry I didn’t take detailed notes at the time, but since I have a full tin I am sure I will write a more detailed note in the future!

Anyway, for now though, it was really delicious and malty. Very smooth, and not as bold as some of the other Damn Fine teas. If you are a fan of Andrews and Dunham I am sure you will enjoy this one!

Bravo Andrews and Dunham, Bravo!

This tea is fairly reminiscent of Tim Hortons steeped tea. And as a Canadian, it doesn’t get much better than that. Ha ha.

The tea is quite bold and thick. Not too much and not too little, but just the right amount of malt. I can’t really distinguish what type of black tea this is, but there are definitely hints of ceylon and a bit of Darjeeling. There are light hints of dark fruits, maybe plums. There is a heavy creamy flavour profile. It reminds me of eggnog, not the taste of eggnog, but how it coats your mouth. There is a slight burnt bitterness that is very pleasant at the end of the sip. It is almost like overly roasted nuts maybe. Overall a delicious cup. Very much the idea of the holiday season.

Thank you Kimquat for the sale a while back! I think it’s a good idea to try for one sipdown and try one new tea in a day for a while. I thought this one would pair well with the Sherlock story I’m reading at the moment (due to the horse in the photo for the tea package – the story is ‘Silver Blaze’ about a missing race horse). The leaves look like a golden monkey though – dark, twisty, hints of gold. The color of the cup is a golden red. The fragrance is already promising before I take a sip. Maltly, molasses, honey, dried hay for those horses — very smooth and very sweet. The second and third steeps never lose flavor (even with the third steep on the next morning)… I think I steeped them perfectly that way. I never thought this one had any sort of chocolate flavor or even sweet potato like other Yunnans might, but it was still a dark enough tea that it was more than just a gold honey Yunnan. I love this one because it’s a Yunnan between the lightest golds and the most chocolate of Yunnans. It’s a shame it’s not available anymore! One serving left for me. :/
Steep #1 // 1 1/3 tsps. // 10 min after boiling // 2 min steep
Steep #2 // few min after boiling // 3 min
Steep #3 // just boiled // 4 min

Sipdown (97)!

My morning tea, which I just enjoyed the last sip of. This time around I added some milk, so I cold drink it right away on the walk to work without burning my mouth. ‘Cause that’s just no fun. It’s really good with milk.

Today I’m tasting cocoa notes, malt, and sweet potato especially, with some fainter almost fruity notes – not stonefruit but maybe something loosely citrus-y? There’s also a slight tang or acidity to this, but not like sour fruit or turned milk or anything. It took a long time to place, but eventually I landed on Sourdough as a fairly apt description of the flavour. That would fit with the faint yeasty flavour I’m also tasting.

Very tastey overall! Now I’m super curious to try more A&D teas – if nothing else, the packaging is SUPER cute.

I feel like a butt because I can’t remember whether this came from VariaTEA or Sil but, either way, thank you! I’m 98% sure this is my first A&D blend, and I feel like it’s about time.

This mug was prepped in a timolino, and drank with no additives like a straight tea should be the first time you have it. I have to say, the dry leaf smells very cocoa-y to me. I even double checked online to make sure this really was a straight blend. Steeped up it’s not nearly as cocoa-y, but that note is still present. I also got notes of malt, and a fair bit of earthiness. At one point, and only at one point, there was a metallic “rust” taste too but it didn’t last long. Very interesting, though.

I think this was definitely a good intro to A&D though!

Thanks to Skulleigh for sending this along in our recent swap, because I’ve really been wanting to try it and I definitely need some ass-kicking, waking up today!

So I’ve been reading the reviews with some amusement this morning. Some people claim it’s too strong for some and I’m not sure it’s strong enough, lol…. It definitely has a nice malty flavor with a tannic, punchy kick in the finish that’s mellowed out by a touch of coconut sugar and milk.

I’ve had a lot of assams and I don’t think this is anything special, especially not for the price. The Organic assam from H & S is $11.50 for 8 oz. and is a better tea in my opinion. I was more a fan of the Red Tailed Hawk, which is smoother and has a really unique flavor profile. I’m glad I tried this though, it is a decent assam and nice with my morning Irish oats.

This came out of my recent swap with Skulleigh. I admit I’ve been shying away from Andrews & Dunham because I really don’t need any more expensive black teas. However, I drink black teas more than any other kind so I was pretty eager to try this!

I was impressed by the exceptional smoothness of this tea, especially since it’s an Indian blend. I think there is darjeeling in here which is giving it that bright, fruity note. I’m not big on overly tannic teas and there is touch in here but thankfully not a lot. Contrasted with the Jin Jun Mei I had earlier today, I am appreciating the slight “bite” this has on my tastebuds. It has a lot of malt also and is providing just enough heft to give me some much needed “oomph” this morning. I need a bot of “oomph” to convince myself to leave the house and go to the gym on this rainy day.

Anyway I was impressed with this blend. I thought it was pretty good plain and it was also nice with a touch of soymilk. I am back to the A & D website once again, trying not to buy anything… ha ha. This is really a good blend though. I’m glad I got to try it :)

Sipdown! 981. Thank you to Sil for this sample (and TerriHarpLady, because it’s her writing on the baggie :D)

Pulled out my unflavoured “drink now” basket to get a few things down before I fill up my 6 Timolinos for some babysitting tonight (and those Timolinos will not be containing single cup samples). This one was at the top of the basket, so here we are! Aroma is lovely, sweet and malty, and the flavour is… unexpected. I was anticipating more of a standard yunnan/hay-y flavour based on the aroma (even though that’s not a profile I’d use for a tea called “red-tailed hawk”!), but although it has those notes, it also has… cherry? Yeah, it took me a bit to identify it, but I’m definitely tasting a cherry fruitiness. There is also some astringency here, but it might be due to slightly overleafing (under-pouring of water, more accurately), and it’s actually not unpleasant, because it’s fairly mild. Overall, pretty tasty and unique. Not a tea I’d have too often because it’s a little on the potent side for me, but it’s still delicious.

Backlog:
I was saving this for a special occasion. And so I thought that I’d take it to my grandpa’s birthday with me in a travel mug. I was so excited because i remember LOVING the sample Boychik sent me, and was eager to use up the rest of my sample.
But.
I started steeping this tea, then had to go talk to my mum about something, and right in the middle of our conversation I remembered.
My tea.
0_0
I ended up over-steeping it for like 3 minutes…which doesn’t seem like much, but it was so bitter. I tasted a little maltiness, which made me even more sad to know how much I missed out on. And I didn’t even get to re-steep this one because I had to go out to my gpa’s b-day party.
Oh…it was such a heartbreaking day…
I look forward to the day where I will finally pick some up! Really enjoyed this one in the past, and sad I couldn’t enjoy it more. :(

Okay, so honestly, I’ve got SUPER distracted showing my mum pig videos like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdktPVgks6g
And didn’t really focus tons on what I was drinking. xD I just really really want a pig tonight.
Started paying attention to this cup of tea near the end, and It definitely made me regret not paying more attention! XD
This tea is amazing! Seriously, everything I’d want in an assam.
Strong. Malty. Sweet. Smooth. A kick in the pants to make me more awake.
It’s just the perfect assam!
Think I’m gonna have to pick this one up soon!
Thank you soo much for the generous sample, Boychik!! Definitely enjoying so much of what you sent me!! :D :D

This is one that I picked up last weekend at the Philly Coffee & Tea Expo. Per ounce, it was probably the most expensive item I got and I’m so glad I did. The dry leaves are lovely tight spirals with a delicious cocoa odor. As advertised, the flavor has all of the nutty, chocolatey notes of a good keemun, but softer. This one doesn’t hit me over the head and say, “Yo – keemun here – deal with it!” Rather, it offers warmth and comfort and relaxation. The website says they only have five left of this limited edition so I’m pleased to have this on in stock. BTW, second steep: same but less so. It’s a bit thin on the second steep. I think I’ll stick to one.

Tea of the morning. I haven’t had this tea in quite awhile, but it’s just as wonderful as I remember. It’s malty, spicy, and smokey. There’s also a sweetness that helps give balance to the stronger, more earthy notes. Plus, this tea is potent enough to kick my rear into gear on a Monday morning.