Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea

I don’t have access to my computer at the moment, so I’m attempting to catch up on tasting notes via my phone. I ask your forgiveness ahead of time for all of the autocorrect errors I’m sure I’ll miss. :)

This was my morning cup. It was heavy and filled with malt and earthy notes along with some smoke and a touch of sweetness. So basically it was awesome.

I know this was a limited edition tea, but I’m really hoping A&D will reblend it next year. This is an excellent fall/winter tea!

This tea makes me long for a fireplace. I want to tuck in next to a nice warm fire and sip this dark, rich tea. It has thick malt notes as well as an earthy tobacco flavor and hints of leather. To keep it from getting too dark there are bright fruity notes mixed in, too. It’s robust, warming, and delicious, and it’s perfect for combating the freezing temperature outside.

Happy New Year!!!

I’m starting off 2015 in a quiet house with this lovely tea and lots of seed catalogs. I can stay warm and dream about being Farmer Brown once spring shows its face. Perfect. The tea is so robust and malty. It’s a great breakfast tea and a great winter tea.

Now, how big do I want my herb garden to be this year?

Since it’s Christmas Eve I thought I’d spend the day drinking my favorite winter/holiday teas. So, of course I’m starting off with Oktoberfest. :) Truly, this is a very nice winter tea. It’s thick and heavy with notes of malt and grain. It’s fortifying and comforting at the same time. Plus, on these cold dark days it’s just the thing to get me up and moving. Oh, and it’s delicious, too.

First tea of the day. I was getting ready to make a different tea, but as soon as I saw this I grabbed it. It’s such a good breakfast tea! It’s has strength and body, and lots and lots of flavor. The malt note is strong, but there’s also an earthy note as well as spice and leather. The smoke note helps to bind it all together so that I feel like I’m at a great B & B that’s tucked into the woods sitting in my room in a super comfy chair, a roaring fire in the fireplace, and cups and cups of this tea ready for me to drink. With a good book. My daydreams often have good books and good tea in them!

Drank this while watching the launch of the Orion test flight. So.Very. Cool. As an added bonus I got to watch the liftoff with my daughter, and that was a pretty cool moment. If the test flight continues to go well (it’s four hours long) then deep space travel for people will be one step closer. Like I said, very cool.

The tea… I am liking this more and more. It’s so malty and full of grain notes with a touch of sweetness. There’s a light smokiness which adds another layer of flavor. It’s robust and strong but not bitter. As the days get colder I think I’ll have this in my cup more and more often. It’s a very nice winter tea.

Bumping my rating up a bit (previously 88)

If this tea doesn’t wake you up in the morning then you need to check your pulse. It’s thick and heavy with lots of malt-like notes along with leather, fruit, spice, and tobacco. It keeps from being too dark and overwhelming by the lighter/sweeter notes being well balanced against the deeper flavors. The result is an outstanding tea that’s just perfect for these colder shorter days.

When I bought this I was concerned about getting (yet another) 4.4oz of tea, but now I’m so glad I did. This is exactly what I want in my cup at this time of year.

I picked this up at the Philly Coffee and Tea Festival, and it’s been just about the only tea in my cup for the past few days. It is wonderfully thick and malty with a light smokiness. I love, love, love the grainy note. Very reminiscent of the wheat flavor in some beers. I also like the hints of leather and sweet stone fruit that slip in and out as I sip.

I’m really glad I bought a canister of this because it’s a great fall/winter tea.

Backlog:

I experimented a little bit with this tea. The first pot that I brewed (In my Breville One-Touch), I steeped it for 2 1/2 minutes which produces a brisk and slightly astringent cup. When I cut the time to 2 minutes, it produced a much smoother cup that is much more to my liking.

A well-rounded blend. Full-bodied with lots of flavor. Nice malty tone, lots of caramel-y notes. Rich, earthy and fruity. At 2 minutes, this maintains a really nice flavor with very little tannic quality. A longer steep will become more tannic and hints at becoming bitter at 2 1/2 minutes so some care while brewing is recommended.

Beautiful tin artwork too. I love A & D.

Although I prefer assertive black tea blends this one is just too much smoke for me. However, the color is amazing.

Thank you Boychik for this sample. This is a tasty tea. The best so far of my Andrews and Dunham samples from Boychik. The maltiness to this tea is actually good. Maybe its because I added honey, but I am liking the malty character of this tea. I usually don’t like malt in tea. There is a subtle sweetness behind the malt too. It is good if not damn fine.

I brewed this once in an 18oz teapot with 6g leaf and boiling water for 3 min.

This came in my select box. I’m not a fan. Most of the flavors I got in this was smokey- like tobacco, earthy. It’s a mix of China and India black teas – it was to much like coffee for me. Not a coffee fan at all. I’m out of milk so I did something different- I added a splash of organic chocolate milk! Never done that before but oh my! Brought a whole new level to it. I really enjoyed the cup after adding it. I’m going to say I would recommend this tea- if you are a black tea fan and like that “heaviness” with an earthy, woodsy, smoke taste then you may like it! Without the chocolate milk added I wouldn’t have been able to drink it. That’s the good thing about the steepster select boxes- it’s not a big investment and you get to discover different flavors.

My enjoyment of this tea is frankly baffling to me. I don’t like smoky teas at all on the whole, but there’s something about this one that’s just good. There’s not too much smoke (and what smoke there is isn’t too in-your-face), and the base is smooth and lightly sweet. It’s a well-rounded and interesting sip, and I’m finding myself getting through a pot of it in one sitting easily. Nice!

I didn’t add any milk or sugar to this tea. I wonder how that would have impacted the taste. I’m wasn’t immediately smitten, but the aroma and first taste were very autumnal. It’s like all the smells of fall distilled into a cup. I noticed a slight bitterness, that may have been from over-steeping and could be mitigated by the addition of milk and sweetener, if so desired. As I drank it, it grew on me. I began to notice some fruity notes. A complex tea that I grew to appreciate!

Hosting Nursing interviews today, so I’ve got this one in my Timolino. It’s gorgeous as ever — the perfect tea for an early start!

I’ve been drinking this one at home on a weekend, usually Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon. I’ve been aware that my cold has been affecting my taste buds, though, so I’ve waited to review it until I feel I really know what I’m tasting. The first thing I have to say is that it makes for a delicious cup, and never fails to bring a smile to my face. I think that’s why it’s a weekend only tea for me at the moment…it just makes everything feel somehow right, like all is well with the world.

I’ve settled on 1 tsp of leaf in boiling water for approximately 4 minutes. This yields a reddy-orange brew, to which I’ve been adding a splash of milk. The scent is divine — very malty, with notes of fresh baked rye bread. I’ve not really been a yunnan drinker until recently, but once I tried a couple of good ones, I was a convert. There’s no going back now!

To taste, I initially get a strong, almost slightly starchy, sweet potato flavour. It’s underpinned by the malt, which is similarly sweet, and a touch of honey. Then come the yeasty, bread-like notes, which add another layer to the flavour. Finally, I get a darker, earthy, almost molasses-like flavour, and a hint of very dark, very bitter chocolate. There’s a tiny bite of astringency at the very end of the sip, but it actually complements the flavour experience so I don’t really mind.

This is by no means a simple-tasting tea. I love how the layers of flavour emerge and build into the final, complex whole. I’m more than glad that I have a whole tin of this — it’ll certainly be savored! A beautiful Yunnan, and my new favourite black tea. Gorgeous.

Sooo I was going to drink this on New Years, because well…I mean, just read the title, says New Years in it, so I figured it would be the perfect tea. But I didn’t feel well enough. D:
This is the last black tea of the night, a few days late, but it kinda counts, right? :P
Still as sweet and bready as before-man I loved this one! Wish it was available again. I’d definitely pick some up…well, maybe one day in the future again. Today it tasted mainly like honey. So good!
This was a sample sipdown. I stretched that sample out as much as I could because I liked it so much xD Thanks again for letting me try this one, Boychik!

Sweet Potatoes. Bread. Creamy. Sweet.
Ahh this tea! So happy to have tried it-thanks again to Boychik for the sample!! :D
Great tea to end my night on. ^^

Sooo I need to try this again because I’m pretty sure I didn’t wash my mug out enough to really write an honest review of this tea. xD
This tea tasted like bread and sweet potatoes. Which was great. But…
There was still some woodiness in the cup…that really didn’t belong. So I’ll have to try this again. xD Thanks to Boychik for giving me enough for more than one cup! Thanks again for this sample! Will try it again before rating!

On a side note: I’m super excited-They finally put the original The Producers movie on Netflix again! I love Gene Wilder in this one-he’s hilarious! If you like comedies you should definitely give it a try! It’s fantastic! :P

Thanks for this sample, Cameron B.! This is another Assam I’d been curious about but hadn’t wanted to commit to, since it’s only sold in one—very large—size. It’s strong and malty—though not quite as strong and malty as I’d expected it might be. There’s a strong raisiny note, with a fair bit of astringency thrown in to keep the sweetness in check. This is a nice Assam, but since there are other good options that can be purchased in smaller quantities it’s not necessarily something I’d purchase—4.4 oz. is a lot!

Oh steepster. I really have been missing this place; reading peoples review, tea chatting, ect.

Anyways I got this in the steepster box, and WAS I EXCITED! When I saw the flavor announced I got really excited until my wallet said no, but YAY steepster box.

Leaf: It looks like a pile of finely crafted autumn leaves that have been roasted.
Smell: A little woodsy, hints of smoke
Liquor: autumn orange; or Sam Adams oktober fest beer color

This tasted so good! I kind of reminds me of that one tea Verdant had that was a smoked black tea from wuyi. (the one with the really long name) It has a nice rich, but not heavy black tea taste with woody notes and hints of malt; the grassy notes keep it from getting to thick. There are also wisps of spice, but more of a wood spice than spice spice.

Honestly this tea reminds me a lot of Sam Adams Oktober fest when I drink it; which is good cause that was a good beer. I have just one more brew left out of the sample which I am saving for that ultra craving for it.

All in all, it was an awesome tea the seems like the the tea version of Sam Adams Oktober beer.

Farewell delicious cup of goodness. You’ll be back in my cupboard though, if i have anything to say about it…though first I need to get through the last 2 of my Damn fine tea tins heh.