Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea

Cold brewed this and the result is like drinking honey and malt with the smallest pinch of smoke.

I got this with Cavocorax probably around 2 years ago and am only trying it now. What a shame because even aged, it is really quite nice. It would have been interesting to compare it to the brew when the leaf was fresher but c’est la vie. Nonetheless, this is still been a lovely accompaniment to my avocado toast “breakfast” (at 1pm), with its bready notes and touches of stone fruit and caramels. It’s a solid cuppa that is flavorful enough to not get boring while being simple enough to not tire of quickly (as many tend to do with over-the-top flavors).

I’m not a huge Earl Grey fan, but this is decent. The bergamot is strong, but not overly metallic or cloying, and the base is also sturdy and decent.

Thanks for sending me a sample of this to try, Lala!

Sipdown from a swap from Lala.

Maybe I’m not brewing it right, but I’m getting really fruity notes rather than the malty ones I was expecting. Either way, I’m not feeling this, but am glad to have another tea out of the way.

Sipdown (127)!

Thank you Christina for the sample!

I made a large mug of this one last night, with a little splash of milk. My little sister and I are binging on movies she hasn’t seen but are “classics” of a sort. We started with 13 Going on 30 and then ended the night with The Truman Show. Today, I’m hoping to get in a combination of 50 First Dates, 10 Things I Hate About You, and Yes Man. All of those are movies you just have to see at least once.

The was a really good tea; I can see it making a lovely everyday drinker. Dominant notes of baked bread, malt, and raisins/muscat (perhaps from the Darjeeling in the blend) with softer notes of honey and plums. It reminds me loosely of Fruit Cake which definitely seems appropriate for a holiday blend. Good Fruit Cake though; with real fruit and not just candied globs of red and green “mystery fruit”.

Very solid tea, with nice layers of flavour! I really enjoyed it.

Good depth and complexity of flavour. Sweet note. Wheat note. Slight smokiness. Good astringency.

Bold. Brisk. Slight bitterness- I might have waited too long to try this sample but I can tell that this is a really good tea. I might try the rest of my sample infusing at a lower temperature.

Okay. Revisiting this one. Still not exactly my thing. However, trying the Assam trick of letting it cool a bit before drinking makes it a cup more to my liking. The smoke is still there but blending nicely instead of shouting down everything else like the woodiness. Still not getting a lot of bread from this blend but it will be sufficient to ward off the Elder Gods this weekend.

Many thanks to Lala for sending me a sample of this!

I can see why others like this, but this was far too malty and brisk a black for my taste. I used 1.5 tsp for 12 oz, and steeped in just-boiled water for 3 minutes, and it was surprisingly strong.

I’m sending the rest of this sample on to Roswell Strange since she expressed interest in trying it.

Thanks for sending this as a sample, Lala!

I took the entire sample that she sent me and made a pot to drink this morning. This is rich and malty, and I can see why people like this blend, but I prefer to have blacks that are a bit sweeter/fruitier. This is definitely a good breakfast tea, though.

Today’s sipdown!

I’m still surprised there’s no puerh in this blend, because there’s such an earthy smoky note to it that I can’t imagine what else this could be.

Operation start drinking lots of tea commences, and I’m starting with this tea because Lala just sent it to me in a swap and it’s a small sample. (She sent me a whole lot of A&D stuff, which is awesome.)

I used 2 tsp of dry leaf with just-boiled water in a 2-cup mug. This is slightly smoky, but very earthy – so earthy, in fact, that I double-checked the Steepster listing to see if this had any pu’erh in it. Nope. I really does remind me of some shu, though.

This is comforting. I’m glad I’ve gotten a chance to try this.

A nice malty yet fruity and slightly bread-y black. Make a good morning cuppa. I had but one cup but I would welcome another should the opportunity arise.

1000th tasting note! It only took me six years to get here. :-)

I wanted to steep something really special for this occasion. I thought about one of the various wonderful French teas in my cupboard, but decided I had had enough flavored black for one day. I’ve been on a Yunnan kick for a few days now, so I thought I’d look for a highly rated Yunnan I have but hadn’t yet tried.

I have tin no. 23 of this limited edition of 150. Inside the tin, long forest green leaves predominate with some lighter blonde colored tips adding visual interest. The dry leaves smell a bit chocolate-y, a deep, dark, rich fragrance.

I decided to steep at the average preparation parameters rather than the five minutes at boiling recommended on the tin.

I got a clear, dark maple colored liquor with a warm sweet aroma — a bit less sweet than the other yunnans I’ve tried recently but still reminiscent of molasses with some chocolate notes around the edges.

The flavor is quite smooth. No back of the throat grab with this one. Medium bodied, and a bit lighter than I’d expected (might try boiling and longer steep next time). The flavor isn’t overly sweet or sugary in the sip, but has some sweetness in the finish and aftertaste. The funny thing is, I can’t really identify a flavor note in this. I can mostly define what I don’t taste. Unlike some yunnans, I’m not getting a peppery flavor, nor am I getting something I’d call malty. There is something bready about it, maybe a rye note, and while the cocoa note in the aroma gets stronger as the tea cools I only taste it a tiny bit. I’m not getting tobacco or cannabis or any of the other things folks have mentioned.

Some of the other yunnans I’ve tasted recently have had more depth and complexity, but part of that could be preparation, and a lot of it could also be that my expectations of this one were exceptionally high. I’m going to withhold final judgment until I’ve played with it more, but right now, I’m thinking this is quite good but not as spectacular as I was hoping. Ah, well.

Mmm…

I steeped this with a little extra leaf in a travel mug, and it’s definitely more of a morning tea right now. I also didn’t add anything to it, because I had no milk. (~adds milk to list~) It’s a little honey/sweet potato. A little astringent in a good way. Maybe a tiny bit smoky? IDK. That might be my travel mug or my imagination.

Yum.

I finally got my tin of this from my parents house. So nice! Such a flavourful Chinese black tea. Definitely something I’d call a staple in my cupboard.

I’m super glad I added this to my parents order. :)

As an ex-smoker (although never a fully committed one) – this is the tea that I’ve been waiting for. The tea that replicates that part of smoking which makes me linger, inhaling, when I spot someone on a cigarette break. Of course, it doesn’t capture the chemical sting – but no one really cares for that part anyway.

farewell delicious tea… sigh i pulled the last of this out this morning because i was hoping for a couple sipdowns today. not sure i’ll actually manage more than this one, but it’s a damn good cup to finish off today. Sad to see this one go, but i’ll pick some up eventually.

delicious morning tea. I’ve got a super long weekend ahead of me with work so i’m working from home! Made egg muffins last night as my other half had to be at work for 5am and they’re not half bad. I wanted to sleep in today, so had a couple instead of making “freshh” breakfast. This tea is totally hitting the spot for me. just a hint of smoke, a little astringency but mostly just a downright good cup of tea. Looking forward to picking up a tin of this for myself at some point, but need to get my cupboard under control first…maybe finish off a couple of my other damn fine teas as well since i have all of them but one? in my cupboard at the moment lol

Still love this one. Pulled this out today in light of the free shipping coupon. On the upside, i can use it until June, so i can save it up for a purchase in the future where maybe i pick up a limited edition tea + black sunshine. AND i can work on drinking up some of my other teas from DFT (red tailed hawk, keemun, double knit, tiger, holiday, oktoberfest…..) heh

(oh yeah, thanks for putting this in my cupboard again nicole/omgsrsly…going to share some with cavocorax this weekend!)

omg.srsly?. yeah i did that. lol thanks for the share my dear…lovely to have this one back in my cupboard until i can afford to buy a tin. i’d forgotten just how much i love this one until i sipped it and went OH! :)

noms. work is ridiculously stupid at the moment so i needed a cup of delicious. i have a headache from the ineptitude of a number of people. this is fantastic. a calm away from the stupidity.