Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea

Noms. Another cup of this today in a normal mug instead of the travel mug i tried it in first. I am a fan of this one. slight malt, cedar…not astringent/drying. Just delicious. so good.

Nicole sent this one my way and today i had it in a travel mug at work and it was delicious. Holding off on tasting note/rating until i can have it again outside of the travel mug but i thoroughly enjoyed this one. It’s not spectacularly different from some of the other DF Teas i have but it was tasty enough that i sort of want a tin. i think. probably.

Sipdown (149!)

I had this with dinner and I don’t know what I did the first time but all subsequent cups have been disappointing. Oh well. That’s just one less tea I need to worry about replacing :P

I had this once before and really enjoyed it so I know I must have done something different this time as it’s just not the same. This tastes more like a store-bought brand than the malty deliciousness I remember it being. I have one more teaspoon of this left. Hopefully I can get it right.

I had a samples of this tea that originated from boychik though I’m not sure if I received it from the source or if it was passed on by someone else. Nonetheless, thank you to those who made it possible for me to try this blend because it is delicious! Even drinking it cold, I can appreciate all this has to offer. It’s rich and malty and has a certain coziness that screams holiday. It is also smooth and sweet and just downright tasty.

I bought a three pack from Andrews & Dunham that included this, alongside the Mount Grey and Tiger Assam. It’s not bad but my least favorite of the three. It has a very dry finish and can go bitter and tannin-y if I oversteep (which I am prone to do!). A&D describes this as bright, and it is, kind of. A bit citrusy or apricoty. Experimenting with amount and tea and steeping times, it always seems a bit thin no matter what I do. It doesn’t have a ton of personality, but still a decent cup of tea and that’s really all that’s required sometimes.

Do you like bergamot? This is the bergamotiest. Smooth and more floral than citrusy, almost like orange blossom. Grounded with some kind of black tea with a nice depth to it.

Smooth, dark, and a bit of bitterness that is offset by a caramel, malty undertone. The coffee of teas. My taking care of business tea. Even when I’ve forgotten I’ve started steeping a cup, it doesn’t go overly dry and tannin-y. A favorite for sure!

I received a small sample of this from QueenOfTarts, Thank you!. A&D always impresses me with their blends. This is no exception. Fruity, flavorful and a full mouth taste. A yummy morning cup.

I feel really privileged to be able to try this limited edition tea! Thank you, Cavocorax!

I’ve been reading this amazing New Yorker article written after Hiroshima:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1946/08/31/hiroshima

It’s very intense, but I still think it’s mostly this tea that brought tears to my eyes this morning with its loveliness. No lie. It is wonderful. I will resteep later after lunch and I bet it will still be wonderful.

My great tea friend Stephanie shared a sample with me.
Today was the day to try. Its cooled a little. I started drinking more new teas.

i made this cup western 3g 8oz 200F 3.5min

Its rich and tasty. While i was drinking i was keep wondering what teas could be in this blend. Its mix of some long and thin leaves, some short and some golden tips but not a lot. Golden tips give this sweet potato flavor which i grew tired of. Thankfully i didnt detected much of it.

This tea has some plum-cherry note which I associate with Ai Lao Mtn reds, some woodiness and slight winey notes ( like Keemun but they said its Yunnan teas )

Im no expert. It would be interesting to read someones review who can analyze this blend.

Overall, i was happy to try it. I have enough to try Gongfu which i always prefer with Chinese teas.

https://instagram.com/p/6iiFhvBwkK/

Birthday tea #1

I was pretty excited to get this as a gift; considering it didn’t come with octopus tentacles in it I had no plan to purchase it; this is actually misleading, I’ve just never had this companies tea which made it hard to decide to commit to a whole tin or not.

I drank this for breakfast… though many will say:
Wait, no you didn’t because https://instagram.com/p/6Kc2apRYLZ/
But really, this was my breakfast :)

Yunnan’s black tea integrity shines in this blend and I find it quite enjoyable, even the bitterness to it.

Instead of reading something from me, you should go read the best review I have seen on a tea to date (which was on this tea) by Marzipan
https://tealover.net/2015/07/andrews-dunham-black-sunshine/

Dark & tasty, but here’s the best part. Tony, my Man, typically doesn’t like any of the teas I drink. He has very narrow tastes, detests Laoshan Black, and almost always either drinks earl grey (ahmad brand is his fav) or Jubilee from London Tearoom (a blend of earl grey and orange). He also likes Chai. And occasionally he’ll sample what I’m drinking, deems it ‘OK’, but not that interesting. Well, he saw me opening this tin, decided to sample it, and he likes it! Seriously, I’m blown away & thrilled!

I’ve set a goal of drinking a different black tea each day this month, and there are currently 33 in my collection, so this is number one. It’s deep & dark, as implied, very rich, and yet there is a brightness as well, peeking through the clouds like rays of sunshine on a stormy day.
My daughter Ari came over, so I had a second cup, and made one for her as well, which we enjoyed with a homemade gluten free dutch baby.
Afterwards we also each had a cup of Laoshan Black, because I get to drink a 2nd black tea a few times this month, and I let her select it.

Yes, I bought a canister of this tea. How could I not?
I can’t ever miss a new A & D blend, no matter what!
Malt, Cedar, charred wood, slightly burnt toast, unsweetened dark chocolate
these are a few of my favorite things…
It’s almost smokey, but not quite.
I hear a lot of low instruments: Tuba, didg, bassoon, timpani, Bass, plus some woodblocks, clarinet, and a gong.

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge – November Tea #10 -A tea paired with a sandwich

This tea is usually my COOKIE tea so naturally I thought of this one for a sandwich – a peanut butter & plum jam sandwich for my breakfast.  I’m not sure the tea flavor really paired perfectly with this bread.  Just isn’t a match. well, now I know.  Also this tea thankfully wasn’t a true sipdown yet. I am now SIX pages behind on reading tasting notes!! I’m almost caught up!
Holiday tea 2022 #3

additional notes:  This is the designated cookie tea!  And there are many cookies around here!  So it needed to be steeped today!  So much sugar!  I’m wishing everyone a happy, healthy, better New Year.  This virus is bonkers and it’s breaking my heart every day (world-worrier since birth here).   The dates of the holidays were pretty much perfectly timed for ultimate virus spread.  Please everyone be careful.

Another one I get to try, thanks to Nicole! This one is a very unique flavor for a plain black tea. I would never think that Yunnan, Darjeeling and Ceylon together would taste like this. I like it a LOT more than I thought I would after seeing these three teas were in the blend. I like Yunnan but Ceylon is not a favorite. I can’t really describe the flavor though. It’s medium strength, with a lingering fruit flavor at the tail of the sip. I don’t even know which base the fruit would come from. Brewing the tea this way doesn’t seem to oversteep the Darjeeling at all. And it WOULD taste really good with cookies. Also, I sipped a “holiday” tea on the hottest day of the year. :D
Steep #1 // 1 tsp // few minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3-4 min

She felt the rumblings of the monster’s steps before she heard them. Knowing that time was growing short, she began the preparations. “Five minutes is a long steep,” she thought, “But I’m sure the Brew Masters know best.” She boiled the water and poured it over the leaves, watching as the liquid quickly swirled with darkness. She experienced a tiny shiver of excitement…or was it fear?

Read the whole story: https://tealover.net/2015/07/andrews-dunham-black-sunshine/

As usual, Bravo A&D, Bravo!

Tea is amazing, tin is amazing. Enough said (or written).

Upon opening the tin, the tea smells quite strong. There is a bold malty yunnan scent. It is very slightly sweet. There is a scent of roasted tea as well. There are a number of different sizes and colours of tea leaves which makes the tea look quite unique.

The tea liquor is quite dark.

The brewed tea offers hints of stone fruits, I am thinking plums and apricots. The tea is not as bold as I was waiting for, but it is still quite strong. I am getting the slightest hints of sweetness, I would have expected more based on the smell. There is a strong after taste that lingers for a LOOOOONNNGGG time. It is not a bad aftertaste though. It is quite dry but not bitter or astringent. There is a roasted flavour to the tea. It translates into a bit of charred taste in the after taste but it doesn’t last for long.

Overall, excellent tea. It is not my fav A&D blend but it is still damn fine :)

Edit: steep 2. Much more creamy flavour and texture to the tea. No roasted or charred flavour. Very easy end of sip. No aftertaste at all. It has lost quite a bit of its boldness for this steep which is a bit disappointing.

1.5 tsp for 300mL water @100C, steeped five minutes.

Dry leaves are long and twisty, mostly dark with a golden one here and there.

Dark copper liquor.

Well, Damn Fine warned us this would be strong.

And it’s GLORIOUS. Lots of cedar and toast notes, and a rich, almost honey-like finish that announced ‘Yunnan’ in a deep voice. Not a subtle or a gentle tea. It’s not smoky, but it’s close to smoky. It’s got a faint peppery bite that I find in some Yunnans and really like. I’m gonna play with steep times, but I expect this will brew up intense regardless. I love this tea. But be warned: it’s strong.

This is not at all what I was expecting when I heard ‘blend of Yunnan teas’, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like it! This is very woody, burnt woody. Like you took barely smoldering remains of a cedar wood campfire and added them to your tea. Not necessarily smoky like Lapsang, though. It tastes quite like Tao of Tea’s Vietnamese Wild Black or Wild Black from Titan Commodity (on Aliexpress). It’s delightfully strong even though I brewed it a full minute less than recommended. Deep but smooth. I think this is going to be a rainy day tea for me.
And honestly, even if I didn’t love it, I probably wouldn’t regret the purchase due to how well-designed the tin is. Highly recommend if you enjoy strong teas with heavy wood notes.

Pretty balanced. Moderate strength tea-tea with some light fruit and a bit of bitterness. That may be coming from not remembering the Darjeeling in here and not being careful with the temp and time. Now I want sugar cookies to try with it.

GCTTB
This is similar to the other A&D tea I was drinking earlier. This one is quite grapey, a touch astriñgent, but not unpleasant. I wish this were a little bit heavier, a little darker. This is nice, but the Holiday Blend is closer to my tastes.