Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea

Have I mentioned on here before that I love my life? Oh yeah, like a gazillion times, right?
Today has been an ongoing tea-party here, a truly wonderful day. First my friend Lisa came over right after breakfast. Last time she came she left with a sample of Meditative Mind, from the Tea Spot. So today we drank some tea!

I let her pick the first one, which was this Keemun. I made a 16 oz pot of it, using the suggested parameters. It’s a decent Keemun, although not at the top of my list, still very drinkable & tasty.

I’m drinking this again, even though I drank it a few days ago, because:
1 – It is quite tasty, & seemed like the perfect cup for this rainy day.
2 – I wanted to polish off the sample Boychik sent to me! This doesn’t qualify as a sipdown, because I have an entire tin of this in my cupboard, but at least it is a sample sipdown, so that’s one less baggie sitting around, right?

Boychik offered to send me some of this before it was actually available on A & D’s website, & for that I am grateful! Of course, as soon as A & D made it available, I ordered a tin, how could I not? Both packages arrived on the same day!

So today I’ve been enjoying my generous sample from Boychik. I made a cup earlier, using a tsp, & following the 5 min suggested steeping. It was tasty, but a little on the weak side. Now I’m having another cup, this time using 2 tsp, at 5 min, & it’s very rich & robust, with a fruity aroma & taste, a little smoke, & a lingering bitter chocolate afterglow.
I will probably experiment with the steep time, but I bet this would be especially awesome with a little maple syrup drizzled in…

Thanks Sil for sending me this. It’s blergamont, but must try anything that generously sent my way.
In all honesty this is the best EGish tea that I’ve had. I’m not saying that I like it, but this is the least offensive so far. I think the black base is nice and the blerg isn’t too in your face. For the sake of full disclosure I did add some sweet and quite a bit of milk hoping to mellow it out. Either that worked or this is milder than most.

This was a strange but ultimately affirming in its own way sort of weekend. Some abrupt in-law drama (will my logs ever be free of family stuff? Sorry guys), some marital tension (for sure nothing major—one of the best things about being married to R is both of us assuming there’s hardly anything that would be capital-S Serious that could come between us—but still hard to go through), some random kindness from strangers just when I needed it, surprise tea boxes from Steepsters with notes that made me a little glassy-eyed (what can I say, it’s been an emotional few days), socializing all Saturday until I literally dropped onto the bed, major spring cleaning with minor redecorating (seasonal nesting impulse), then this day never really quite got started (we, uh, didn’t actually get out of bed until 4:15pm o_O and I hadn’t eaten more than 2 slurps of leftover soup in nearly 48 hours sooo when we finally got up I proceeded to eat everything in sight…did you know Rice Krispies and banana doused in coconut-almond milk evoke delicious Thai sticky rice desserts when you’re famished?) and now we’re filing taxes and I’m trying to muster the motivation to cook like 4 stews for the week and I just can’t. Where was I going with this?

Oh yeah. One of the sunniest spots, besides those wonderful notes, was of course all the beautiful, precious tea from boychik and Dexter3657. This one comes from boychik, thank you! :D I had this for my (4:30pm :b) breakfast. It is great in the way you’d expect an A&D Keemun to be—where it’s nothing way out there different, no radical departure from what one thinks of as Keemun, yet something sets it apart, just a sense that it’s “more”. More of the expected flavors amped up, but more balance and smoothness too, as always. It does have that gorgeous subtle bright tint to it in the cup Keemuns are known for, as well as that hard-to-pinpoint aspect, that almost salty, bright-dark quality. The funny thing is, the first cup I steeped 5 minutes and it was good…the second steep I lost track of time (part of that whole “this day never really even got off its feet” thing) and it bathed for something like 20 minutes. I pretty much never do that! And it was still delicious, with that salty murky quality a little sharper, more distinct, in a good way. Downed it while eating a pear and squares from the amazing chocolate bar boychik sent along with this tea—Salazon Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt and Crushed Organic Coffee. I opened her right up because I woke to the rude surprise of the empty packaging from a Sourdough and Olive Oil chocobar I picked up in Portland on our trip…turns out R had eaten it. Worked in my favor though, ‘cause I doubt even that could taste better than this one—it’s TRULY salty, which too many sea salt or salted caramel confections don’t deliver on (I generally like salt and starch more than sweets). There’s an entire pebbly outer coating of chunky salt. So so good. I’m beginning to join the living again, and I owe it all to tea, chocolate, and kindness.

Picked this up straight from Erik @ A&D’s booth at Coffee & Tea Festival NYC!

Every time I drink this, I like it more and more. This is, I believe, the only keemun tea I own and I gotta say, I’m really loving it. It’s bold and black but not overly abrasive. I’ve enjoyed it during dinner several nights this past week – it paired well with both chicken and pork dishes. Just a really solid straight tea.

I’m a Keemun girl. I have really been looking forward to this tea. The mailman handed me the package and I brought it straight in to the kitchen and have my first pot steeping right now.

The dry leaf is black/brown, tiny curled leaves. I agree with boychik – reminds me of little lashes.

The liquor is a reddish amber. Slighty smoky and unmistakable Kemmun aroma. First sip: slight smoke, definite Keemun flavor. Mid-range malt with a little astringency on the back edges of my tongue. And although it would never have occurred to me to say it tasted a little of salt, I see where boychik gets that.

It is a nice Keemun. I generally prefer my Keemuns just a tad maltier and a wee bit fuller-bodied. This won’t be my forever Keemun but it is very, very nice.

Shameless plea for pity and attention:

My wife has been sick all week. This morning I got up with a pounding head, hurting ears, and I’m dizzy. Thought getting something in my system might help. Downed a glass of milk. Not a good idea. So now my stomach is rumbling. Drank grape juice for the vitamin C but realized my taster is on the fritz. So I brewed a cup of this. Even if it has only half the flavor it would on any other day, it is still good and comforting. I’m supposed to play at church in the morning. They may just be on their own.

Stay well my friends.

BAAAAAAAANNNNNNG ouuuuchhhhh ! How strong ! I feel like I am begining a boxe match with Mohamad Ali. I’m almost K.O
How malty ! I am baffled.
It is a very interesting tea : smocky for sure and I get both notes of fruits and tobacco.
Surprising.
For my taste it’s too strong with 4 minutes steeping, I need to retry with less because I had a bitterness I don’t appreciate.
Thank you very much Dexter3657 for sharing.

Sipdown (103)! I sadly cold brewed the rest of this one. I’ve really enjoyed this tea, and surprisingly, I think I prefer the cold brew over the hot version of this tea. The cold brew just brings out a sweetness that rounds out the battling blacks. And like before, I keep feeling like there is a Chinese green tea in this one, particularly gunpowder, even though I know there is not. Anyway, I’m happy with my introduction to Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea, and hopefully I can try many more in the future!

I’m having this one because though it is summer, I have this one in my sipdown drawer to work on before the end of the month. So this time around, I cold brewed about 2 teaspoons in my travel mug, but only for a few hours because I was impatient. The tea is a nice light, amber color. It turned out much sweeter than I expected or remembered from the hot version. The sweetness transitions quickly into a light smokiness that reminds me a lot of gunpowder, even though it says that there are only black teas in this blend. I’m actually kind of glad I was too impatient to let it sit for longer because I feel like it’s on the brink of being bitter/astringent. Anyway, it was a pleasant surprise that the cold brew turned out so naturally sweet.

Hmm, not sure what I did wrong today, but I’m just getting a mess of bitter and astringency. It’s kind of reminding me of when I use water that is too hot to steep Chinese green teas. Perhaps that is what the problem was- water that was too hot? In any case, I will not hold my silly mistakes against this perfectly nice tea. On to the next cup of tea!

I had to wake up earlier than I would have wanted on a Saturday for a picture, so when I got back, I needed this cuppa. I went for this tea because I remember it being a very smooth, bold breakfast-y tea. And memory served me right this time around! I don’t really get a lot of subtle different flavors with this tea as I might with some other black teas, but the bold, straightforwardness of it was really hitting the spot today. Unfortunately, it was more than a little astringent, but that was probably because I steeped too long or something. I was a little distracted when making this one. Anyhow, a redeeming start to the day!

Thanks, Pyroxy, for sending me a surprise sample of this tea! I’ve really wanted to try Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea, but they only sell such large quantities. When I smelled the dry leaves and first tasted the tea, I was ambivalent about it. It didn’t seem particularly special or gross or anything. But as I kept on sipping, I really started liking it. It reminds me of my beloved English breakfast teas. As the cup cooled and I got to the bottom of it, I was suddenly hit by a smoky taste that really helped distinguish this tea. It is a bit astringent, but not bitter.

Resteeping: This time around, the tea has a slightly less boldness to it, but I can really taste the smokiness coming out. Still astringent, but not too bad.

Overall, I am enjoying this tea, but not enough to buy 4 oz at a time. I guess I don’t even have the option anyway because I just checked their site and it doesn’t seem to be there anymore. Ah, the joys of holiday teas.