Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea

I’m resteeping it from yesterday. Today was like 15min steep. Woa, I’ve never done such long steeps because I’m a chicken. Its still sweet, less than yesterday but its salty. I can even feel it on my lips.

I picked it up along with two other tins yesterday at NYC Coffee and Tea Festival .
They didn’t offer this tea for sampling but how can you go wrong with Damn Fine Tea.
The dry leaves are soo perfect, same size black small like lashes. They almost look plasticky to me
Steeped according to direction : 1 tsp 6 oz 212F 5min
It is my first Keemun (except blends) so I have nothing to compare.
The brew is gorgeous sunny golden brown. Smells like toast. Tastes like dark chocolate. As it cools I find it kind of salty. Am I crazy? That’s it. It tastes like sea salt dark chocolate. I’m a big fan of sea salt chocolate. Resteeped for 7min. still strong. I’m so happy that I picked it up even without trying.

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I was out far too late last night than my body is used to at a Christmas party, and got up very late this morning..so this is my first cup of the day haha. I also have a slight headache, not from indulging last night I don’t think as I barely had any drinks (stupid stomach was cranky), but more from sleeping for too long and too late. So I’m hoping this caffeine will jolt it away. And it’s an amazing cup that I don’t have nearly as often as I should – malty, clean, sweet honey, grainy..mmm. Liking this! See previous notes on this tea :)

Good morning caffeine..you are required today. I didn’t sleep well – whatever is up with my throat made me wake up around 4 coughing uncontrollably..needed my asthma puffer, etc..so yeah, we are going to change the cat’s litter back to the old variety as I think it’s the new one that’s triggering all this coughing. Blargh. So not 100% awake at all at work today. This tea should rectify that though, with it’s malty, rich flavor and rather large amount of caffeine haha.

Also was staying up late watching Jumanji…I am so saddened to hear of Robin Williams passing. He was a superb actor with an amazing sense of humour, and any one of his movies would brighten your day. My thoughts go out to his family during this time :( depression and mental illness are difficult things to deal with, so please, if anyone is suffering from them, please seek out help! Also if anyone here on Steepster needs someone to talk to, my inbox is always open and I’m willing to listen :)

Here’s to a great man and actor all around, who made my day more than once, and had a classic sense of humour that could make anyone laugh. I raise my teacup to you, Robin Williams, you will be missed. :(

UGH! I hate being sick! On top of that, the new office addition I moved into was having more work done on it today with the vents, so dust dust everywhere, and with my terrible cough/cold and the dust I had an allergy pill to keep breathing lol. So now I can’t smell or taste a whole lot because my sinuses are right plugged up and drying as well from the antihistamine. GAH! I made this tea in hopes the caffeine would help clear some stuff out, but all I smell is this vague honey scent and taste a tiny bit of malt. And sadface, this tea is amazing when I am not sick! Well, at least I know it does taste good and it’s just me. See previous notes on this tea! I hope I get unsick soon!

Mmmm this tea has some heft this morning! I brewed it up in a mug (not a travel mug this time!) and it is rich, malty, and has the most deliciously sweet honey aftertaste!!! Unless that is the cinnamon honey toast that accompanied my fried eggs this morning for breakfast lol :P whatever it is, this lingering honey note is in the back of my throat, rich and dripping..mmmm I think it’s the tea because it’s staying so much!! To me, this is an excellent morning cup – caffeinated, smooth, malty, rich, with sweetness. Oh also that graininess. So good. I am so pleased I have a tin of this to drink!

My lovely friend charchar picked me up a tin of this with her first A&D order, I was super excited when I saw this one released, Yunnans are possibly my favorite variety of black teas. I will also do a more in depth review later when I have this in an actual mug, not just my Timolino lol.

Unfortunately, Davidstea’s Cool Cucumber has attacked my travel mug and makes every tea brewed in it taste like it haha. I actually had the Yunnan tips yesterday but the flavor was so off from contamination I couldn’t even review it. Today it is a bit better, but still that sweetness is sticking around. But beyond that, this is a smooth, malt grainy tea, very smooth actually! And a lot lighter than I expected, I’ve had some Yunnans that just drip with honey and feel so much thicker, but this one is light and easy to drink. Surprising to me, as I’ve been making it with the recommended 5 minute steep time. There is a mild sweet potato note in there as well, which I imagine would stand out more when not brewed in a contaminated travel mug lol.

Overall, I am a fan of this tea so far, and very excited to try it at home! So far, quite pleased with it though. Another tasty tea from A&D. Oh, and the horse finger puppet that came with it..yes, a bit creepy, my cat likes to bat it around and chase it on the floor haha. A bit weird to watch :D and I like the coaster that came with it too!

Withholding rating until I can brew this tea properly with the care it deserves :)

Oh, and I got Tin #57!

noms. finished the last of this up this morning while enjoying breakfast on the balcony in the cooler air. Love the refreshing mornings and the awesome evenings…middle of the day can suck it haha

Final Count: 83

Another tea i forgot to add to my cupboard. I’m clearly not making this months sip down goal BUT i think i’ll hit my more important goal weight. So nice to revisit this one…so deliciously malty and tasty.

Last cup of this! I’m still not sure if i want to pick up a tin of this. On one hand it’s a really nice cup of tea – smooth, comforting, unobtrusive. On the other hand, there are cups i’ve had that were more flavourful and more of a WOW cup of tea. But sometimes all you want is a good cup of relaxing tea that doesn’t demand your attention. hmmmm

another of my morning teas and delicious at that! I WILL be ordering some of this provided they didn’t magically sell out at the festival this past weekend as their website hasn’t been updated yet.

mmmmm other tea i set aside to drink today even though neither will get me a sipdown (and i need 4 each day this weekend at least!) This of course means that I am now going to need to buy 4 tins from A&D whenever i get around to ordering. I pretty much stalk their website looking at teh quantity of this one to make sure i can get in on an order..and i mean if i’m picking up this one, i might as well also get red tail, tiger and one other since the 3 pack is a deal. I think? i had landed on double knit over caravan, though i enjoyed them both. That being said….i’m trying REALLY hard to make it through march with no orders…
I’m a fan of this. As terri said, it’s not a desert island tea but it is a damn fine tea. And i am also a fan of their tins so..yeah. loving this! especially with my bagel and creamcheese heh

Had this one earlier today. It was decent but i don’t think i need to reorder this one. There are others from A&D that i prefer.

morning cup. I accidentally oversteeped this, so that’s on me :(

pulled this one out today to have again. While not my favourite Damn fine tea, it’s still up there as delicious :)

Another cup from earlier today – was nice to pull this one out and revisit it. Trying to pack away from teas to share with friends and get samples out for others.

morning tea…great start to today. I really do need to drink my damn fine teas more often as they are really great every day sort of teas. I always tend to hoard them though, and i’m not sure why that is. this was the perfect accompaniment to melty peanut butter on toast this morning :)

Time to pull out my older teas more often since i’ve sort of been hoarding them. Not to mention i have the free shipping coupon from damn fine tea that i can use before June? i think it was, so i might as well drink up! I forgot how much i rather enjoy this one. It’s got a softer, almost sweet profile when brewed at lower temps. really nice to revisit this one.

I bought these tins a while back and for whatever reason haven’t brought myself to have tea from them since. I really enjoy A& D teas. There’s something to be said for 4oz of unassuming delicious straight black tea.

I am on a mission today. My goal is to get at minimum 10 sipdowns, though 20 would be preferable since i suspect i won’t have much time for sipdowns tomorrow with all that’s going on. Massage, board games! i suspect i’ll be out of the house all day :) However, i may use it as an excuse to bring my timolino and brew up a cup in it while playing games heh. This one is now officially out of my cupboard, though i suspect that it will be back sometime in April as I need to place a damn fine tea order ASAP! :) Thanks for letting me get the chance to try this one out terri!

this tea makes me happy. unresponsive companies on FB does not. If you’re going to have a presence on social media…that means you need to have a presence/respond to ppl. ESPECIALLY if there are questions on your FB and then you come back to your page, make a post, update pics..that means ANSWER THE QUESTIONS THERE WHILE YOU’RE AT IT! sheesh….

my dearest tea sister terri overloaded my cupboard yesterday. I’m now surrounded by what feels like, 100’3 of sample sizes of delicious teas to try. All that being said, i purposely pulled out this one and the year of the horse tea from damn fine tea since i’ve almost placed an order for about 5 of their teas including those two. I figured i might as well try them and see if i could cross one of the teas off my list. HA! i should have known the answer was no. This is another smooth cup from A&D that has just a hint of astringency to it but in a way that’s good. It’s got a bit of a malty tone to it, but not overly so. Seriously though… i think an order is inbound, esp if i like the horse tea lol thanks as always terri!