Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea

I’ve been a cranky ragebot all week long for various reasons, but as one of those small silly things that can talk you off the ledge last night before bed I reminded myself I’d be able to try this today (and thanks boychik, your review today made me even more excited!). I was a tad worried I’d find it too mild and straightforwardly sweet potato like I was just talking about with Golden Monkey, but this is great, a lovely balance of that sweet smoothness tips give with more robust but still smooth malty dark flavor I crave. The cup color tells it; it isn’t that warm orange-gold-brown hue of the sweet potato teas but instead a deeper more burgundy-tinged affair, as I like. And as it cools there’s a lingering aftertaste of dark chocolate, yum—I imagine it comes from the very faintest hint of bitterness I crave giving it a depth of flavor, but the smooth sweetness the tips provide rounding it out. Was prepared to send a lot of this off to my IRL tea buddy or Steepsters who might lean towards the general Yunnan style if I didn’t love this but I do. So there’s a win for the day, woo small triumphs!

ETA this is a resteep champ, yes even Western style. Had a second cup, 5 minutes just like the first, just as good maybe in some ways even better (lighter yes, but sweeter too, and still with enough heft to make it deliciously satisfying). Woo hoo!

As per JC recommendation I brew 2 heaping tsp in 200 ml glass pot short steeps 5/5/10/15/20 sec none of the steeps are weak. Very chocolaty and malty. Wet leaves smell of honey and tobacco. There is some rye bread sourness and slight spice comes at the very end. I can’t decide which method I prefer. Both produce very different results.

i was super excited when i got it yesterday. the tin is so fun, sunny and looks like spring. i found horse head finger puppet and for some reason i felt very happy like a child.
1tsp 195F 200ml pot 1min produced very rich cup of tea. golden brown in color, bready, molasses, tastes like cocoa, not too sweet.
2nd steep @2min i wanted to add 1 tsp brown sugar to see how flavors would change. it produced very satisfying cup of tea of melted dark chocolate. i like it either way
3rd steep @3min a little less flavor but still dark and strong. no sugar

Really smooth. Brewed this one a little lite, only 3 mins for some reaason (Mike’s fault). I like this one a lot though. It’s not crazy in your face with the flavor but still easily stands on its own. I could see this being drinkable on a frequent basis.

Backlog:

Now, having tried the original Caravan and not being too crazy about it (smoky teas just don’t usually do it for me), I wasn’t going to order this resurrected version however, it came as part of the Damn Fine three-pack which was introduced before the adventure pack. And I figured at 48. it was a pretty good deal and since I’ve learned a better way to brew smoky teas so that I can drink them … I decided I’d go for it.

And I’m glad I did because now with my “new” brewing method (which isn’t all that big a secret, I simply “rinse” the leaves with hot water – brewing them for 15 seconds and then discard the liquid and then steep them as I would normally), I really enjoyed this tea.

Smoky … yes, it still is quite smoky, but I can also enjoy the other flavors tucked within this tea. Sweet and caramel-y. Deep fruity notes. A moderate astringency.

An enjoyable cuppa.

Just sipped the last of this tea down and am already missing this damn fine tea in my cupboard. Steepster gave me a non-caffeine related jolt when I visited this tea’s page and saw a huge ‘not available’ sign. Fortunately, I went to the official webpage and saw that the tea is alive, well, and able to be ordered. Steepster should be careful when claiming that teas are unavailable so that it does not induce heart attacks in its members unnecessarily.

The tea:

Other Earl Greys I’ve tried have either had a high, sour bergamot note or a strong acidic note. This one is beautifully balanced – it is ultra bergamoty without overpowering the smooth black tea underneath.

This is a smooth and ultra-bergamoty earl grey. A damn fine morning tea. One of those teas where it doesn’t matter how sleepy you are when measuring and brewing, because it is near impossible to screw up. Too much tea? No problem, it’ll wake you up quicker than a pot of coffee. Too little? Don’t worry, the bergamot is strong enough to cover it up.

Well this was a surprise. I don’t drink many teas from India. They are often bitter, harsh, and burn in my stomach like crazy. This one though… the wet leaf smells incredible. The orange-red brew is very smooth, and not in the least bitter. Yes it is somewhat drying but not harsh. I steeped it for 3 1/2 minutes – I imagine had I gone 2-2 1/2 a lot of that dryness could be reduced. I found myself really enjoying this bold malty cup and a single cup did not cause stomach burn.

Putting some serious work into getting through the wonderful samples that Terri sent me a while back.
This is a good, solid Assam, on the more aggressive side of Assam – so milk-and-sugar it, or lemon it, or mint it, or whatever – it can take what you throw at it with ease.
I wouldn’t drink it on an empty stomach or in the afternoon, but as a morning tea with breakfast, it would probably do the trick of getting you up and running out the door, all charged up.
I personally prefer more gentle, tame Assams, so I will probably won’t purchase a batch of this. If you like strong teas, do give this a try.
Also, I completely broke down and placed another purchase with Norbu – this time of a she pu’er that I’ve been eyeing for a while, as well as of an interesting Taiwan black, and the Taiwan white tea that I’ve been wanting to try for a while, after seeing a raving review of it on teaviews. I will now be an evil enabler and let you know that there’s still 25% on your entire basket at norbutea.com until the 31st.
running away, rubbing my hands with glee

I finally have a little bit of time to catch up on reading others’ Steepster notes. Casey and I had this one tonight with our Tofurkey pizza with chipotle sauce. Pretty tasty.

I bought this tea because my boyfriend’s boss was complaining to me how he can’t find any good, strong black teas. I remembered reading many tasting notes for this one and it seemed like it might fit the bill. I’d also been curious to try it, so I ordered one tin for myself and one for Casey’s boss. I brewed this for the four minutes that A&D suggests, but I definitely overleafed it. It’s supposed to be very forgiving, but there was definitely an unpleasant bitterness at the end of the sip. The bitterness did not last, though. My tastebuds seemed to acclimate to it very quickly somehow. This really impressed me. It has enough astringency to be a strong black tea, but it isn’t the type of astringency that completely dries your mouth out.

Why don’t you pull up a chair (unless you’re already on one in which case you can skip this step) and I’ll tell you a little story.

Once upon a time I joined steepster, after being introduced to David’s tea and falling in love with not only the tea, but with everything it implied: a sense of peace, the act of preparing it, the almost spiritual experience of tasting it, the anticipation, everything. And then I read reviews and saw that people were swapping and I wanted to be a part of the craze!
Not to worry, said dexter3657, I’m your girl! So she very kindly packages up a million teas to send to me. In the meantime, I placed an order with Dellaterra, and sat back and waited for my teas to start rolling in.

Got a package in the mail, and instantly messaged dex.
Me: Omg! thanks! Just got the tea! I’m on my office floor, in fact, surrounded by all this lovely tea!
Dex: …?
Me: yeah! best feeling ever!
Dex: Um, keychange? your package is saying it’s still in Manitoba. It isn’t supposed to reach you for like another few days at least.
Me: Horse hockey! It’s right here in my office! It’s in…lots of little zipped bags…that are sealed.
Dex: nope
Me: …?
Dex: My packages are different sizes and all that sort of thing. Are you sure it isn’t something else?
And then it dawned on me. Of course this was my sampler from Dellaterra! whoops!
So there’s a good little blind story for you guys.

So five thousand years later, I got around to having a friend help me make labels for all my samples, and this was the first one I wanted to try. I’d read some really good reviews for it by other black tea lovers, so I had this with breakfast this morning. Dex was very generous with the sample, so I can enjoy a few more cups of this also!

The dry leaf smells a lot like black tea. I couldn’t glean too much more than that, because you know how it is with swaps and such—although I don’t think I was picking up on any other smells, it wasn’t the same as sticking my nose into a tin or anything like that. But I also love the smell of black tea so that wasn’t a problem. I brewed it up and let it steep for four minutes.

And wouldn’t you believe—it’s almost a dead ringer (in my opinion) for Queen Catherine! If I concentrate really hard, I think this blend has a touch more astringency, and a slightly (very very slightly) drier mouth feel, but that could all just be in my imagination. I’m getting the slight smoke from what I’m assuming is keemun, and I wonder if there’s some assam in here to explain the slight malt/dryness. Either way, I gulped this right down because anything that tastes like the queen is mighty fine by me. I’m delighted to have more of this to sip at, but thankfully won’t have to make the A and D purchase (which I hear has insane shipping to Canada), because I don’t need two queens: only one LOL.

Thank you so much, dex, for sharing this with me. You were the first person on steepster to so generously send a bunch of tea my way, and I’m sorry it took me so long to get around to sampling them! You’re awesome.

I told Sil yesterday that I would experience the mystic powers of the Tiger this morning as my breakfast tea. This is all thanks to her and the generous sample she sent my way after I told her how curious I was to try this legend of a tea. Now I just found out she ran out herself, sad face…that goes to show her generosity and willingness to share. Thank you so much Sil!

I understand all the hype around this tea now.

A true rough on the edges lumberjack would not shy away from this tea. But it’s also good for us Canadian women, remember, we do like ourselves a strong cup in the morning! In general, I don’t want too finicky and complicated early in the morning, I want a hard worker that takes its job seriously, aiming to please ME!!!

It’s a rich bold and malty cup. But there’s zero bitterness to it, mellow and sweet, yet, strong and powerful.

Even as it cooled down, it remained as smooth as a baby’s derriere ;-)

On the list it goes, it will make a perfect everyday kick me in the petuli Assam!

I just cant start my day without this tea. its awesome with eggs and cheese. i just cant think of other tea that would go so great with the breakfast. 205F @4min
yea, my taste buds changed a lot for the past year

http://instagram.com/p/uinIYghwng/

i had it with breakfast. Today i decided to have @4min. I think its even better. More sweetness coming out. Some people are afraid of smoky teas which could be tamed with tiny bit of maple syrup(Sil and Terri, thank you for your advice). I didnt use any additions today . But i wouldn’t recommend you to have this tea on its own: either with food (cheese complements smoke nicely) or maple syrup.
Did i mention i started my 2nd tin of this tea?

Excellent tea for breakfast. The smoke grew on me, I love it and crave each morning. Gives me lots of energy. Besides smoke I noticed some sweetness . Very smooth and balanced. 1/3 of can left.

205F 8oz 3min
Its so nasty outside, drizzly and windy. I needed some hot tea. Since my last review I fell in love with Lapsang Souchong, so smoke is not an issue anymore. In fact I like it, its very well done in Caravan. Enjoyed with croissant and cheddar. Yum!

I like smoky teas. But last time I brewed it western method it was too much for me. I could not get rid of smoky flavor for long time after I finished my cup.
Today I decided to brew in gaiwan. 5oz+1tsp+1/1/1. i combined all steeps in one cup.
This way smokiness was minimal and tea was so sweet