Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea

I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to get around to trying my A&D teas. Bad Jillian!

When I think of a default ‘tea’ flavour I usually think of Ceylon and I can tell without a doubt that this tea is a Ceylon. But it’s like those generic black teas like a diamond is to graphite; I can tell right from the first sip that this is a quality tea. It tastes bright and smooth with a faint touch of bitter tannin at the end.

It’s not ‘the bestest tea evar’ or anything, but it’s excellent for what it’s supposed to be. I’ll likely be holding this up as a yardstick for any other Ceylons that I may try in the future.

Good savory sweet green background for a satisfying jasmine tea. I think there’s some vanilla orchids in this green’s bouquet. Maybe there’s something wrong with me today. Don’t care. Comfort tea, crappy day.

Another herbacious gem from JacquelineM’s SweeTeas! I’ve been low on Jasmine for a while and none of it worth singing about, but this one! This is worth a whole comcept album!
The base is lightly sweet but nutty, not too grassy to cause disharmony. The jasmine is soft and real (Is there anything more repusive than brash or fake jasmine?) and I think I spent as much time sniffing it as drinking it. The smell, taste, and color are all plesant. A&D’s Jasmine is an instant hit in the top five jasmine teas for me.

Edit: And this is what makes it Damn Fine. Four steepings and it still tastes like jasmine! The jasmine fades slower than the tea base without starting harshly! And the fourth was over night! I almost want to dance.
Ah! Here we go! I’ve always thought Venus Hum looks and sounds like this tea. Tastes like it too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clgTSuDSqWU

Dear lord I love this tea. First infusion is strong for a white (which has already been mentioned). Complex, and with a delicate and slightly sweet aftertaste. Sorry, I’m terrible at tasting notes, as I don’t seem to be able (or have the desire) to separate out individual notes. However, it’s the kind of tea that you want to just sit with and enjoy.

Yet another tea reinforcing the Damn Fine in A&D.

Wow, I finally steeped this correctly today. I’ve been consistently either over-brewing this tea, or putting too few leaves in, or not warming up the cup or pot enough. This tea is a bit fussier than some, for sure, but it’s completely worth it. It’s a bit of a paradox with tea, because that moment when you aren’t yet caffeinated enough to do things right is when you have to figure out how to brew correctly!

Also, it goes really, really well with cinnamon sugar coffee cake.

I must agree with several other notes that I’ve read regarding this tea, as I was expecting a little bit more of a punch. Don’t get me wrong, I like this tea. It is, however, a milder Assam than I was expecting. I think the only basis for my assumption, however, is that the only other Assams I’ve ever had have been a little stronger. That said, the tea was pleasantly mellow but stout and solid. I may try a bit more leaf next time, but regardless this tea is pretty good.

I have to laugh that I found out a friend on Steepster just got her sample of this while i was making it. Tea in tandem it seems! This is the first time I’m trying three steeps of Rabbit tea mixed into my big blue bai mu dan cup. It’s still amazing and creates a sort of sunflower caramel taste. I think I like them seperate, though.

After much convincing, I am home fo Easter. Which means properly prepared bai mu dan! Today was perfect for it too. Warm and drizzly with a sde of butternut squash.

I love leaving a steeping of this over night to drink wth matcha in the mornng. For some reason Bai Mu Dan gets better after sittting for several hours. The woodsy honey quality of the first few steepings fortify themsleves with a night’s rest I suppose.

Happy hoppy day by the way.

This is brightening the endless March drizzle especially after four cups of Frontier Organics’s bai mu dan. This baicha is so smooth and honeyed. I never noticed it before but this baicha has more tips than any other I’ve had. Even so I think I’m going to drastically reduce my intake of this tea, partally to make it last, and partially because I’m getting a little burnt out on bunny baicha. Too much of a good thing and all…

I kind of wish I got tin 100 to match my tin #50. Oh well. It’s better than refreshing the counter page every ten minutes and missing it altogether.
Speaking of 100, now what should I do for note #100?

I made a cup to let run wild a week ago and was quite happy with the honey and cashew notes gaining umami as they thinned. I started a fifth infusion then got whisked away on errands; three hours and my entire energy supply later, I rediscovered it before rinsing the teapot.
Horror filled me as I poured it out. It was as dark as pu’erh. Even so there was no way I was wasting Damn Fine Tea. I’d never been so scared of drinking a tea in my life.
A-aaand it wasn’t bitter? Just a mild wood and nori flavor. Wow. So lesson learned: do not fear fluffy little bunnies.

The first infusion is fine at 6:30 and lets the next two infusions expand somewhat, keeping it nice, full, and honeyed. The flavors are similar and still drop consideraby after the first but they are so complex and satisfying! Fourth is a fight between caramel and konbu stock. Konbu wins by a dash of hijiki.

Fifth infusion: Stopping here because I need a dash of caffeine and I doubt rabbits like chipotle quinoa. Still some honey lazing about my gaiwan but even with lower temperatures this is broth by infusion four.

The seventh infusion of this lovely lunar liquid was the perfect way to end the daylight time. The whole day I’ve felt sick and aggrivated by the dreary sleet and moaning wind.

The last broth like cup was perfect for my dessert, a dried fig cut open and wrapped around the fortune cookie, which I’m surprised so one has mentioned out right yet but joshuabones quoted already; The kind and clever folks at A&D included a fortune cookie with their Rabbits that reads “Seek happiness. Be kind. Drink Tea.” I’m tempted to up the rating for inluding the evening’s meditation and dessert with my order. So delicious!

Andrews & Dunham could take over the world. Seriously. They’ve got heart stealing marketing down pat. Their service, tin art, value, exclusivity are a titanium trap for life time loyalty. Oh, and the tea can induce swooning and tears of joy. That helps.
And their new rabbit snare caught a frog. A&D now have first priority in my purchasing for life. I think I’m in love.

Not much of a scent from the leaf but what it lacks in aroma it makes up for in visual delight. The leaves are a nice mix of green and silver. It’s like confetti! Perfect for the Lunar new year. Oh, wow, they’re really packed in. One has to fluff the leaf just to extract it!
First infusion: 1 “Fluffed” TBSP for 7:35 minutes, eight oz 205 F water in a glass teapot
Rather dark for bai mu dan! The aroma is quite strong too. Forest honey, honeysuckle, wakame and hijiki. Ooh, matching taste! A bit too strong for white but that’s my fault. The lid did not want to go back on the tin (tha’s good actually; I need a deterant from drinking this every meal…)
Next time try it at six minutes and see if I can get a stronger flavor in the next two steeps.

Second: Six oz water in 205F water for 10 minutes Third: 12 Fourth: 15
Yeah, that extra thirty seconds at this high a temperature exhausted the poor little bunny. Much weaker and smilar, but not as sweet. Given that the brothy vanilla taste is still hanging about, that’s quite fine. Perfect actually. The first sweet infusion one wants to gulp down in thirst, then smaller, more savory infusions to drink carefully and slowly. A cup lasts all evening if one is patient. These three infusion slowly slipped from honeyed oceanic hay to clear vegetable broth with some wood notes popping in and out.

Edit: Fifth, Sixth: 25
I was going to stop at four but after hearing that six was possible and looking at the festive, verdant leaves in the the pot, I had to try. I actually didn’t mean to leave them so long but I did forget they forgave! Not a tinge of bitterness!

Seventh: 35 minutes with 3 0z 185F water to start and left on a warmer that hadn’t fully warmed
I had to try. I don’t want it to end!
And it worked! Two long sips of perfectly smooth clear vegetable broth that definately included wakame in its production. But it was very thin broth, and definately the last infusion it would give. Still, amazing. Happy hopping lunar new year.

Iced! Really nice, just make sure to brew it strong.