Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea

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.

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.

GCTTB
This is a really well balanced blend. It’s not anyone of the three. Light, fruity, touch of astringency but thick mouth feel and tons of flavor. Really like this one.

I rarely try blends, can’t get my head around some of the single varietals let alone a blend. This was my sip down for this morning, reaching far in the back of the cupboard and dragging out the days winner. And what a winner it is. Lots of flavors on the tongue, smoke, leather, tobacco, pie crust, and a hint of citrus. Blew my mind. This tea blend, if it becomes available again, is the perfect gift for my close knit tea friends as well as myself.

Backlog from last night.

This was something I sampled from the GCTTB4. Thank you Lala for putting it in!

This was my very first A&D tea, and I could tell from the smell of the tea as it was steeping that this was very high quality. It had that raisin spice note I find I really enjoy in black teas.

However, I did not pay much attention to this tea as it was steeping, and I oversteeped it. It wasn’t astringent, but the flavour was a bit deadened and heavy – no subtlety or layering to it. I really would like to try this again at some point, maybe with a bit of brown sugar.

I’m enjoying a pot of this with my breakfast, & it really is a nicely balanced blend: honey sweet, malty, a little tart plum in the aftertaste. It’s not particularly bold, but also not brash. It reminds me of a perfectly crusted loaf of honey wheat bread, and it almost feels like it has cream in it. There’s a beautiful thickness building on my tongue, and this might be my new favorite tea blend. It’s been in my cupboard since xmas time, unreviewed & barely opened, but I have a feeling that is getting ready to change :)

GCTTB

When they say this tea is bright – they are NOT KIDDING! Sweet, smooth, fruity and malty. As the cup cooled the fruit notes became even more pronounced. Delicious! Another Damn Fine tea!

GCTTB

I’m drinking this one to start my day off. Considering that it’s from A&D I was expecting this to be a lot stronger and maltier than it actually is. What I picked up on in the first cup was a bright fruitiness. I’m on the second cup now, and some bread and honey notes are showing up. I’m not getting the cocoa notes, though. Still, it’s a tasty start to the day.

GCTTB

Starting my morning with a big ole mug of this one. This is some goooood stuff! So, yeah, really happy that I got to try it, BUT really sad that I didn’t get any :( I missed out on some awesome tea. I really hope they bring this one back.

Malty, sweet, smoked leather. Sound tasty? It is!

I’ve been away from Steepster for a while ! Much on my blog and on a local website about tea where I can express myself in my mother tongue but I missed you all so here I am !

This lovely tea came from Nicole , I was looking for yunnans and she kindly sent me some including that one.

This is a very special tea : a lot of personnality ,tobacco, malt , cocoa and so mellow. For me it is maybe a little too much smocky – tobacco notes are not among my favourites in tea. But I have to recognize it has a lot of personnality and qualities.
This is for sure a great tea, maybe just not 100% for my taste.

Pics of my session with this tea are available here : https://thevangeliste.wordpress.com/2015/04/05/yunnan-gold-tips-chinese-new-year-2014-andrews-dunham-damn-fine-tea/

Am so glad on this first cup that I grabbed this at the Coffee&Tea Fest.

Dark, red rust, greens underneath, round and full in the mouth. The browns are on the medium and lighter sides at the top half and roof of the mouth. Tiniest pinpoint of black in the front of me. Richer red over the top and sides wrapped around rather than sitting on or touching.

The greens, browns, that pin prick of black, all of them are behind and supporting the rust flavor. Rich and full, yes.

Mouthfeel is round.

Glad to buy it.

I’ve had this tea for quite some time, and I finally cracked the tin open a few days ago. What was I waiting for? Delicious! I find this malty, grainy and fruity. Somebody asked if I find this a little salty, which intrigued me. I kept looking for it, but, no. I think it would have been interesting paired with the graininess that I picked up on.