Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea

Yesterday’s Steepster Select reminded me about this wonderful Earl I have in my collection!! Sometimes I forget about him because I transferred him to a plainer tin. I loved the A+D tin so much that I had to use it before I was done the tea for all of my sewing pins in my studio!!! (A Thomas tin holds my paperclips at work. Good tea + good design = very, very, very happy JacquelineM!)

I am enjoying him immensely today! The bergamot is very citrusy and present, but not perfumey or overwhelming. The tea base is delicious – this is one Earl who makes an absolutely perfect resteep! Actually, the word perfect keeps coming to mind as I sip and sip. This is one heck of an Earl!!

Free shipping or no, as soon as I finish buying my holiday presents and come up for air, I have to get the latest two A+D series. I love their tea!

In yesterday’s mail, a card full of tea arrived from wonderful wombatgirl! Inside the card was written in large black letters

Tea.
Earl Grey.
Hot.

I of course got the HUGEST kick out of that, being an Earl Grey fan and a Picard fan :) The card is now on my desk here at work turned inside out so that the words show!!! I am so happy that I am getting to try A + D Damn Fine Earl Grey!!! :)

It is an absolutely delicious Earl. I love whatever bergamot they used, and the concentration is perfect! Not too much, not too little. I am absolutely crazy for the tea base! It balances so well with the bergamot – and adds a really great foundation. Anyone know what kind of tea was used?

I really didn’t want to like it as much as I do! Damn A + D and their Damn Fine Teas! Now I have to go and get series 3! SHEESH!

Hoping this will perk me up for the afternoon…

Thought I’d try this for my afternoon cuppa – it’s a bit drying, but very smooth and rich. I’m quite enjoying it.

Just a quick cup of Jackee since my Zoji was rather inconveniently between temperatures again.

I like Thomas Samson…I do…but I’ve found enough Assams that are similar to it that I don’t feel as though it’ll be creating an absence in my cabinet when it’s gone. This, on the other hand…this is a different story. I’ve still not found the tea that will replace Jackee, and it saddens me, so every cup that I have is sort of bittersweet — literally and figuratively!

On the up-side, steepster peeps, tonight is going to be a good night, because tonight I go to see Rodrigo y Gabriela play at the Opera House. I am pretty excited, not gonna lie. They’ve gotten me through more than one tired, backside-dragging bout on the treadmill. Their energy is incredible, and if you haven’t heard of them, I heartily recommend checking them out. Diablo Rojo is the track that hooked me, but they’re all good. The album 11:11 is amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/artist?a=GxdCwVVULXfcuOZY-J8rvrP9Hsyf5VVz&feature=artistob

Been hoarding this because my tin is running low, but my new one came in today, so…time for some Jackee! I spent all day wandering around shopping in the splinter of sunligyht we’ve managed to get. It was jammed at the Pru…because tomorrow is the first day of PAX East. SO MANY NERDS. Seriously…the conversations I was overhearing…it was like walking around in a Kevin Smith film, only without most of the witty. Or funny. Or, I should say, the intentionally funny.

Still, I can’t judge too harshly…my 3-day badge is sitting right here next to my keyboard.

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

12:30pm: Resteeping Jackee. He is teasing me, taunting me from the underbrush with glimpses of caramel and confectionary, but smoky still. I am dogged in my pursuit of my elusive quarry. I will have him. I will record my every cup, and all resteeps.

1:00pm: Blast. Too much leaf. Delicious, and yet I feel I am falling father and father behind my prey. The scent was so close before. Damn it all!

1:45pm: I’ve read and reread the copious amount of notes from those who went before, and determined to decrease the steep time, and the leaf amount yet again…and now the trail is hot again.

2:45pm: I WILL FIND YOU, CARAMEL JACK

3pm: We strike out yet again.

3:30pm: And again…sudden impulse to alphabetize video game and cd collection ignored as irrelevant side-effect of caffeine consumption…

4pm: And again…

5pm: Is it 5? …I can hardly keep track of the time…the cups of tea…the tea that looks for a moment as though it will reveal itself to be caramel tea toward the last, but which goes on to breathe its last, only tantalizingly close to what I seek! I feel it shall drive me mad! This expedition is a failure, a failure! I also may have consumed too much caffeine in my pursuit of this ghost, this paper tiger…

6pm: I CAN SMELL HIS MOCKERY. There in my empty cup, let sit for a time…the sweet smell of caramel…sweeter than the tea that occupied the cup, and now I am sure that he TOYS WITH ME! Hands…have begun to shake…

7pm: So close…so close…I can’t give in now…ohhh, the lovely colors…

7:30pm: Tea… i
s

must…
find….
caramel…
fzzbrtth x.x

I haven’t found it. Yet.

You know what I mean. The caramel. That’s the buzz with this tea, isn’t it? The caramel flavor as the cup cools?

I haven’t gotten the caramel chew.

Yet.

The exasperating part of this is that I can sense how the flavors in the tea would become the caramel. All of the right qualities are there, right up to the salty-sour tickle at the sides of my tongue that seems sweet by turns. It’s there. But it’s hiding, resistant, clinging to the edge of the precipice that allows it to tout itself more as a smoky keemun than a caramel chew.

The good news, of course, is that the tea it continues to insist upon being is excellent. I think I prefer it over either of Adagio’s offerings sheerly by dint of the extremely smooth, silky, substantial mouthfeel that it gives as you sip. Adagio’s lacks the sweet-sour-salty feeling this one gives me, but it seems far more one-dimensional, too…and a little bit more brisk. Good, but not quite the fullness of flavor I get here.

The other good news is that a) I’ve discovered the leaf holds up well to a single second steeping and b) getting close to, but not quite to, the caramel flavor so often touted, means that I’ve got plenty of reason to drink cup after delicious cup of this tea. I can hardly complain. Experiments…they will continue.

Last morning, I was in the kitchen and it hit me: ThomAS SAMpson. Assam! What a clever pun. Looks like Auggy has also figured that out.

TS is an excellent, but somewhat standard, Assam. I have been spoiled with all the superb teas I’ve found via Steepster, so don’t take my not being floored as anything negative. I’d liken it to The Simple Leaf’s Amor – surprisingly free of harshness with a rich flavor and pleasant aroma. There is a respectable amount of maltiness – not as much as TSL’s Mountain Malt, but it is significant.

I would agree with other reviewers that it has a “bake-y” smell – the maltiness is combining with some other flavor element in the tea to make this special bakey essence. Thus far I notice it more in the dry leaves than the actual brewed tea, but I’m still fiddling with the parameters. If I can figure that out, then I’ll be very sad when my tiny tin of this is empty.

Backlogging from yesterday.

This was another sample from Ricky. Thanks Ricky!
As we know, I LOVE dragonwell. So I am going to be harsh, because my standards are pretty high. This tea was a little too weak for me brewed according to instructions. I brewed 3 minutes, hot, no additives. I found that the water was the right color and everything, the smell was a faint vegetal, as it should be, but the flavor just was not there.

I have also mentioned in my ramblings about green tea, that I also tend to simply add green, specifically dragonwell to a cup with hot water and drink it without ever straining. Allowing for maximum flavor (and sometimes bitterness) to come out of the leaves. In the case of the Damn Fine Dragonwell, I have to say that leaving the leaves submerged in the cup while enjoying was the best way. I feel we could have also brewed the tea longer than required, but this gives you a few good steeps, without getting bitter so there was no reason to have to make it in a pot and pour it off.

Overall, the tea was alright as long as you let it sit and infuse long enough, however the recommended time was not enough to get decent flavor out of the tea.

Backlogging from yesterday.

Lots of tea this weekend. Including my final brew on this tea (and another to come) from Ricky. Brewed hot, 3 minutes, no additives. The aroma on this is black tea. It is not strong, it is a subtle smell, yet relaxing and familiar. This is what a good black tea should smell like. The taste is the same, gentle and familiar, exactly how a black tea should taste. The tea is smooth and delightfully plain, there is no astringency, there is a faint suggestion of vanilla flavor. This would be fantastic with milk and sugar, though it does not need it. Overall, this was very good.

As a final note, I drank a lot of tea this weekend, unfortunately about five of them are NOT already in the database of Steepster, and since I am uber busy and even more lazy, it will be a few more days before I can get them in. Sorry.

WOW! This was my first experience with Damn Fine Tea and I am very pleasantly surprised. Admittedly I wasn’t sure what I was in for, as I am not too familiar with the descriptor of Nepal, but, I was expecting a plain, strong and generally normal black tea experience. That is not what this is at all.

Bottom line… this is an amazingly complex and BEAUTIFUL black tea. The tea is so very, very light with minimal tannins and the only bold, typical black tea flavors in the blend at all come at the very tail end of the flavor profile. The first flavors to hit your tongue are all honey and smooth sweetness and remind me of french pastries. Not the doughy part of the pastry but, the way that chocolate and vanilla can blend with caramels and hazelnuts to make a unique flavor that stands on it’s own. The initial impression is honey but, as the flavor develops it shifts from creme brule to hot chocolate and caramel. And even with all of it’s complexity it remains delicate and well balanced and fricken fantastic. Can you tell I’m in tea love?

At the end of each sip there is just a little bite to remind you that this is a black tea and not an oolong. This is seriously the lightest, sweetest most complex black tea that I can have with no additives and still be the happiest woman on the planet drinking it.

After the little tannin nip at the end the after taste fades into toasted caramel. sigh I wish they would put this out again so I can have more.

I enjoyed every cup of Thomas Sampson, even though it gives me the caffeine jitters afterwards. For the last cup I used honey and a splash of coconut milk to soften the blow of running out. They’re not kidding about stopping at 4 minutes. I left it a few seconds extra and it was definitely a few seconds over. Still, a lovely tea.

This blend tastes to me like your average English Breakfast blend, but it’s saved from mediocrity by this delicious syrupy sweet note. Still, I’m pretty disappointed by A&D’s Series 2 set so far…so expensive, and not that tasty. Sigh.

The second steep is much lighter and sweeter. Everything from color to smell to taste is mellower on the second steep with the exception of a prominent marshmallow sweetness that I didn’t get in the first steep. Definitely worth a second steep.

The tea brews up garnet red. The smell is mild charcoal, leather and pine. Sometimes I get a saline mineral taste like sea air, other times it tastes earthy and vegetal like peat or hay. Moderate astringency and a little bitterness.

This is hands down the best black tea I have ever had. Good and strong, but needs a bit of sugar for my taste.

This is a comparison tasting against Keemun Concerto and Keemun Encore; see further notes here http://steepster.com/Tea_Bird/posts/36237 and http://steepster.com/Tea_Bird/posts/36241

The strongest color (barely, Encore is close) and the strongest aroma of the three, though it isn’t as smoky as Encore. Sipping Jackee first: strong, slightly sweet, slightly astringent, smokiness lingers in the mouth and throat, but in a sweet rather than harsh way. I feel like I need a palate cleanser. PB&J will have to do.

Jackee tastes bolder (for both better and worse) after Encore; richer and more complex after Concerto. More smoke comes out as it cools. No caramel, for those who follow that saga – my water was probably too hot for that.

Jackee’s complexity is still quite present through the milk. I can see why he’s a champion, and I’ll miss him when he’s gone.

Round 2 shows more of how special Jackee is, though; he held up much better to a second steep. Color is still a warm reddish gold (compared to the amber of Concerto and Encore). Flavor is still bold, though not nearly as much as on the first steep, but also sweeter and more approachable.

This has set the bar for quality Keemun, for me, and I would likely buy more over time if it were available. Since it’s not, I’ll just have to keep looking for another tea with Jackee’s complexity and endurance, and enjoy my Concerto in the mean time.

Beautiful deep red hue in the cup; I think someone pegged it as garnet. I think my water was a little too cool, because the flavor is very mild: sweet, smoky, a little bit of an earth/pine taste, but with none of the heft I’ve gotten from Jackee in the past. Will try to remedy this on the next steep (Jackee always gives me two, if not three).

2nd steep (with slightly hotter water) is a little sweeter, less smoky. The color is less intense, but the flavor is still strong, and smoother.

3rd steep is amber, sweet, and mild. Definitely got a dark/sweet flavor on the last couple of steeps that could be called burnt sugar. Any hint of astringency is gone by the 3rd, so it’s just a round, mellow, yes caramel-y, flavor. Almost starting to remind me of honeybush, but not as woody.

First steeping is being a bit harsh this time, more smoky than sweet; I’ll try a higher water-to-tea ratio on the next. Milk softens the harshness, but it feels like a shame to add anything to such a normally classy tea. For those who found a caramel taste – do you add anything? Cream/sugar/honey?

This is my last teaspoon of leaves from the Tiger. It’s very bittersweet, literally and figuratively! That chewy smoky sweet flavor is so delicious, and I am going to miss it. I feel like I’m chewing on a caramel candy. Harney & Sons, in their tea book, says Yunnan teas are (and I paraphrase) the happy but poor cousin tea (to the Keemun aristocrat tea) so I imagine it as a caramel that you could have found in the neighborhood corner store in the 1940s (with all the high fructose corn syrup you just don’t get good common candy anymore. I probably am one of the few people here who was old enough to still have the corner candy store where you could bring pennies and nickels and get little brown paper bags of sweets – this was in the 70s – I’m not sure if they were filled with HFCS but I do know from my grandparents that they did not taste the same as in the 40s and 50s (you see, not only candy but the whole world went to hell in the 60s as far as they were concerned, but I digress!)

I’m lightening up my choices for the spring and summer, but once Fall rolls around, I’m going to be experimenting with some other Yunnan teas to see if I can find one I like as much as this guy!!!! Suggestions appreciated!

Second infusion: Even sweeter and lighter caramel tea goodness. Just a hint of smoky chewy. Very enjoyable, but it’s the first infusion that knocks my socks off!

Farewell Tiger!!! Ricky – I will love you forever for sending this to me!!!!!