Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea

Mmmmm… yum.

For me, I needed the cream and sugar (or technically, the splenda and 2%) but once I had that – OH! The mouthfeel was much more creamy than the tiny splash of 2% could account for and the bergamont overtones were perfect.

One troublesome thing for me – since joining steepster I’ve been trying to enjoy more of the whole tea experience. Smells and visuals all add to our overall enjoyment of the tea. This smells great, but the color – it’s a little odd. It’s a greeny brown rather than a nice warm brown. I found the color a little off-putting. If you care about such things – I’d recommend an opaque pot and glass. :)

I love a good Earl Grey, and this is one of the best I’ve ever had. Smooth citrus accent that didn’t overpower, and the aroma!

This is the second time for me with this tea. The first time was so much jasmine that I decided to lower the steeping time to 2 minutes. The jasmine wasn’t so overpowering this time. I think I like this tea even better this way. Now I can even taste the tea and not just the jasmine.

Jasmine, Jasmine, Jasmin… All I can say is wow. It hits you in the nose like a prize fighter.
The tea is clean and mellow and is stronger than any other jasmine tea I have tasted, and not in a bad way. You can smell the jasmine wafting off the tea. My wife could smell the tea sitting 5 feet away. This is not a tea I would drink everyday, but its a nice change of pace. I really enjoyed this tea and will drink again when in the mood.

This is just a fantastic EG. You can smell the bergamot when you open the tin. Drinking it is a pleasure, its smooth and very tasty with no harshness or bitterness at all. Its just another Damn Fine Tea that I wish I could buy on its own.

I just love a good Earl Grey and this one is one of the better ones that I have had. Its smooth, slightly sweet, and tasty. It has just the right amount of bergamot and its really a pleasure to drink. I added 1/4 tsp of splenda and it brings out the bergamot.

This is my second cup of EG this morning. This EG is one of the more mellow and tasty that I have drank. The bergamot is not overpowering and the teas with it are quite good. My only wish would be that I could buy this tea and Caravan without the jasmine from Andrews and Dunham.

This is a very good Earl Grey Tea. When you open the tin, the bergamot hits you on the nose. The taste is smooth and mellow with a little more bergamot than Twinings. I use about a 1/2 tsp raw cane sugar and it brings out the bergamot. Its a very tasty brew and I like it a lot. I drink EG tea every day and this one is one of the best I have had.

So, I’ve found a good way to help go through all the various tea samples and teas I’m not so wild about in my cupboard. I’ve managed to convince my hubby that iced tea from a jar is crap, and he needs to brew his own.

This mostly works. Unfortunately, he likes the black teas, and will go through teas I much more quickly than I expect him to. (And doesn’t always just stick to the teas I really don’t like!)

He really, really liked this tea as an iced tea.

Alas, Thomas, I hardly knew ye. However, the husband said you were a good man.

This tea is growing on me.

My first few tastes I was thinking it was too tannic, too bitter, too just something for my tastes. But the addition of a little sweetner and repeated applications and I’m starting to like it. Actually, I’m starting to quite like it. I can taste the hint of chocolate and sweet that weren’t there earlier. And there is definitely that bake-y taste.

Yum.

Having my last cup, I’ll miss this tea. I am experimenting with blending tea trying to recreate this tea as close as I can.

I’m in love with this tea. I’ve had my can of Caravan about 2 weeks and its just about gone. I wish I knew how much of each tea was in this blend because I would try to blend it up myself. I do have an idea and I may try anyway. I just wish I could buy this tea from them w/o the other 2 teas. I’m looking at my empty cup and wishing it was full again. Is this like an addiction? “sigh”

This is a very enjoyable tea. Its smooth and smoky and gets better every time I drink it. The tea smells great and I just enjoy smoky teas. It has a dark amber color and warms me all over when I drink it. As cold as it is here in Maine, I need this tea.

I just had my first cup of this amazing tea. I love it. Its smoky, but not overly so. Its very smooth and not bitter at all. It doesn’t taste as heavy as it smells. You can smell and taste the lapsang souchong in this tea. It has to have Yunnan in it. I wish I knew the other teas in this blend. I used tsp and 1/2 with boiling water for 4 min. Later today I intend to go 5 min. I will rate this tea after I’ve had a few more cups. After a 5 min steep, I felt like I was just getting off my camel. It was just a little stronger but still smooth and smokey. All I can say is that this is a very good well thought out tea. Andrews and Dunham should sell this tea alone without the other 2 teas (which I haven’t tried yet) and in a larger size.

Very…interesting tea. Not quite what I was expecting, but still a tasty tea especially with cookies or biscotti.

My husband called it “Jasmine Water”. Jasmine…Water. I also had to say to him, “No babe, it’s a green tea…you may not add milk and sugar to it!” sigh He’s still new. At least he tries all of the teas I bring home. He’s currently of the mindset that if it’s not Earl Grey or bold enough to smack your tongue like Thor’s hammer, it’s water. He’ll come around…eventually.

On to the tea. I really enjoyed my cup. Very floral without being perfume-y. I like that after swallowing the tea, my breath smelled like jasmine but with just a hint of the taste lingering. I’m not a fan of the jasmine teas where you can taste the jasmine “oil” all day and it becomes offputting. The green tea that A&D used to blend with was on the light side to me. The jasmine was the main event. Front and center. I do somewhat agree with my husband in that the green tea was so light in taste, that it could have been mistaken for white tea…almost. Still, very tasty cuppa.

Thanks again, Takgoti. You’re the best!

The bergamot is fresh and juicy – it made my tastebuds do a little happy dance. Oddly enough, about half way through my mug it started reminded me of a chocolate orange. Not at all a bad thing but certainly unexpected. Added a little sugar and milk and this is a super EG breakfast tea. Mmm.

This tasting note will be pretty pathetic and very much subject to change. First sip out of the gate I burned my tongue. That pretty much dulled my senses and I had to let the tea cool a lot before I could have more. So take this info with a grain of salt because I’m pretty sure it made a difference.

The bergamot definitely takes center stage in this tea. I can’t get much of a feel for the tea base but this might be from the burn. The bergamot, though, is fresh and clean and not overpowering (don’t take that to mean it isn’t strong… this is pretty much a one-man show). The first sip or two it tasted like fresh squeezed fruit but then I had to wait a bit for the tea to cool (the tongue, she burned) and that seemed to mellow out the bergamot some (that or the burned-ness) so that it wasn’t as much like eating fresh fruit as it was having a post-toothbrush minty fresh feeling (but bergamot instead of mint) pleasantly invading all corners of my mouth (yes, corners). The overall taste of the bergamot was smooth – no sharp edges on the citrus (or the tea) even though it was brewed for 5 minutes (I did add about 1/3 teaspoon of sugar and perhaps a teaspoon of milk to my 12 oz so I’m sure that influenced it a little but there was still no hint of bitterness or roughness so I’m still counting it as a win).

The tea was good but didn’t wow me. I wish I could have gotten more of the tea taste because I think that would make a difference in pushing this rating higher, but I’m really not sure if that is the tea’s fault or my tongue’s so I’ll have to wait until next time to make a final determination on that. The bergamot taste was strong without being mean or evil and I really liked that. I also really liked the fact that, once I was done with my cup, there was no a nasty aftertaste (unlike what so many flavored teas tend to leave behind) so that’s another win.

Of course, someone that isn’t a EG or bergamot fan would probably not like this tea at all but I’d say that EG lovers would enjoy this one. I’m looking forward to having it without causing myself personal injury. Hopefully then I’ll be able to bump the rating a squidge.

really really floral tea. but floral in a good way. The scent of jasmine hits you in the face when you open the tin, but after having a few sips of the tea, that ‘in your face’ jasmine quality calms down and nicely pairs with the green tea.

My coworker likes to smell my teas and he said this one smelled like beef jerky. Yep, it does. Oh, but brewed up it smells even better. Smoky and chocolaty and earthy sweet and yes, beef jerky-y. Mmm. Tastes the same, too. So sweet, like there is sugar in it. But not too much! And the beef jerky taste is there and wonderful but not too strong. And there seems to be a bit of Yunnan in it – the richest, chocolaty-est Yunnan ever, with just a little bit of heaviness (hmm, I wonder if this is the same Yunnan from S4). It’s just a great blend of sweet and savory and smoky.
3.9g/10oz

Tried this one out in my travel tumbler, no sugar or half & half. Thought I’d see how it’d do. I rate it as a success.

With the lid on my tumbler, I didn’t get the full smoky experience, tasting more ‘tea’ with the smoky being beautifully tacked on at the end. But it really didn’t make it bad – sure, it changed the flavor a bit but it was still great. I did remove my lid later to get the full sensory experience of this tea because the smell is fantastic and I’d hate to miss out on it.

I love how this tea feels. Almost like Jackee Muntz when it the parameters hit just right for caramel – that heavy, silky feeling. This wasn’t quite as heavy as JM but it almost felt like it had been honeyed. There was a sweetness to the tea that supported that view but it really wasn’t a normal honey taste – not sweet enough and a much darker taste – so it doesn’t really taste like there is honey in it, it just feels that way plus some sweetness.

Anyway, I really like this tea. A lot. It’s smoky and very smooth with a nice sweetness to it. But it isn’t overwhelmingly smoky (well, at least I don’t think so but non-smoky fans might). If this was sold separately, I’d be buying a big ole tin of it.