Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea
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Evil thermos lid!
I know! Very evil! It’s even worse than steepster, because it’s making me waste precious tea leaves. I’m going to soak it in baking soda overnight and see how that works. If all else fails, vinegar here I come! I mean, I have nothing else to loes. If only I could order replacement lids.
Thermos lids can be so strange! I’ve heard horror stories of gross, built-up goo forming in the crevasses. BLECH.
I know! I was worrying about that too. I’m not going to even think about that. I need to get rid of the smell first. It’s contaminating all my tea!
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Preparation
Not cool! Someone said they washed theirs 7 times before the lapsang souchong aroma was gone. Yet another reason I hate plastic.
I generally make flavored tea in my tea ball or my mesh basket. I wasn’t thinking this time around. It’s okay, I mean I’ll be receiving a sorapot from the steepster contest soon, whistles
OMG srsly, that Lapsang loved my IngenuiTEA so much it seeped into the plastic. I finally got the smell out, though.
Haha, yeah after a few steeps it was gone =D, bye bye bacon. I won’t miss you!
Well, since today has officially been dubbed Unofficial Ceylon Day, I thought it time to pull this one out again. Typically, Ceylon just doesn’t do it for me but Teas Etc’s Ceylon has made me rethink my fairly anti-Ceylon view. So I thought it was time to revisit the only other Ceylon in my pantry. And the fact that it will lead to an additional decupboarding is just a bonus.
Yeah, still just not really feeling it. It doesn’t have the sweetness Teas Etc’s does, or the malty-esque notes. There’s a hint of fruity in it but it is overpowered by something that is akin to bitterness or tartness but is not quite there. A mild sourness perhaps? Maybe a nutty sourness? Something like that. Whatever it is it makes me think that this tea needs a little sugar and milk to taste properly balanced.
Preparation
I like their Ceylon, too! It reminds me a lot of Sinharaja, honestly. I think the good Ceylons I’ve tried all seem to have a little bit of that berry-molasses quality that reminds me of Assams.
The Ceylon from Teas Etc., that is. >.>
Ah! I had forgotten that Sinharaja was a Ceylon! I have that in my pantry, too. Well, I suppose those are two Ceylons that make me rethink my anti-Ceylon view. So yes, I totally agree – those are two that do it right.
Ah! Sinharaja. Probably my favorite all time tea:)
Had it with a little sugar and milk because I wanted to give it a try. Very nice – light cardboardy taste that worked well for morning but not too thick or overly aggressive. The leaves look so lovely and really smell nice and fruity. I wish some of that smell would show up in the tea (with or without additives) because then I’d enjoy this a little more, but overall this is a very nice tea.
Preparation
I’m pretty sleepy this morning so I didn’t have the brain power to fully explore this guy as I drank it this morning, but I’ve come to a conclusion. It’s good – a nice, nutty but somewhat default ‘tea’ flavor. Not rough or bitter. But a little uneven. Just a little. I feel like it’s missing one little taste that would really pull it all together and make this tea really wow me. A soft or sweet or fruity top note seems to me to be lacking. I want just that little bit of extra effort from it. Then it would be pretty awesome.
Preparation
I’ve heard you mentioned that before – the fruity note in Ceylon. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten it out of one. I just got some of Samovar’s, I might have to give that a drink today.
A while back I got a fairly high quality Ceylon and it had this HUGE raspberry taste. I mean, not flavored, just really noticeable notes. It was smooth and sweet and very good (aside from the fact that it was so raspberry fruity that I didn’t like drinking it, but the husband loved it). So that’s kind of the standard I hold Ceylons up to (ironic, I know, given the raspberry) – beautiful leaves, good round flavor and sweet, fruity or honey notes. That’s just the ideal Ceylon in my head. Not that others can’t be good (and honestly I have no idea if my ideal is the ideal) but I think this one would benefit from a similar sweet or fruity or light top note in the taste. That would give it a nice full, well balanced flavor for me I think. As it is, I felt like the taste gave good mid and heavy notes of taste but stalled out a bit after that.
I definitely get what you mean by more rounded flavor. Currently, all the ceylons I’ve tried have been rather…flat, and this one’s the best. I’ve taken that it’s what ceylon’s meant to taste like, but apparently that isn’t the case! I’ll have to revisit if I do find a better one.
I’d agree – excluding the raspberry one this one is the best Ceylon I’ve had. I just think it would be SO awesome if it had that one more little bitty taste. Just a tiny bit. Please?
Two things:
1 – I have only tried two Ceylons straight before, neither of which I’ve been a big fan of. One was good but had very strong raspberry notes and so I wasn’t in love. The other just wasn’t a great quality one so it just tasted of teaplz’s ‘default tea’ and was therefore unimpressive.
2 – I’m tired and my head hurts. I will not go into detail as to why my head hurts, but let us just say it makes me feel old but at least I didn’t break a hip, right? Anyway, it makes me pretty incapable of really studying this tea.
The leaves are really pretty. I love the leaves. Smell nice, too. Like something. Don’t know what. Brewing it up, I walked away and didn’t smell them. So I’ve got nothing there. Drinking time. Mmm. There’s some chocolaty or cocoa-like taste. Some starchy taste (just a hint – like Assam light and doesn’t go to the point of cardboard, so no malty I don’t think). Anyway, I really like it. It’s good. Will have it again when I’m not hurting and give it a more in depth review.
Preparation
So there is a touch of cocoa! Since I use plastic, I keep thinking it’s from my previous cup of tea.
Well, there is either cocoa or we are both nuts. But that was one of the first things I got when I sipped. Dry, unsweetened but totally cocoa.
Ahaha, agreed. I have a stainless steel thermos, but the lid’s plastic so every time I think I smell cocoa, I think it’s the cocoa from dragon pearls.
Sounds tasty! Glad you’re enjoying these, guys! I actually resisted the urge to pick some of this up. I feel proud of myself.
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The second steep of Sinharaja is delicious! Really sugary-sweet and awesome. :D
And yeah, I’m still testing out how much caffeine I can take before bed. So far white teas seem to be okay…
But some white and greens contain as much caffeine as blacks! Bai Mudan apparently has low caffeine. Hmm, it might have been the green/black tea I drank before that then. So wasn’t cool! Hibiscus tea right now =P I know how much you love it, haha. Oh yeah! Takgoti’s birthday in a few hours.
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Preparation
Uh…ew?
Haha, I took off the lid and everything was fine and dandy again. I think it’s cause I had the lid covering the tea leaves when it was steeping so it absorbed the nasty smell cause I immediately sealed the thermos right afterward. I’m just going to drink tea without the sipping lid from now on.
Wow, I think this is the first time I’ve been named in a Tealog and inspired someone to drink a tea.
The husband’s been working a lot of morning shifts lately and I haven’t, so no automatic decision to make pot of coffee in the morning. I like a cup or two of black tea in the morning and lately I’ve been wanting plain blacks. The A&D are the two loose plain blacks that I have that aren’t bagged, which led to drinking more of the Dragonwell again. Thus began my current A&D cycle. The Dragonwell is definitely my favorite of the three.
Sorry to hear your Ceylon turned out stinky. I’ve been steeping mine about 3 min and around 200-205° F. It’s prolly the thermo though.
I meant to add: Series 5 is en route. Expect to see it added to the AM rotation shortly.
Well my Andrews & Dunham tea has been sitting around so I was like why not. Some days I just can’t decide what tea to drink. I guess I should just use Jon’s randomizer for those days.
Yeah, I usually set mine at 3 minutes, but I totally forgot about it yesterday. I agree, it’s the thermos. Stupid thermos, but what can I say, I need to bring a cup of tea to work or I wouldn’t feel complete.
Awaiting my series 5 as well! I’m excited. Hopefully it’ll be better than series #1.
Yeah, I haven’t used the tea randomizer in awhile but I like it. In fact, last night’s Lemon Green was what it suggested last and I didn’t get around drinking it at the time. So, in a long-term way, I’ve fulfilled the randomizer’s suggestion.
I am thinking (and hoping) that my Series 5 will be here today. Actually it probably already in the mailbox but it’s pouring and the husband will be home in less than two hours and I don’t work until later this evening so I will wait and let him bring it up and not get soaked.
No Series #5 for me =(. Unless my mailman stole it.
No Series 5 for me either today. I am wondering if I should be worried about it. It’s 5 days after shipping. I think it’s all the storms in the northeast delaying it. Where is A&D anyways?
Why is everyone talking about Series 5? Wasn’t the Chinese New Year tea Series 4?
*is confuzzeled *
Yeah, I think it’s series 4 and someone started saying five and we all got confused =P
Ah I see. When I read your post I rushed over to the A&D site in a panic, afraid that I would miss another series. :P
Tadaaaa, finally received it! Poor postal service people had to walk through my un-shoveled driveway to drop off my packages. It’s here! I’m 28 out of 50. I swear I placed an order when it was up to tin 11. I liked Series #1’s packaging a bit better (they had a bed of shredded paper for the tins to sit on). This time around it was just wrapped in brown packaging paper.
Yay! Mine did not come today. =( Sorry about the mistake calling it Series 5.
Backlogging.
I think it’s been awhile since I’ve had this. Do I like LeafSpa’s Goomtee Darjeeling better? Or is it that I just have not very much of this one left? I need to drink them back to back and see maybe. Okay, I just looked at my tea backlog list and saw that I did. But I don’t remember. So I need to do it again.
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Backlogging.
My Monday morning cup. With honey. Yum. No second steep.
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Hi ya’ll. It’s not a comment contest, but it is possible free tea in the future. If you didn’t get a chance to plant a tea tree for Adagio’s Earth Day promotion, planted a different tea tree and want to try some of the assam black tea from India, or just want some free assam black tea, please adopt a branch of my tea tree here: http://www.adagio.com/trees/adopt.html?planter=482_24 (I didn’t know how to get to this page before since I don’t have Facebook or Twitter but I saw how someone else did it and figured it out.)
Backlogging — the day after the previous tealog early this past week.
Super icky throat, painful ears. I’m sure I’m getting a cold. I sooth myself by using the last of the Tupelo honey in a cup of Napal. I think I am not able to enjoy the taste of this combo as much as I usually do. No resteep.
Since there will be no more tealogs until yesterday, I should mention that I never got a cold. I woke up the next morning feeling completely fine. It was super odd.
Preparation
Napal and Tupelo honey is just so good and comforting! When I woke up this morning with a still slightly upset tummy and a bit of a headache, I knew this was what I had to have.
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Backlogging. Two days ago. Sunday evening.
On the recovery side of a headache, I badly wanted a black tea even though it was already late afternoon. Immensely comforting with Tupelo honey. This was just what I needed.
2nd steep: 5 min.
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The husband requested (black tea, I described a few to him, he picked one) this last night before dinner before he went to work on night shift. I drank the 2nd steep with Tupulo honey after dinner. OMG good! Wonderful, wonderful combo. The distinctive taste of the Tupulo honey married perfectly with the floral complexity of the Napal. I could not sip it fast enough. I will be doing this again.
2nd steep. Pinch of fresh leaf.
Preparation
I love tupelo honey! I’m out at the moment and picked up some clover honey, and it’s so different! I think I’d like to get into a whole side obsession with learning about and tasting different types of honey :)
want some mind explosion of all the tea choices; tp://www.beefolks.com/ and yes they all taste different and complement different teas – current favorite for chai is killer bee
I’d never had Tupelo honey before this. I was surprised by how different and good it was!
OMG those Bee Folks honeys sound AWESOME! Am I reading correctly that there is no shipping charge (it is in the price)?
@Chrine I have never ordered online I meander down and harass them in person so I am not sure, but they are both very social and nice people and would respond to an email seeking clarification for sure
aha!
APO (Military) ADDRESSES – Priority Shipping US$0.00
Pickup – MD Sheep and Wool, May 1-2 US$0.00
Pickup – Mt. Airy, MD US$0.00
USPS Express Mail Hold For Pickup US$17.05
USPS Express Mail US$17.05
USPS Priority Mail US$5.00
USPS Parcel Post US$4.90
(one one jar)
lol Thanks for finding that.
