Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea

One of the correct black teas to be mixed with A&D’s overly bergamotty EG. Used in my mug this morning. No second steep.

Backlogging. Sunday, late afternoon.

My husband and I enjoyed a pot of A&D’s EG and this Ceylon blended, one rounded teaspoon of each in a two cup pot.

2nd steep: 7 min.
An additional rounded half teaspoon fresh leaf of each tea was added.

Backlogging. Tuesday morning.

I had a cup of plain black tea that morning which I did not resteep. I remembered which one it was until right after I did my tealog for the cold brew Wild Cherry Sencha and went to tealog it. I hadn’t written them down because I only had four teas to backlog and the last two I drank yesterday and today. But I’m fairly sure it was this Ceylon because I don’t remember it being any of the other blacks I regularly rotate through in the mornings.

Backlogging. Morning, three days ago, the day after the previous tealog.

A repeat of the previous morning’s 1:1 ratio of Earl Grey and Ceylon. Just as yummy. Second steep weak.

2nd steep: 7 min.

Backlogging. Yesterday.

Used in a 1:1 ration with A&D’s Earl Grey. A delicious pair. I did not resteep.

Backlogging. A couple of days ago.

I had an itch, scratchy, swollen throat that day from allergies and the heat. So I made an afternoon cup of Ceylon with honey. Tea with honey always sounds good to me when feeling any allergy-head-type symptoms.

1st steep: 4 min.
I used less honey when the Ceylon this time. A much better match. Still more honeyed tasting but the tea strong up nicely in the background.

2nd steep: 5 min 30 sec. Some fresh leaf.
I have another cup almost immediately after I finish the first one. It’s just as enjoyable.

Early evening, my husband wakes up before he goes on night shift. He asks me to make him some of what I’ve been having. He drinks one steep. So…

3rd steep: 6 min.
I add my husband’s leaf and just a bit of fresh leaf, thinking I’ll get a weak but drinkable cup from it. I don’t add honey this time. Wow, is it strong. There is a strength/roughness on the end of each sip that I’m not sure that I like but think I do. It adds character to this tea. I might try more leaf and/or time next time with the tea and see if I can find this deliberately.

4th steep: 6 min.
Based on the strength of the last steep, I know I can get another steep out of these leaves. I add no new tea. I get a cup of normal strength. I can still taste a bit of the end taste if I look for it.

Backlogging — sometime early this past week.

Woke up in the morning with stuffy, icky allergy and/or starting-to-get-a-cold head. Wants something nice and plain. No resteep.

Headache due to storm most of the day. Finally took ibuprofen late at night. Headache is gone now.

Anyways, headache inspired me to have a single cup of black tea last in the afternoon for the caffeine. I chose A&D’s Ceylon since it’s nice and plain. At the last minute, I decided to add some local raw honey which I just got from the farmer’s market since I’ve been enjoying A&D’s Napal with Tupelo honey so much – it’s so comforting. I was hoping for the same effect.

It don’t know if it’s a Tupelo honey in black tea thing. Or if I just luckily hit a magical combination of Napal and Tupelo honey accidentally. I don’t usually put honey in tea. I had just decided to try the Tupelo honey in Napal one day on a fluke and ended up loving it so.

But local honey in Ceylon did not have the same effect. Or even close to it. This was not tea with honey. It was honey with tea. The honey was a bit one noted too.

Backlogging. Sunday morning.

Another blah-feeling allergy day. I went with a nice cup of Ceylon since I wasn’t feeling a smoky or drying black. I needed a nice morning black tea and this cup met that need.

I forgot that I usually add a liberal pinch of fresh leaves to the 2nd steep of this to keep it from being on the weak side. (I’ve been drinking mostly Jackee and the Tiger in the morning, which will take a 2nd steep with no new leaves.) So it was on the weak side. Still drinkable and it got drank.

2nd steep: 5 min, 205° F.

I had the 2nd steep of this morning’s Ceylon late afternoon with a snack of artichoke and spinach hummus on garlic crisps. While this morning’s steep in the larger mug remained the same as usual, this steep did not, despite using the same amount of fresh leaf I’d add to a 2nd steep of Ceylon in a standard mug. It was watery and DRY big time and tasted of tea, but not strongly.

I had a yucky morning headache today. Between allergies, the weather, and being a poor/erratic sleeper, I often wake up with a small to moderate headache in the morning that usually goes away with time, caffeine, and food in 20 to 40 min. Some days are headache free, some days are worse or lingering headaches. I could tell this one might be one of those so I took two ibuprofen and a large glass of water. I was also really dry when I woke up too. I knew I should have more water but I needed and wanted tea. A good basic like Ceylon to calm, sooth, and enjoy. I realized this morning that one of my favorite pottery mugs is much larger than I thought it was. I had thought it was only slightly larger than a standard mug but it turns out it was one and a half times as large. Tea turned out just fine though. I wonder why. But not too much. I’ll just go with it since it works.

A cup of Ceylon after breakfast this morning and another cup after that. The 2nd steep was rather weak as I forgot to add a bit of fresh leaves like I usually do. 2nd steep: 5 min.

Slightly sick for the past few day, I’ve had a bit of an upset stomach in addition to the dry, scratchy throat and the runny, sniffy nose. I haven’t wanted to eat much and haven’t had any tea.

Today marks my return to tea. A nice, simple cup of Ceylon. (2nd steep: 5 min. Pinch of fresh leaves.)

Backlogging
Yesterday morning. Mellow with milk for my first steep. Plain for my second steep. Second steep: 5 min.

A&D Ceylon won the Battle of the Black Teas today. The Ceylon is complimenting my turkey wheat wrap with red onion, tomato, cumber, spring mix, feta, red pepper white bean spread, and balsamic vinaigrette. Will I win the Battle of Bathroom Cleaning after lunch though?

Two steeps of Ceylon during a slightly stressed out morning makes for a short Tealog and tea drank a little bit warmer than lukewarm but still needed. Steep #2: 5 min.

I had natural peanut butter and plum jam on multi-grain toast and a cup of Ceylon for lunch. A delicious combo. I’m about finished with this cup and will steep one more with these leaves before heading out to run errands later.

Somehow this has become one of my morning teas on those mornings when I drink tea. Several tealogs suggest this is better as an afternoon tea. I need to try it during the day (again – I think I did when I first had it). I like it in the morning cause it’s a simple tea to drink and not too strong. I steep with 30 sec less this time. Still good.

2nd steep: +1/2 tsp fresh leaves. 6 min.
I added a bit more fresh leaves this time thinking that it would increase the strength and let me decrease the steeping time, however even with the steeping time decreased by 2 min, the tea was a bit too strong. Next time 2nd steep will be less fresh leaves at 6 min.

I drank the 1st steep while reading online and getting organized for the day. The 2nd steep while studying.

This is a second steeping from a cup I had earlier this afternoon. I added about a 1/4 tsp of fresh leaves to see if it would make the steeping a bit stronger and steeped it for about 10 min. It’s still too hot to sip much into my mouth right now since I burned my mouth on too hot food yesterday, but I think the addition of fresh leaves helped. This tea is an enjoyable cup.

I have steeped the Ceylon leaves again. The wet leaves smell more strongly of dusty cinnamon when I removed them from the tea as well as of dried old paper. The tea smelled of dust, paper, and old under its natural tea-y smell. It still tastes good, but much weaker. I will steep it longer the second time next time. I don’t think it will manage a third steep.

This morning I moved on to the next tea in my A&D DFT Series 1 set – the Ceylon. The leaves are dark chocolate colored with hints of red tones on some. They are medium in length and cylindrical in shape. The smell is rich, sweet, and dusky when I put my nose above the open tin. The tea is a medium golden brown. It smells warm and tea-y, not strongly though. The leaves have unfurled to a consistently medium chocolate shade and smell like light cinnamon dust with a hint of fresh artichoke hearts. I know, odd, but I’m new to tasting notes and I keep sniffing and thinking what does this smell like, how can I describe it. I’m better with colors than smell and taste. This tea was a smooth, enjoyable black to drink. It had a slightly drying in a good way mouth feel, much like the Dragonwell from the set. I can see how these two teas were picked by the same people. This tea is another hit for Series 1.

Backlogging. Tuesday afternoon.

So I wanted a green and I didn’t really know what one I wanted exactly but I like this Dragonwell so that was it. As opposed to feeling like it’s been awhile since I last drank it, it actually has been awhile since I last drank this. I made a smaller size cup and the leaves are big so I thought I’d used an appropriate amount but I wasn’t totally sure. When the tea was lighter than usually, despite trying a higher water temperature for the first time, I knew I hadn’t used enough leaf. It was still tasty but after two steeps I stopped instead of making my usually three.

2nd steep: 5 min.

This afternoon, “Oolong, green, white, oolong, green, white,” I thought. Should I go stare at what’s in my cupboard? Maybe something will call out to me. I think about some teas. Dragonwell sounds just right. I think about teas a few minutes more. But I keep going back to Dragonwell. Dragonwell, it is.

I went with the 6oz cup method again, instead of an 8oz+ mug. I have a feeling this size will be becoming my default when drinking teas that get more than 2 steeps. I know it’s not that much less tea than a mug, but somehow I drink it faster and it feels like less tea. This time I used a 2 minutes 30 seconds multiplier like A&D recommends. I kept the 160° F water temperature like last time.

The Dragonwell was much the same as before, which is tasty and enjoyable. I sped through my first two cups, then drank the next two cups after dinner. The 4th steep was at least half tea, half watery, if not mostly watery. I do not think I will be steeping this a 4th time again.

1st steep: 2 min 30 sec.
2nd steep: 5 min.
3rd steep: 7 min 30 sec.
4th steep: 10 min.

Next time I drink this, I plan to try 3 steeps using the same times as a today but with 170° F water. Yes, I feel like each new tea is an experiment in how preparing it differently could change the taste. Yes, I am a scientist. Yes, I’m geeky. =)

- Using a 2 min 30 sec multiplier work well for this tea.
- Steep 3 times. This tea doesn’t take a 4th steep well.

This is one of those teas that I really like and really hate when I only drink one steep then end up throwing the leaves out and feeling like I’d wasted good tea. So when my ‘try a 6oz cup when steeping a tea that has more than 1-2 steep in it’ wuyi oolong experiment worked really well, I decided to try it with Dragonwell yesterday afternoon. Again, success. This method seems to “trick” me into drinking more steeps. Which means I may now be free to drink multiple steep teas without thinking “oh I don’t know if I’ll drink more than a cup, maybe two, so I shouldn’t steep this tea now” and then not drinking the tea I wanted then and/or not drinking teas I really like for a long time due to talking myself out of it.

1st steep: 2 min 15 sec. Oh good, yum, tasty. Just as I remember it being.

2nd steep: 4 min 30 sec. Lighter yet with more to taste. Just as good as the 1st.

3rd steep: 6 min 45 sec. Noticeably weaker but still good to drink.

4th steep: 9 min. Watery Dragonwell. Drank it, but may not resteep a 4th time in the future.

I’d like to try doing multiple steeps using a 2 min 30 sec multiplier as recommended by A&D and comparing. I also noticed tealogs for steeping at 170° F and 180° F and may want to try a higher temperature water and compare as well.