Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea

Wow. Just. Wow.

Yunnan is my favorite black tea, and I didn’t realize this was Yunnan until I opened the tin.

The dry leaves are long, beautiful, and dark with silvery tips. They have a malty, baked goods smell. The steep very red, a dark cherry color. The tea smells like baked bread with a touch of…. pepper?

I’m not getting smoke in the flavor as others are, but perhaps that is because I am nose and taste blind to smoke right now because of the air quality here in the SF Bay Area following the Camp Fire. I understand why some might call it smokey though. For me, it’s more of a character than a flavor.

I do get a baked goods flavor with the depth that is hard to describe and I find characteristic of Yunnan (I also find it in some red wines). The tea has pleasant aftertaste. Not really sweet, but not sour or bitter either.

I don’t find it heavy or woody either, like some others have noted.

It’s just a really, really nice Yunnan blend.

In the tin, the aroma is like walking through an arbor covered in jasmine vines.

After steeping, the color is gold, verging on amber and mostly clear, with only some very fine particles suspended in the tea. I know it’s repetitive, but it smells like walking through an arbor covered in jasmine vines.

Last weekend I tasted another jasmine green, and I used the following criteria for jasmine green “done right” (and I can’t really improve upon these, so I’m recycling them):

1. The jasmine smells and tastes like the essence of flowers rather than a flavoring agent.
2. The jasmine is integrated into the tea, rather than smelling and tasting pasted on.
3. The tea base is both a great delivery vehicle for the jasmine and not completely overpowered by it to the point where it disappears.
4. Extra points for juicy, flowery goodness.

The main issue I have at the moment is my tongue is burning. No. 2 heated up some Indian food for breakfast (!) and I had some. Hotsy totsy! So my taster is slightly subdued.

But even with that going on, this is an awesome jasmine. It gets mega points on scores 1-3 and it’s even doing well on 4.

Too bad they don’t have this available on their website at the moment. Must. Hoard.

See note on the original Caravan:

https://steepster.com/Morgana/posts/44892#likes

Except the link doesn’t work (why?), so I’ll repeat it here:

So here’s what happened.

I put this into the Breville to steep, and then forgot about it and took my 4 year old to pre-K. When I came home I remembered, and the timer on the Breville indicated it had been available for drinking for approximately 54 minutes.

I figured it would be cold and probably not very good, but I tasted it anyway.

WOW.

It was lukewarm. But the first thing I noticed was the mouthfeel. Thick. Not really chewy, but thick and textured, somewhere between broth and syrup. And then, unexpectedly, the most wonderful flavor. Gently smoky, with a naturally sweet, smooth undercurrent of tea that tastes like… bread on the initial sip, and as it rounds out in the mouth, plums?

Enough. I have to go make more of this and see how it is hot.

While it’s making, I’m backtracking to the dry tea. Fairly large, brown tippy leaves. A very smoky smell, that has the salty, meaty smoke thing going on.

And yes, it’s even better hot! The thickness of the mouthfeel isn’t as apparent, but there’s a carby sweetness, sort of yam-like, to both the aroma and the flavor. The smoke is an accent, not the main event, but a noticeable one. There’s a lot of depth and character here, something that reminds me of what I like about Samovar’s black teas. That particular quality is more apparent as the tea cools. Too cold, as my first cup has now become, and the magic goes poof. Would not recommend this as an iced tea. But any range between right out of the pot and lukewarm is delicious. Like a nice wine that’s left to breathe, it changes with time. One flavor may not be better than the others, just different and equally wonderful.

I was moved to give this a 100, but I can’t bring myself to do it on a limited edition. It would just be too sad to have decided on a perfect tea, and then have it be unavailable.

I can’t really improve upon what I said there, except that this being no longer a limited edition, I have given it my first 100 rating!

It’s a rich Yunnan with some smoke around the edges, and it is sensational.

More A&D to try and write first notes about today. Yowza.

In between, I’ll be binge watching season 4 of The Wire. I need to find another show for after this one is done. Suggestions?

It’s not stated what’s in this blend, but I’m going to go with assam and ceylon. The color is that reddish burnt-orange that I associate with Ceylons (and which may be the reason for the red-tailed reference). Whenever I see it, I wish for a sweater in the same color. And the dry leaf is a mix of leaf that looks similar to the Tiger Assam of yesterday mixed with some very dark bird-nesty twists of leaf. The dry leaf smells a little bready, and a little winey-pungent.

The steeped tea has a sweet potato and baked bread smell. I steeped for three minutes and I don’t get any bitterness, but do get some maltiness. There’s something that even heads toward chocolate. The tea is somewhat astringent, but it’s very satisfying.

I find this smooth and flavorful. No throat grab, not harsh on an empty stomach. I may prefer it to the Tiger Assam because of the chocolate note, which gives it more depth.

Sipdown no. 8 of 2022 (no. 658 total).

I have been drinking too much caffeine — the other night I was up until 4 a.m. and I have to start being more careful about caffeine consumption after noon.

This was the lowest rated green tea in my collection so I decided to mark it for a sipdown. It may be the first A&D tea I have sipped down as I usually hoard and cherish them.

I tried this both hot and cold. Cold was a little too vegetal, sort of like asparagus run off — but hot was pretty much as described in the original note. A very good tea, but not the best green I’ve ever had.

Another A&D first tasting. So lucky am I!

The dry leaves are gorgeous. Long, twisty, and tippy, and variegated in color on a continuum from forest green to silver. In the tin, they have notes of sweet pea, asparagus, and yellow squash. Why is there no yellow squash option in flavors?

Also, why does clicking flavors take me directly to some Windows sign in thing instead of Outlook, like it used to? Freaky and annoying. But I digress.

The steeped tea is pale yellow and clear. The aroma is mild and vegetal, with the notes mentioned above. Next time I might try the water a bit hotter as A&D suggests.

The tea is tasty and mild. It’s not as juicy as some Chinese greens, and I wish it were a bit moreso. But at this point I can’t rule out user error. Next time I’ll try hotter water and longer steep time.

I have a number of A&D teas I haven’t tasted yet, and I get to do that as part of my “taste every tea in the cupboard and write a note about it” project. It’s always a pleasure to drink A&D so I’m really excited that I get to do this.

The leaves of this are pretty — very tippy, and they smell earthy and a little minerally. Also a little like something baked. Baked sweet potato, maybe.

The steeped tea definitely has a sweet smell like sweet potatoes. It has a stewed fruity aspect to it as well. Prunes? The color is a clear, dark chestnut.

The tea has a bit of Assam throat grab, a sort of a bite (well, they did name it after a tiger, right)? But it isn’t as harsh as a lot of other Assams I’ve had. It’s strong, but more smooth than harsh, and the tea itself has a pleasant malty mildness which is a little surprising. It’s not at all bitter, not what I’d call “stout” (which is basically my way of saying heavy on the stomach). None of that here.

The aftertaste has a sweet, mocha note.

It’s a truly lovely Assam.

It feels like forever since I’ve had something that called itself an Earl Grey. I am surprised I missed it as much as I do. I wouldn’t count Earl Greys as among my favorite teas. I’m not sure they’re even in the top ten, though I do enjoy them a lot when I’m in the right mood.

Also, I haven’t really met an Andrews and Dunham tea that I didn’t like.

I thought that might change when I cracked open the tin because the dry tea smells heavily and only of bergamot. Strongly citrus. It even has an edge of perfume to it. When I do have Earl Grey, I like the ones that are bergamot-citrus, usually a lot more than the ones that are than bergamot-perfume.

After steeping, the perfume aspect goes away, fortunately. The aroma mellows substantially, to a light lemon-orange scent over tea with a mocha note. The tea is dark amber and clear.

This is a lovely Earl Grey. My favorite always and forever will be Samovar’s followed by ATR’s Earl Grey Shanghai which is no longer available. While I prefer the Yunnan base of the Samovar and ATR, this is a very mellow blend. The bergamot is definitely central, but not sharp or overpowering, and it integrates well with the base. I’m not sure what the base is, just that it isn’t Yunnan. It doesn’t have the color of Ceylon after steeping. Assam, perhaps?

In any case, I like it a lot. I’m bumping ATR’s rating just so I can rate this high.

I am a little worried about Andrews & Dunham, though. The last thing I see on their Facebook page is from September.

Anyone have any news?

ahh, it always feels victorious finishing one of these tins. I’ve had this one forever and will miss it. it is everything I enjoy in black teas: malty, bready, stone-fruit-y, bright & brisk.

does anyone know what’s going on with Andrews & Dunham? both last year & this year they didn’t release their Oktoberfest blend :( I don’t even think they released their Christmas blend last year either (could be wrong).

Sipdown! (19 | 366)

I think this one was suffering from a bit of flavor loss, as I wasn’t really getting a lot of the fresher, more vegetal notes from it anymore. It’s veering more into hay and dry grass territory, still with a bit of nuttiness to it. The apricot is more like apricot leather versus the fresh fruit, and there’s more bitterness than I remember.

So about time I finished it off apparently! To be honest, I mostly bought this one for the tin originally, but it was also a tasty and well-balanced Chinese green tea when it was fresher.

Pulled this one out today as it’s the 10th tea in my collection (via my spreadsheet, which is alphabetized by company and then tea name), and I’m following the #CuppaTeaAthon prompts on Instagram this week, one of which was to drink your 10th tea.

Anyway! This is quite lovely. It’s extremely well-balanced, smooth but with some minerality and a hint of smokiness to it. There’s creaminess and edamame and hay, but also a delicious apricot aftertaste and enough astringency to keep it interesting. It’s also going on three years old, but still tastes good.

I wouldn’t say it’s a standout tea, but I feel like what it does, it does exceedingly well. It’s supremely drinkable and it makes my mouth happy. Plus, what a gorgeous tin! :3

Home – 8:00 PM

So my Andrews & Dunham order was supposed to come today, but it’s been delayed until tomorrow. To console myself, I’m having a large mug of the only A&D tea currently in my cupboard.

I really do like this one. It’s smooth, sweet, and creamy with notes of edamame, summer squash, and sugar snap peas. I’m not sure if it’s because this is a Yunnan green tea, but it has some delicious grainy/bready notes that remind me of either a silver needle or a golden Yunnan black tea. There’s a hint of smoke and mineral in the background, which gives it a bit more presence without overwhelming the other flavors. At the end of the sip, there’s a soft and slightly drying apricot note that I often find in Chinese green teas.

Aww, and now my mug is empty. Why does that always happen?!

Can’t wait to try my new A&D teas tomorrow – I ordered Black Sunshine, Tiger Assam, and Mount Gray. I had to talk myself out of ordering a second 3-pack as I likely won’t even finish those three tins before they start to lose flavor…

Home – 9:00 PM

I confess, I bought this tea entirely because of the tin. The artwork is lovely!

Luckily for me, the tea is also very tasty! It’s a lovely light Chinese green (apparently Yunnan, not that I would know the difference) – extremely sweet, creamy, and smooth with a nice silky mouthfeel. There are fresh vegetal notes of baby spinach, edamame, and sugar snap peas, along with a very mild and sweet grass flavor. At the end, there’s a light apricot note with the tiniest bit of astringency mimicking the fuzz of its skein.

Yummy yummy, and with a beautiful tin! ❤

(Ughhhh, now I have to talk myself out of buying every tea that Andrews & Dunham offers…)

I love this tea. I love smokey/baked goods-y black teas. I was hoping that I could score another tin with the free shipping promo going on now BUT ALAS. I was tempted to get a back-up Double Knit Blend but…I haven’t even opened the one I have yet. shrugs

Gongfu!

I had a very rare, for me anyway, Gongfu session w/ this tea over Thanksgiving weekend. Short and simple, like most of my tea sessions using green tea – I never want a long green tea session, it seems. I’m gonna say I did about five/six steeps?

The tea was nice – very green and pretty vegetal; sort of like edamame/green beans as the primary notes with an edge of smoke and nuttyness. Basically, very typical tasting notes for a Chinese green tea/pan fired green tea. Still, a little green bean taste is appreciated every now and then.

The really cool part of this session was the brand new teaware I was using – I had made a trip to Camellia Sinensis and I got quite the teaware haul: about six new teacups, a gaiwan, and this wicked new shibo! It’s only 80ml but it’s so wide and shallow and I fucking _love it. That’s what I was using for this session, and while it’s a bit cumbersome to pour from given my little baby hands, it pours really smoothly and is just so sleek looking! Does anyone else have a shallow shibo or gaiwan they use regularly? What kind of teas do you usually steeping in them? I picked a green tea because that’s what was recommended but I imagine I could probably do something else as long as it does have too much expansion…

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/B3m4oOCgvB4/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obuHYHY2HB0

Managed to cram in a mug of this before heading off for work today.

I’ll be honest, the reason I was drawn to this tea really has little to do with the tea itself at all; I just think the art on the tin is GORGEOUS. A&D basically always nails their tin art, but this might just be my favourite tin they’ve ever produced…

The tea itself is nice though; I’ve definitely had lots of Chinese green tea and compared to Japanese greens I far prefer the former. I’m not 100% sure how much of those Chinese greens have actually come from Yunnan though? I’m guessing not a whole lot. So, that does make this farily interesting as an actual tea too. My experience with it this morning was that I found it to be surprisingly full bodied with a very well defined vegetal green bean/edamame body quality and very faint nutty undertones and hints of smoke. Nor sure if I’d call it “otherworldly” but it was pleasant enough for a green tea.

Wouldn’t go out of my way to drink this (I prefer a much lighter, sweeter green profile) but there’s totally nothing wrong with it either.

TTB #4

This was a surprise! The go-to flavor for holiday blends seems to be spiced orange. This one definitely has some spice to it, but no citrus that I could detect. Instead, lots of malty black tea flavor and a bit of smokiness which blended nicely with the spice blend. A bit overpowering on its own, but quite delightful with a splash of milk!

TTB #3

I enjoyed this one! The flavor is surprisingly light for an Assam: sweet and smooth and fruity with just a touch of astringency. If I didn’t already have so many good straight black teas in my cupboard at the moment, I probably would have held on to this one. Hopefully it will find a good home with someone else as the box continues on its way!

I’m not sure which of the two assams by this company is the one that I’m sampling from a traveling tea box, so I’m taking a guess that it is this one based on description. It’s an assam. It makes for an ok cup with some cream, but really isn’t seeming that fantastic. I’m keeping in mind that I have no idea the age of this tea… it could be quite old for all I know, but my impression is “eh”.

This is nice. Having it with a little cream. It’s rich in flavor, light on the malt, has a hint of smoke and seems like a pretty solid tea. It doesn’t have anything that stands out to me in particular, but strikes me as a nice cup in the morning.

hmm, I’m not sure what all the hype is about. I liked the smooth and malty flavours/mouthfeel here, but it isn’t the best Assam I’ve had. It was good, but lacked the
undertones of baked bread and overwhelming creaminess that I associate with a really good Assam.

Thanks to the Travelling Tea Box I recieved this evening, I will be trying a lot of caffeinated teas today.

LPT: This makes the best latte ever using vanilla soy milk. Try it, it’s REALLY creamy.

So this is an interesting blend of Yunnan black tea and Indian black tea. I found it had a great malty flavour and tasted a lot like a Christmas blend. Rich, notes of spices (clove), something fruity, and a slight sweetness.

Geek Steep S2E22 – Cloak & Dagger

Even though I wasn’t really able to find the “perfect pairing” for this week’s fandom I did feel fairly strongly that what I wanted was a black tea. After not being totally satisfied with my first pairing attempt, this was my second choice. I liked the kind of name pun that tied in with the light/dark themes and imagery explored. On top of just having such gorgeous downy golden buds and tips through the loose leaf, it’s also a completely rich and robust malty cocoa bomb with a backbone of warming spice, wood, and dark honey notes!

In the end, like my other pairing attempt, it was a delicious tea but not a great fit for the comic…

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CaPvDtQOIQs/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUqEtEET9yI&ab_channel=Superet

Gongfu!

A midafternoon session from today! It’s a grey, rainy day here in Montreal so a session of this aptly named black tea felt appropriate!! Four thick, malty steeps with notes of red currant jam, fresh baked bread, and both ruby cacao & baker’s chocolate!! Steeped in a black tea dedicated yixing pot…

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/B-U9zOmAz2q/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNNf4I1dc_U