Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea - Online Edit

Hmm, I’m not sure how to rate these guys. Their customer service is definitely 5 stars. I’d give them 6 stars if I could. Their creativity and fun level is also 6 stars. How can you not love their playful descriptions and lighthearted advertisements?

But I’ve only ever purchased one tea from them, and it was a huge disappointment. The reason I was disappointed is that I had extremely high expectations of falling madly in love with that tea. I’ve had samples from generous Steepsterites of some of their no longer available blends and was blown away! So, I kept watching their site and patiently impatiently waiting for them to release a new blend.

See, they’re kind of like 52teas in that they have limited quantities available and they never re-stock them. So, when a tea is gone, it’s gone! They’re very different from 52teas because they don’t create new original teas themselves. I think they just find good teas and repackage them. Honestly, I’m not completely sure where they get them. I guess what I’m getting at is that they may blend several different types of tea together, but they don’t flavor the teas themselves. They also don’t release a new tea every week like 52teas does. Now in that arena, they could definitely improve by mimicking their competition.

Anyway, when they finally released a new tea offering, I quickly snatched it up. Then when I finally got it and brewed it up, it tasted…off. It tasted a lot like a variety of black tea that my taste buds can’t appreciate. I was sooo sad!! But when I wrote a not-so-enthused review of them here on Steepster, A&D contacted me and offered a full refund! It completely caught me by surprise, and I ended up declining their kind offer because it’s not their fault my taste buds didn’t like their tea. But it was a fairly pricey little tin, so all in all it wasn’t the best tea experience.

Still, I hold out high hopes for these guys because the other two teas I tried were soooooo phenomenal! But I do have to dock them 2 stars for hardly ever releasing new teas and not re-stocking old ones. I would buy several tins of the series 7 and about a boatload of the series 6 if they at least re-stocked old blends, but it doesn’t seem like that’s ever going to happen.

The bottom line: I don’t really watch their site for new releases anymore since they seem to be about a year apart. That’s about 11.5 months more than I’m willing to wait around. Sometimes I wonder if they’re even still in business…I’m sorry if this review seems overly harsh. It’s just my opinion that they need to make some improvements to be truly great.

I love ordering from Andrews & Dunham. They have very distinctive packaging from the outer shipping box to the beautifully illustrated labels on the tins. With every order that I’ve placed with them (except for the last one – Thirsty Elf) there are little extras in the box. For example, with the Chinese New Year tea last year, they sent a fortune cookie. With the series five package, they sent temporary tattoos. It’s a fun experience to receive a package from them.

In addition, they ship VERY fast. With every order that I can recall, within 24 hours of placing the order, I’ve received a shipping notification from them complete with tracking information. I generally receive my order from Maryland arriving to Washington state within three days, at the very most, four.

If you’re thinking that the teas are a bit pricy from this company, trust me, the teas are well worth the price. I absolutely love everything about this company, with the possible exception that they don’t release new teas often enough!