Red-Tailed Hawk

GCTTB

My morning tea and it is quite nice. Smooth and fruity. Slightly citrusy and just a bit pithy. I don’t know how often I would personally reach for this but it is a nice cuppa. Thank you Sil for adding it to the box.

Joint order with Tea Tiff.

This is an interesting black tea. It tastes particularly bright and fruity. I’m tasting mostly currants with just a hint of sweet potato. It’s also a little bitter and astringent, but pleasantly so. I’m a fan.

The description on here included astringent which is how I would describe this. Quite an eye opener in regards to the strength of the taste. Dry malt in taste, but the mouth pucker is much more noticeable. It’s possible this would be more for someone who like their strong Assam or even Ceylon teas but for those who want a chocolate Dianhong or delicate Darjeeling this may just tickle your taste buds the wrong way.

Thank you for the sample Sil!

Yesterday, I had a big mug of this delicious tea. It was malty with some fruity and raisin notes. So good.

I bought a three pack from Andrews & Dunham that included this, alongside the Mount Grey and Tiger Assam. It’s not bad but my least favorite of the three. It has a very dry finish and can go bitter and tannin-y if I oversteep (which I am prone to do!). A&D describes this as bright, and it is, kind of. A bit citrusy or apricoty. Experimenting with amount and tea and steeping times, it always seems a bit thin no matter what I do. It doesn’t have a ton of personality, but still a decent cup of tea and that’s really all that’s required sometimes.

GCTTB
This is similar to the other A&D tea I was drinking earlier. This one is quite grapey, a touch astriñgent, but not unpleasant. I wish this were a little bit heavier, a little darker. This is nice, but the Holiday Blend is closer to my tastes.

Backlog from last night.

This was something I sampled from the GCTTB4. Thank you Lala for putting it in!

This was my very first A&D tea, and I could tell from the smell of the tea as it was steeping that this was very high quality. It had that raisin spice note I find I really enjoy in black teas.

However, I did not pay much attention to this tea as it was steeping, and I oversteeped it. It wasn’t astringent, but the flavour was a bit deadened and heavy – no subtlety or layering to it. I really would like to try this again at some point, maybe with a bit of brown sugar.

GCTTB

When they say this tea is bright – they are NOT KIDDING! Sweet, smooth, fruity and malty. As the cup cooled the fruit notes became even more pronounced. Delicious! Another Damn Fine tea!

This is the first tea I’ve tried out of the box Terri so generously sent me! I can’t get over how much she sent me-it’s crazy. If you see this, Terri, thank you soo much again! I’m so excited to try them all! :D
Been wanting to try this one for a while, and lemme say, I was not disappointed!
I had a feeling that it would taste like wood because feels like half the teas everyone adores on here taste like wood to me. xD
But it didn’t! Like not at all! :O
It was mainly malty. With kinda a faint apricot note in it. Wasn’t really a sweet malty. It was more of a bold, rich malty flavor. Really enjoyed this one!
Will have to consider picking this one up. Got enough of this tea for a few more cups so I have time to make up my mind!
Thank you for the generous sample, Terri!!

This came out of my recent swap with Skulleigh. I admit I’ve been shying away from Andrews & Dunham because I really don’t need any more expensive black teas. However, I drink black teas more than any other kind so I was pretty eager to try this!

I was impressed by the exceptional smoothness of this tea, especially since it’s an Indian blend. I think there is darjeeling in here which is giving it that bright, fruity note. I’m not big on overly tannic teas and there is touch in here but thankfully not a lot. Contrasted with the Jin Jun Mei I had earlier today, I am appreciating the slight “bite” this has on my tastebuds. It has a lot of malt also and is providing just enough heft to give me some much needed “oomph” this morning. I need a bot of “oomph” to convince myself to leave the house and go to the gym on this rainy day.

Anyway I was impressed with this blend. I thought it was pretty good plain and it was also nice with a touch of soymilk. I am back to the A & D website once again, trying not to buy anything… ha ha. This is really a good blend though. I’m glad I got to try it :)