Damn Fine Tea Captain Assam

Brand: Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea
Tea Rating: 80/100
Steep Time: 5 minutes
Steep Temperature: 212 Degrees
Price: $20.00 for two 2 oz tins of tea + tattoos!

Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea recently released their 5th series, which features a The Mermaid’s Kiss, a Chinese scented oolong tea, and Captain Assam’s High Seas Elixer, which is an Assam tea from India. Today I am going to review Captain Assam’s High Seas Elixer (See my review of The Mermaid’s Kiss)!

First, the unsteeped leaves have tiny golden tips on the them, and are  brownish  in color. The dry leaf didn’t really smell all that much, and similar to the steeped liquor, which smelled like ‘tea’, sort of a tannic,maltn Assam is not very astringent or tannic in character at all, whichy,creamy smell that really can’t be described well. The liquor is a beautiful deep reddish brown.

This is a lighter Assam tea, but does pack that caffeine! I took this with me to my Ancient Philosophy class this morning, and the Captain made my morning. The tea is very much in the vein of a breakfast tea, shown in its lighter flavor profile. It is lightly malty, and creamy. I added some milk this morning to cool the tea off before sipping, and that just made it creamier! Usually, I don’t add milk to any of my teas,but I had to try this one both ways, and I say- go for the milk if you want some extra creaminess! Captai is nice in the morning. It does have that drying mouth feel after you sip, but that isn’t as prominent as its malty and sweet notes! The next time I steep it, I want to see how well it over brews, I have a feeling this one may over-steep and still taste pretty good, since its not as tannic as some other black teas . Overall, I really dig this tea, and the entire Series 5 from Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea.

If you pick this series up, I want to hear your thoughts! Thank you to Erik and Charles for creating yet another enjoyable series!

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as always, all photos are property of Melissa Wrzesniewsky and are not to be used or borrowed without artist authorization.

Fresh Friday!

Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea is one of the first high quality teas I tried back in the day. Their dragonwell from series 1 got me hooked on dragonwell for a very long time! I’ve ordered every one of their series since the release of series 1, because they’re customer service is great(not to mention very fast shipping!), their teas are always delicious and the labels on the teas are awesome too! This week’s very first Fresh Friday is Series 5 of Damn Fine Tea, which was released last week, after much anticipation and patience!

Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea recently released their 5th series, which features a The Mermaid’s Kiss, a Chinese scented oolong tea, and Captain Assam’s High Seas Elixer, which is an Assam tea from India. Today, I am going to review The Oolong, and a review of the Assam will be up this weekend. Finally, maybe the funnest part of ordering their teas is the added surprise gift, like an autographed postcard, stickers, a patch, or a set of tattoos, which is this series’ fun gift!

Brand: Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea
Tea Rating: 85/100
Steep Time: 5 minutes
Steep Temperature: 180 Degrees
Price: $20.00 for two 2 oz tins of tea + tattoos!

Now onto the tea! I love Oolongs, so I steeped The Mermaid’s Kiss first!  I really like this tea, it is a beautiful medium/dark green color in the dried leaves. The dry tea also smells  very lightly floral, and is not overpowering. I admire this about the tea, because personally, I do not usually enjoy  Jasmine Teas, for they can either be too Floral, or taste fake and flavored. This tea is neither of those things. It smells lightly floral and sweet.  I steeped this tea for  5 minutes in 180 degree water, as suggested.

The smell of the steeped liquor was the first thing to hit me. Mind you this was the first tea I got to enjoy after getting over my cold a few day ago, so my experiences and senses may have been heightened from lack of being able to taste and smell tea for a week ;). The smell of the steeped tea was lightly like jasmine flowers,but was sweet, succulent smelling, and intoxicating to my senses, the smell urged me to take a sip each time I got a sniff! Once I took a sip, I was reminded why I had waited to [im]patiently for this series. This oolong is fantastic. It had a pretty thick mouth-feel, and it is as creamy as it comes. Taking a sip, reminded me of taking a bite of a buttery biscuit, where it is both cream and buttery. The flavor is very lightly floral, and fruity. The fruitiness tastes like peaches, or plums, that kind of sweet astringency that you get from those fruits. I really enjoyed this tea, and hope to hear your thoughts if you have picked up this set as well! Thank you to Erik and Charles for creating yet another enjoyable series!

Find Andrews & Dunham online:
On Facebook
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or buy this tea!