Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Assam Black Tea, Darjeeling Tea
Flavors
Astringent, Dark Chocolate, Grapes, Malt, Raisins, Red Wine, Sweet Potatoes, Tannic, Woody, Bread, Chocolate, Black Currant, Bitter, Apricot, Citrus, Drying, Tannin
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Teatotaler
Average preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 6 g 11 oz / 327 ml

From Our Community

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69 Tasting Notes View all

  • “I started the month of April with 95 black teas on my shelves. 26 of those are in various boxes from various friends. The other 69 are actually teas in my collection. (These numbers don’t include...” Read full tasting note
  • “Well this was a surprise. I don’t drink many teas from India. They are often bitter, harsh, and burn in my stomach like crazy. This one though… the wet leaf smells incredible. The orange-red brew...” Read full tasting note
  • “It’s here, it’s here, it’s here, IT’S HERE. It’s finally here! I was so excited for this blend. It was a great Christmas gift (to myself, ha ha), it was waiting in my mailbox when I got home from...” Read full tasting note
    97
  • “Ah, pretty much exactly what I was expecting. This is quite bright and relatively astringent, tastes very much like an Indian blend but there’s no bitterness, that aspect is very smooth, and at...” Read full tasting note

From Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea

Fun fact: The shrill cry you hear when you see a bird of prey onscreen is almost always that of a Red-Tailed Hawk. It is this cry that, when heard while alone and in the wilderness, reminds you that you are indeed alone and in the wilderness. So brew up this blend of bright, delicious teas from the mountains of India and soar to new heights of flavor.

The Red-Tailed Hawk is a blend of bright, delicious teas from the mountains of India. We like to brew it for a little less than 3 minutes in boiling water for a smooth, fragrant cup. Brew it a little longer for more briskness.

About Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea View company

Andrews & Dunham knows that nothing beats a perfect cup of tea, and a great tea needs no explanation. We love the romance of tea. We love that tea might just be the healthiest thing you’ll ever drink. But if the tea you’re drinking doesn’t taste fantastic, you’re missing out. Only a few teas meet our mysterious, rigorous standards and we’re proud to offer them to you. We’re always looking for that perfect cup, so you don’t have to.

69 Tasting Notes

80
6105 tasting notes

Sipdown! 981. Thank you to Sil for this sample (and TerriHarpLady, because it’s her writing on the baggie :D)

Pulled out my unflavoured “drink now” basket to get a few things down before I fill up my 6 Timolinos for some babysitting tonight (and those Timolinos will not be containing single cup samples). This one was at the top of the basket, so here we are! Aroma is lovely, sweet and malty, and the flavour is… unexpected. I was anticipating more of a standard yunnan/hay-y flavour based on the aroma (even though that’s not a profile I’d use for a tea called “red-tailed hawk”!), but although it has those notes, it also has… cherry? Yeah, it took me a bit to identify it, but I’m definitely tasting a cherry fruitiness. There is also some astringency here, but it might be due to slightly overleafing (under-pouring of water, more accurately), and it’s actually not unpleasant, because it’s fairly mild. Overall, pretty tasty and unique. Not a tea I’d have too often because it’s a little on the potent side for me, but it’s still delicious.

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 0 sec
Sil

darjeeling…lower temp tastes better :)

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91
4843 tasting notes

Backlog:

I experimented a little bit with this tea. The first pot that I brewed (In my Breville One-Touch), I steeped it for 2 1/2 minutes which produces a brisk and slightly astringent cup. When I cut the time to 2 minutes, it produced a much smoother cup that is much more to my liking.

A well-rounded blend. Full-bodied with lots of flavor. Nice malty tone, lots of caramel-y notes. Rich, earthy and fruity. At 2 minutes, this maintains a really nice flavor with very little tannic quality. A longer steep will become more tannic and hints at becoming bitter at 2 1/2 minutes so some care while brewing is recommended.

Beautiful tin artwork too. I love A & D.

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87
1758 tasting notes

Thank you Boychik for this sample. This is a tasty tea. The best so far of my Andrews and Dunham samples from Boychik. The maltiness to this tea is actually good. Maybe its because I added honey, but I am liking the malty character of this tea. I usually don’t like malt in tea. There is a subtle sweetness behind the malt too. It is good if not damn fine.

I brewed this once in an 18oz teapot with 6g leaf and boiling water for 3 min.

Flavors: Malt

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 6 g 18 OZ / 532 ML

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694 tasting notes

I received this sample from Cameron B Thank you!

Yum! Wow, Yum! This is really hitting the spot this morning. I am sad that Steepsters is misbehaving again. I have no idea what is actually in this tea. From my taster I suspect it is a blend of Assam and Darjeeling. Whatever combination is in here is really working for me. So much so that I went directly to the A&D sight. Oh A&D I wish you sold your teas in smaller quantities. 4oz is a LOT of tea of one kind for me. Maybe I will have to con a fellow steepster into splitting a 4 pack?

The first thing I noticed about this tea is the sweetness. It has a sweetness to it I didn’t expect. Then I got the malty/fruitiness of the Assam, and then the muscatel of what I think is Darjeeling but who knows. What ever is in here has made it a yummy cup. Thanks again Cameron B for allowing me to try another A & D tea.

Sil

they do great teas! I thought 4oz was a lot, but i managed to drink down a tin of tiger assam in no time. Now i have this, tiger assam, double knit and their keemun….and i’m lookinga t the october blend haha

TeaTiff

I have enjoyed the tiger assam and this one. The October blend and the keemun also have me interested. I guess I have 4oz tins from H & S sitting around that seem to be disappearing faster than I thought possible. Haha as if I need to buy more tea. I wish the October blend was going to be around longer.

boychik

If you liked the hawk you will like Oktoberfest. Sample?

Sil

boychik….i totally owe YOU some teas! :P

boychik

@Sil. Nah, you dont say. Kidding, my tastes shifted a little, i’m such a pu head

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80
1271 tasting notes

Swap from Shadowfall!

Hmm, this is a rich indian tea flavor without the dryness. It’s like it’s pulsing to want to be dry and brisk, but never gets there. The texture is thick with a silky sip, a bit bread crusty, malty with slight stone fruit sweetness. The finish is more bread crust flavor. Not bad, glad to of tried it!

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec
A2ShedsJackson / MrsPremise

I love the label and name on this tea; I’m glad to read some more reviews on it. Still mulling over purchasing it myself.

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78
3986 tasting notes

Time for another black tea (this one is also from boychik). I’ve tried two other A&D teas so far and enjoyed them both, so I have high hopes for this one. The description is quite vague and tells me only that this a blend of Indian teas. The leaves are small and somewhat broken, and they’re almost all dark chocolate brown with a few small gold pieces. Dry, the leaves aren’t giving off much scent aside from a vague sweet quality and perhaps the promise of malt. Since the leaves are small, I made sure to measure a level teaspoon for this one, and I let it steep for 3 minutes at 200 degrees.

The liquid smells quite bready and I’m getting a rather surprising tart apricot aroma. I must say, I did not expect fruit from this tea. And to be honest, there’s not much fruit in the taste. There is some dark wheat bread however, and it’s alongside some strong malt and a touch of wood. I do taste just a little bit of apricot preserve, but whether it’s my nose tricking me, I don’t know. This seems to be a simple tea to me, it’s quite strong but not bitter or particularly astringent (there is a wee bit, but I noticed that they recommend a steep shorter than 3 minutes, so that’s my bad). I could see this being a nice breakfast tea, especially for someone who adds milk to theirs.

Flavors: Apricot, Bread, Malt

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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818 tasting notes

Stephanie sent this as a bonus sample in our swap. Thanks, Stephanie! Not one, but two A&D teas to try!

This tea is what you would expect from a blend of Indian teas…malty, bright, with some citrus notes. It’s a great tea to pair with breakfast. Recently, though, I think my tastes have moved away from Indian black teas and more towards Chinese black teas, but it was nice to try it!

Tealizzy

Oh, that was my 500th tasting note! Woo!

Sil

woohoo! grats!

KiwiDelight

Congrats on 500!

Stephanie

Yay! 500!

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86
1186 tasting notes

Drinking a fine cup of this tea while at work this morning! Trying to have hot tea a few times this week as we are expecting a massive heat wave this weekend, +33 C!!!! Gahhh! I will melt! And I will be outside probably fishing this weekend….bring on the sunscreen and water!

Anyways, this tea is delicious this morning. So bright and tasty. I was craving this last night at like 10 at night lol so I made sure to wait until today. Now back to work! See previous notes on this tea :)

Tabby

I really need to place an order with these guys. Been meaning to for years!

mrs.stenhouse12

You definitely should! I love the majority of their teas, all that I’ve tried anyways haha :)

Nichole/CuppaGeek

Me too! I always seem to find something else to get instead. I need to make this a priority!

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54
224 tasting notes

And my last Damn Fine Tea from Cavo. I figured since I just have the one left to try, might as well make it now since I’m into drinking tea right now.
This has a sweet, slightly sharp sort of smell to it. Not sharp like cutting but sharp like clean and fresh and THERE….if that makes any sense. >>
Taste wise I get a light sweet, but not in a sugar way, sort of sweetness. And a good bit of earthiness. And something kinda peppery-ish/spicy almost just at the end. No bitterness, though there’s definitely an astringency with each sip, but it’s pretty tolerable right now.
Again, not anything that makes me go ‘OMG I NEED THIS!’, but I’m glad that I gave it a try since it’s still pretty good. Just not a tea that I’d necessarily want to own full time.
(1.5tsp)

Non tea related note – If anyone actually reads my silly notes and is looking to try something new musically I just listened to a band called Caravan Palace. They’re Electronica Swing and it’s pretty dang good. Lol!
This is the video that started me on the band – http://youtu.be/fBGSJ3sbivI

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 12 OZ / 354 ML
Sil

i tend to brew this one lower temps since it has darjeeling in it

Shadowfall

I’ll have to give that a shot next time, since I’ve still got a few cups left to mess around with. ^^

Terri HarpLady

That’s a cute video/song!

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87
652 tasting notes

Mmm, this is delicious! Tastes like a Darjeeling to me so there must be some in there. It’s slightly nutty slightly fruity, very tasty.

I brewed it at 94 degrees for 3 min. Perfect. I am adding it to my wishlist.

Yum!

Thank you for the sample Cavocorax!! :)

TeaLady441

Glad you enjoyed it! And I’m pretty sure it was a darjeeling too!

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