Andrews & Dunham Ceylon

Happy Tuesday. What a beautiful day. I hope everyone enjoyed their observances of Easter or Passover. It's such a nice time of year to focus on spending time with friends and family...and eating. :)

We've been having a lot of fun here at Tea Pages lately. We've been making many new connections with other tea bloggers and tea friends. We've had a nice uptick in readership which is exciting. A few submissions have already arrived for the Tea Memories anthology project. And we're going to have another cool tea-related interview to post this week. (The bar was set pretty high by our friends at Andrews & Dunham though...) I'll also be reviewing another tea-infused product. Whew!

I felt that I would be remiss if I neglected to mention two big tea events coming up. The World Tea Expo will be held May 2 - 4 in Las Vegas. This Expo is for people in the tea business and is a weekend of workshops, seminars, exhibits, tastings, and the annual (launched last year) World Tea Championship judging. I am hopeful that this Expo will head back east sometime, but my understanding is that they will be in Las Vegas at least through next year.

The other event is this weekend, April 18 - 19, 2009. The 4th annual Coffee & Tea Festival NYC will be held at the Metropolitan Pavilion on W 18th Street. Seminars, tastings, vendor booths and more will make up this two day event. Tickets are available in advance. (There are a number of coupons available online so make sure you look around before placing your order.) There are currently 50 vendors scheduled for this event.

Now, back to the business at hand...
Today's tea is one of the three released in Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea's 1st Series. (You may remember our recent interview with them.) The 1st Series includes Ceylon, Nepal, and Dragonwell. In keeping with their unique style, Damn Fine Tea describes this Ceylon thusly:

"You grew up next door to this tea. It would sit on the porch, talking on the cordless phone, and despite its old sweats and unkempt hair you had a hard time taking your eyes off it while you mowed the lawn. Your trips down the block to the mailbox had to be perfectly timed. You grew up, moved away, and made a name for yourself but every now and then a song surfaces on the random shuffle and it all comes back. A Google search yields nothing."

Seriously. And it goes on from there...

I have had a tough time finding Ceylons that are remarkable. Some are bland. Many are decent. I've had one or two that are excellent. Generally, though, they are just there. To be honest, this is why I decided to start with Damn Fine Tea's Ceylon. I wanted to be wowed.

The dry leaf was very fine - delicate and wiry. The scent was fruity, like chocolate and cherries. The tea brewed to a honey amber. I noticed that the scent was very, very subtle. There was a sweetness to the aroma.

I found this tea to be a nice example of a Ceylon. It was certainly one of the more interesting Ceylons I've tried, but it didn't knock my socks off. I tried a few different steeping times and strengths. I ended up using 1 1/2 tsp per 6 ounces for the best result. I brewed for about 3 1/2 minutes.

Tea: Ceylon
Source: Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea
Type: Black tea
Brewing details: 1 1/2 tsp at 212 degrees for 3 1/2 minutes
Comment: A solid Ceylon. Won't convert new Ceylon fanatics, but will certainly be a fine option for those already in the choir.