Dabinett is a great tree for the home orchardist who wants to try their hand at hard cider. This tree is broadly disease resistant, precocious, productive, and shade tolerant. One of the most common trees in English cider orchards, it is a reliable cropper and cold hardy to zone 5. Dabinett is even self-fertile, but care must be taken if using it to provide pollen as it is a very late bloomer. This is a cider apple; it is not suitable for fresh eating, "unless," as Rowan Jacobsen writes "sucking on tea bags is your idea of fun."

The apple is small and yellow-green flecked red, with flesh that is tinged green. It yields a bittersweet juice that is astringent and high in fruity tannins. This is a vintage quality juice. It is considered to be of high enough quality to use for a single-variety cider. From WSU: Tannin (percent tannic acid): 0.24; Acid (percent malic acid): 0.22; pH: 4.41; SG: 1.055; ^oBrix 13.5.

Possibly a seedling of Chisel Jersey, Dabinett was discovered growing in a hedgerow in Somerset, England by William Dabinett in the early 1900s.