Music City Tea

I received this as a sample in an order I placed from Music City Tea for some teaware. I found this to be just okay. Very, very smokey and lacked much depth. A bit of a minerality and wet rock flavor with subsequent steeps, but the smokiness was a bit too overpowering.

Savory tea. Needs a little more heat than most greens. Think peas. Can be brewed grandpa or gong fu. Because it can take more heat I find it doesn’t become bitter as quickly as other greens when brewed grandpa style. Good qualityleafy, very very affordable. Tremendous value. Seems I rarely find a green at any reasonable price point that’s not full of yellow leaves and stems or nasty blotches, dust, etc.

Superb value. Buy and drink all day. Holds up to grandpa style but gong fu preferred. This is a can’t go wrong tea, prefect for anyone.

This is an excelent tea. Not as fragrant as the less roasted offering, but steeps far longer and deeper. There is a viscous honey quality to thistea and a hui gan that lasts formearly an hour. This is a perfect tea to share with new drinkers. Delicious and well priced. The complexity and hui gan at this price point puts many, many, competitors to shame. Sharp enough to hold up to grandpa style but not sharp enough that it’s the best candidate either. This is a tea you can buy tons of. The bang for your buck is outrageous, imo.

Extremely fragrant. Far more bitter than the heavier roast. Tangy, steeps out a little too soon. The aroma is incredible. I actually preffered this tea grandpa style. It tempered the bitterness and brought out the tangy citrus flavor, as well as honey.

My first rou gui. Roaste cinnamon aroma. More bitter than I was expecting. Tastes of sugary cinnamon. Body is a little thin and the tea steeps out more quickly than the other yancha i’ve had from this company.

This came in a “Black Teas” sampler, so I wasn’t expecting any pu-erhs, nor did I really know what this was. It was not labeled with anything expect “Pu-Erh Yunnan Black.” Is it a black tea made with pu-erh material? Is is a blend of pu-erh and black?
After tasting it, I’m still not sure. It’s a shu possibly mixed with a black tea. Leaves are broken and don’t look live they’ve ever been compressed into a cake. Dry leaves smell of sweet hay, brewed leaves smell like a damp barn: woody, eathy, damp leaves, horses.
Brewed in a clay gaiwan with just under boiling water. Not a lot of flavour but no bitterness either.

I wasn’t expecting much from this tea as the first two Music City samples I had tried had been on the not so great side. This wasn’t bad at all. I don’t know what the actual oolong tea was but it was tightly rolled and very green. It tasted a bit like a Four Seasons Oolong I had a week or so ago.

I steeped this western style and it was very pleasant. It was distinctly oolongish and felt creamy in the mouth. I wouldn’t know an osmanthus scent or taste if it hit me over the head but I didn’t notice anything distinctly floral about this. Overall it was a very pleasant cup of tea.

This was part of a sampler pack I obtained of flavored teas and were wasn’t much info available about it. The leaves are small and the peach scent reminded me of artificial flavoring though I can’t say of sure that this was the case. There are bits of something in the tea that could be dried peach or could be ginger. I couldn’t tell. I couldn’t detect any hint of ginger scent at all.

This probably isn’t a great candidate for gong fu style brewing but I wanted to try out my new gaiwan so I gave it a try. I did a quick rinse followed by an initial steep of 5 seconds. The tea cam out a medium orange brown and was on the weakfish side but not unpleasant. The taste of peach was medium strong but still no ginger to be noticed. There was the normal black tea bitterness but quite subdued. Not at all unpleasant but nothing spectacular.

I did the second steeping for 15 seconds and the tea was a bit stronger and this was the best of the three steepings I did. The tea was stronger and enjoyable but the peach flavor was the weakest part.

The last steeping was 45 seconds and the peach seemed to be gone at this point. The tea was ok but a bit thinner. At this point I decided that I’d probably had enough for now and concluded.

Overall, an interesting experiment but probably not a tea that is worth the time for brewing in a gaiwan. Might make a decent iced tea though. I don’t know where the ginger was. I could neither smell nor taste it so it’s influence was subtle at best, at least on my probably unrefined palate.

I’ve ordered tea ware twice from Music City Tea and each time they sent a nice sample of this Big Red Robe dark Oolong. It is a very toasty, roasty rich yet clean tasting tea and in a Gawain i got at least 5 steeps using 3.5 grams. I’ve since ordered red robe tea from a couple other vendors and will have to see how it compares. I increased steep time as i passed the 2nd steep.

I love this little tea tray. It’s the perfect size for on my desk at the office, and holds my gaiwan and a cup. It catches my drips and sloshes. Easy clean up.

I had this last night. It’s been a while since I’ve had genmaicha, which is one of my favorites.

First, let me admit that I ordered this tea to get free shipping and because I could get it in a little tin for $5. I got a pretty decent amount of tea in the little tin.

The leaves are a little more broken than I like in my tea, but not too bad. But then I oversteeped it on the first infusion. The combination of the two added just a little bitterness, but not nearly as bad as I expected for the oversteep. The rice is really nice and adds a great flavor.

Second infusion was really quick, and I paid more attention. Perfect!

I previously posted under “little red robe.” I’m not entirely sure whether the sample I received was big or little red robe, but I bought 3 oz of this one. It’s equally as delicious as the sample….
I tried this in my newly seasoned yixing pot, and it was delicious for 3 steeps. I’m not sure how much longer it could go.
It’s lovely with a light malt flavor, toasty and smooth. The liquid is light amber. It’s a nice morning tea.

I received this sample from Jenny at Music City Teas with my little gaiwan set. She said it is from her tea farm in China. Because it was labeled in Chinese, I didn’t know what it was until after I drank it. I loved it so much that I messaged her right away and asked about it. She called it Big Red Robe, but I’m pretty sure this is the same tea that Lee reviewed here previously.

I got this sample with a bamboo tea tray that I purchased.
It is their house tea and it is a good Red Robe Oolong. It has all the roasty, creamy notes of Da Hong Pao but not any sweetness.
Made a good afternoon pick me up today!!