Vanilla Obscura Duoyi Single Patch Shu Pu'er (多依熟普洱, Duō Yī Shú Pǔ'ěr, "Duo Yi Ripe Pu'er") - Looking for new Pu'er is a process in which we tend to focus on old trees or particular vintages based on some distinctive occurance, such as whether that year had a drought. The benefit thus of going to the mountain, even to places where we have established relationships, is that we have the opportunity to try things based on smell and recommendation which means the chance to find something that we did not know we were looking for. Vanilla Obscura happens to be one of these unexpectedly delicious and unique teas. We stumbled across this tea while working through tasting more than a dozen Shu Pu'ers that were scattered throughout our farmer, Li Shulin’s, warehouse. This Xiǎo Duī Zi 小堆子 ("Small Piles" - a fermentation process) tea is neither old, nor is it from ancient trees, nor from a drought year...It is however sourced entirely from a single patch: the Douyi Village patch at the summit of Nannuo mountain, peaking at around 1950 meters or around 6,400 feet. The Duoyi patch is regarded as having the sweetest tea on Nannuo Mountain. As a Shu Pu'er, we noticed a distinctive, swaying buoyancy reminiscent of vanilla extract on the finish. The terroir or dì wèi 地味 ("Flavor of the Earth") of Duoyi village and the idiosyncrasies of its processing give this tea a distinctive flavor profile and fragrance.
1 Review
-
Vanilla Obscura
This is the first tea I have ever tried from West China tea. While I'm relatively new to the world of the tea enthusiast, I've tried several Shu Puers from other vendors (all were likely Wo Dui factory processed). This is easily the best of the lot. Of course, with a name like "Vanilla Obscura", as someone who likes Vanilla flavoring, naturally I was drawn (good marketing). As per the video featuring this on the "Tea House Ghost" channel on Youtube, I was expecting to just get the vanilla flavor on the aftertaste ... but not so. Right from the very start, the vanilla extract component is present, from the sip, stronger on the swallow, and yes, strongest in the hui gan. It is supported by that classic soil broth backbone which is characteristic of shu puer. The Vanilla flavor does fade on the latter steepings, when your liquor becomes a transparent reddish-brown instead of opaque black. This tea provides the equivalent feeling of coffee, it does wake you up quite a bit, but its high is more of a steady delivery of energy, rather than the volatile, active punch of coffee. My compliments to Li Shu Lin, an excellent first impression. Rated 5 stars, because it's best among the Shu Puer's I've tried. It's not among my favorites, since I am more partial to oolong and white tea, but it blows away its competition.
