Witches Butter Yuan Sheng Tuo (黄金耳原生沱熟普洱, Huáng Jīn Ӗr Yuán Shēng Tuó Shú Pǔ'ěr, "Golden Ear Yuan Sheng Tuo Shu Pu'er") - Anansi is one of the first two yuan sheng tuo produced by Li since all legacy batches were destroyed by a fire in 2021 (the other being Stone Axe). We named it Anansi because it gave people spider vibes but we didn't really want to put the word spider in the name. How does a pu'er give spider vibes? Drink it and find out. What is Yuan Sheng Tuo? It's a highly artisan style of fermenting small batch pu'er.
The name Yuán Shēng Tuó is coined by Li Shulin referring to a technique for the artisan fermentation of very small batches of Pu'er. In contrast to the industrial Wò Duī 渥堆 (“Moistening and Piling”) process and the smaller scale Xiǎo Duī Zi 小堆子 (“Small Pile”) process, tea leaves are not turned during the maturation of Yuán Shēng Tuó. This allows the micro-organisms that ferment the tea to form networks of hyphae, causing the leaves to consolidate into a solid chunk, the word Tuó 沱 ("chunk") refers to this solid amorphous shape. Li Shulin’s motivation for this style of fermentation was to recreate the complex flavor of the old, naturally fermented Sheng Pu'er that he drank as a child. This process is slower, smaller, and requires more skill and attention than the Wò Duī or Xiǎo Duī Zi processes. It can only be done with a maximum of ten kilograms of tea at a time. As a result, each individual batch of Yuán Shēng Tuó is unique, though all possess the rich, earthy organic flavor of Shu Pu'er while retaining the complex fragrance of Sheng Pu'er.
1 Review
-
Spider vibes
This felt like I was drinking fruity tea in an old cellar with dry and dusty air. The tea itself is smooth and creamy, with a foggy bitterness in the background that comes forward as a mouth drying musky note in later steeps. Very pleasant light fruity huigan, this held up incredibly well to being treated like a shu in the gaiwan because I forgot this was a sheng. Complex in all the best ways, I eventually felt like I was dancing with skeletons in an old musky dry basement. Incredible qi. I hope to nab as much of this as I can.
