Bitter cocoa with a mineral edge and a finish that keeps going. Obsidian '15 is a shu pu-erh (熟普洱), a tea made through wo dui, a weeks-long fermentation that darkens the leaf and strips away bitterness. This batch started as Bulang Mountain leaf in 2015, rested seven years as loose tea, then got pressed into a cake — eleven years of quiet patience in each cup. What You'll Taste Think dark chocolate with a dry-wood finish and a mineral hum underneath. The liquor pours inky mahogany with an earthy scent rising from the cup. First steeps land thick and coating, with toffee sweetness filling the mouth before a woody note settles in. Later rounds lean into cedar and quiet smokiness, and the velvety body holds steady across ten or more steeps without thinning out. Eleven years built that velvety body — and the cedar note in steep ten is worth the patience. Where It Grows Bulang Shan sits in Menghai county, deep in Yunnan's Xishuangbanna, one of the strongest areas for shu pu-erh. At 1,600 meters, cool nights and heavy mist slow the leaves down, which is why Bulang teas carry more body and mineral weight than lowland pu-erh. The large-leaf assamica trees here produce thick leaf built for aging, picked in April 2015 at the peak of spring. How It's Made After picking, workers piled the leaves in a warm, humid room for weeks while microbes darkened the leaf and built that deep, mellow flavor. Most shu goes straight into cake form after fermentation, but this batch stayed loose for seven years before the producer compressed it. That extra patience is what gives Obsidian its polished, rounded character. How It Ages Shu pu-erh ages differently from raw pu-erh. The fermentation does the heavy lifting early on, so changes over time are subtler: rough edges soften, earthy notes deepen, and the body fills out. After eleven years, Obsidian has moved past any residual wo dui mustiness into something clean and settled. Start with 25 grams to find out whether aged shu fits, about five sessions to explore the full range of flavor. Already drink shu and want something with more cocoa weight? Go straight to 50 grams. How to Brew Brew 5 grams in 100 ml of boiling water (100°C) for 30 seconds — five grams is about a tablespoon. Throw away the first steep as a quick rinse to wash off aging dust and open the compressed leaves. After that, each steep gets richer as the leaf opens up, and a 25-gram bag covers about five full sessions. FAQ What is shu pu-erh? Shu pu-erh (熟普洱) is a fermented tea from Yunnan, China. Producers pile fresh leaf in a warm, humid room for weeks in a process called wo dui, which darkens the leaf and creates a smooth, mellow cup. Think of it as the approachable side of pu-erh: low bitterness and naturally smooth. How is Obsidian different from Dusty Basement? Obsidian leans into dense cocoa and mineral weight, with a rounded body from eleven years of aging. Dusty Basement is earthier and more traditional, with a drier, woodier finish. Pick Obsidian for richness, Dusty Basement for classic shu character. How many steeps will I get from one session? Ten or more. The compressed leaf opens gradually, releasing new flavors with each pour. Early steeps run thick with cocoa and toffee, while later rounds shift toward cedar and quiet smokiness. Add a few seconds per steep after round five. Is shu pu-erh the same as black tea? No. Both are dark in the cup, but they reach that color through different paths. Black tea is fully oxidized during production. Shu pu-erh goes through a separate fermentation step called wo dui (wet piling) that builds earthy, mellow flavors black tea does not have.
