Limelight Lily - 80s Menghai Shu Puer

A common retort when speaking about the clubs of New York from the 80s and 90s, was that, "If you remembered, you weren't there".  Regardless the accuracy of people's recollections, there are parts to this history that cannot be denied.  The Club Kids that rose to prominence is one such example.  While their time was short, their contribution to the larger culture is still being felt to this day; through deconstruction of gender and fashion along with the embrace of personality as the product.   

With shu puer coming into sharper focus amongst sophisticated tea drinkers, a similar understanding is emerging about the importance of those early years for a product that has grown well past its original intended market.

One could be excused for trying a recently made shu puer and not thinking much of it.  However, when drinking Limelight Lily, its fabulousness cannot be denied.  It exhibits a complexity in flavor and dynamics that serve as a north star for how shu puer should taste and be made.  

Before its current diva status, Limelight Lily was originally known as White Needle Golden Lotus.  It was given this name by Hong Kong tea merchants for its slight lotus fragrance, said to be brought about when the tea was fermented two-thirds of the way. This process also gave the tea some space to continue to ferment naturally, allowing it to build in complexity that a longer fermented shu puer could not achieve.

Notes of sourdough, oud and aged leather feature prominently in each cup, transporting the drinker back to this seminal time in shu puer's history, where one could credibly say that they now remember.