diff --git a/backend.js b/backend.js
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/backend.js
+++ b/backend.js
@@ -128,6 +128,7 @@ Backend.prototype.buildVectorTile = function(z, x, y, callback) {
 
 			var buffer = image.getData(self.dataopts);
 			buffer.metatile = self.metatile;
+			buffer._vtile = image;
 
 			image.clear(function(err) {
 				callback(err, buffer);
diff --git a/test/index.js b/test/index.js
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/test/index.js
+++ b/test/index.js
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+var mapnik = require('mapnik');
 var tilestrata = require('tilestrata');
 var assertVTile = require('./utils/assertVTile.js');
 var TileServer = tilestrata.TileServer;
@@ -22,6 +23,8 @@ describe('Provider Implementation "vtile"', function() {
 					if (err) throw err;
 					assert.deepEqual(headers, {'Content-Type': 'application/x-protobuf'});
 					assert.instanceOf(buffer, Buffer);
+					assert.instanceOf(buffer._vtile, mapnik.VectorTile, 'buffer._vtile');
+					assert.equal(buffer.metatile, 1, 'buffer.metatile');
 					// fs.writeFileSync(__dirname + '/fixtures/world.pbf', buffer);
 					assertVTile(5, 5, 12, buffer, __dirname + '/fixtures/world.pbf');
 					done();
Attach mapnik VectorTile instance to buffer for downstream modules (to prevent re-parsing)