Talk Leaf To Me

[ambrose]

Ok guys I need your help, I want to learn more about puerh tea. Im interested in knowing the differences in leaves im looking at. I read about buds, leave sets, dark, lighter, long, short, tips, stems? Im wanting to learn more about them, how to identify them in cakes and spent tea and how they affect the tea in general. I know black spots on leaves means they came off a sick tree.

Can anyone provide some information or a link to information on this? Have I gone too far

 

[Maitre_Tea]

Here are just a few of the signs I've seen in person and read about elsewhere

Plantation vs. Wild-Arbor

Wild-Arbor leaves tend to have thicker veins and the edges have better defined serrated edges. Of course, I've run across many a "plantation" leaf that would satisfy some of the characteristics of Wild-Arbor leaves. Don't use this as the only way of determining Wild-Arbor status

Chopped vs. Whole

Chopped leaves are usually the result of factory cakes, such as Menghai, Xiaguan, etc. The leaves are chopped to maintain consistency in blending. It does not mean that the leaf is of inferior quality in any way. In fact, it's can be harder to create the right blend if the leaves aren't chopped. There's an argument of which will age better - chopped cakes or whole leaf cakes. For the longest time most cakes had plantation grade chopped leaf. The concept of whole-leaf Wild Arbor cakes only came when the government loosened restrictions on where factories can harvest. For a time being factories could only use plantation leaves. For the record, I've tasted some very delicious chopped leaf cake and very terrible whole leaf cake...so don't use leaf wholeness as a guide of quality, like you would generally for other tea types.

Oxidation and Kill-Green

Oxidation and kill-green are two very important steps in processing, because too much will create green tea (when kill-green is too high), oolong (intentional oxidation), and black tea (I think) (when oxidation is carried too far).Signs of oxidation can be seen in redness on the edges of the leaf. Unless they're super careful, there will be some redness, because the leaves get bruised when they're tossed around and unintentional oxidation occurs. Intentional oxidation can be hard to tell because the line between intentional and unintentional can be a bit murky. However, if you find leaves that are completely red...than that might be intentional. Kill-green can be hard to tell from leaves, at least I can't remember reading about a sure-fire method. Excessive kill-green can be caught in the brew, when astringency/bitterness sticks around with longer brews, and doesn't fade away into a nice hui gan. It's just like with a green tea, which usually has a grassy-like astringency which can stick around for a while.

Anyway, these are just some things I've read/heard/experienced, so some of it may not be true. But anyway, just my two cents.

 

[Maitre_Tea]

About where is a good source of information...

I spend a lot of my time trolling blogs, even more so than working on my own blog

In terms of more "academic" discussions on these kind of subjects, I highly recommend MarshalN's seminal blog A Tea Addicts Journal. I've literally spent hours just reading over every post he's written. One of the best reads about tea, and his posts are mind-provoking.

 

[ambrose]

Thank you for your insight, and the link to the blog. I will have to check it out and read up on some of those posts.

Im now wondering what defines quality in a leaf?

It doesnt seem like its a matter of leaf processing from your post. It seems like you need good leaf from the start in any case. Humm

So far im enjoying all the teas Ive tried. The older ones have something very nice and enjoyable about them that younger ones just done have. Not to say that I dont enjoy young teas as well.

 

[Maitre_Tea]

IMO, it's easier for people to come a conclusion about what's bad quality than to agree on what's good quality. At the end of the day, tea is an agricultural good, and even the best processing/marketing/whatever can't save truly crappy quality leaf. Similar parallels can be found in tons of other products, where the crappy quality is painted over by a ton of glitz and glam. In some ways though, some people like to drink their pu-erh young, in which case excessive oxidation may not be a problem to people. Another thing I want to mention is that the effects of over-oxidation and kill-green aren't entirely known yet, because processing conditions vary tremendously across decades. What worked in the 80s won't for the 90s, and it certainly doesn't have much to do with what's going on today. It's easy to get away with things like pressing green tea into your cakes...and it's something that Xiaguan openly admits to!

Another thing that I want to mention is the growing phenomenon of silver tips, and cakes that are only silver tips. There are two camps who debate whether silver tips have the viability to age well, or if they're better for drinking now instead of later. IIRC, stems and such tend to make a more bitter but more full-bodied tea. The same I think goes for the size grade of teas. Smaller leaves are more "tippy," whereas larger leaves give the tea more character and body in the brew.

 

[ambrose]

wow so much variables, to think about. I for one must say I do enjoy the variety of leaves stems in my brew. From my memories of different teas made of only tips or only specific size leaves. I can recall the flavors where much more simple, light and young like. Which is ok but I like more complex flavors most of the time.

How can one distinguish quality in a leaf ? Is there any way to tell from looking at a cake or is it in the spent leaf?

Im really enjoying learning about this so far everything seems spot on to what Ive been experiencing with my own teas.

 

[netsurfr]

Here are just a few of the signs I've seen in person and read about elsewhere

Plantation vs. Wild-Arbor

Wild-Arbor leaves tend to have thicker veins and the edges have better defined serrated edges. Of course, I've run across many a "plantation" leaf that would satisfy some of the characteristics of Wild-Arbor leaves. Don't use this as the only way of determining Wild-Arbor status

Chopped vs. Whole

Chopped leaves are usually the result of factory cakes, such as Menghai, Xiaguan, etc. The leaves are chopped to maintain consistency in blending. It does not mean that the leaf is of inferior quality in any way. In fact, it's can be harder to create the right blend if the leaves aren't chopped. There's an argument of which will age better - chopped cakes or whole leaf cakes. For the longest time most cakes had plantation grade chopped leaf. The concept of whole-leaf Wild Arbor cakes only came when the government loosened restrictions on where factories can harvest. For a time being factories could only use plantation leaves. For the record, I've tasted some very delicious chopped leaf cake and very terrible whole leaf cake...so don't use leaf wholeness as a guide of quality, like you would generally for other tea types.

Oxidation and Kill-Green

Oxidation and kill-green are two very important steps in processing, because too much will create green tea (when kill-green is too high), oolong (intentional oxidation), and black tea (I think) (when oxidation is carried too far).Signs of oxidation can be seen in redness on the edges of the leaf. Unless they're super careful, there will be some redness, because the leaves get bruised when they're tossed around and unintentional oxidation occurs. Intentional oxidation can be hard to tell because the line between intentional and unintentional can be a bit murky. However, if you find leaves that are completely red...than that might be intentional. Kill-green can be hard to tell from leaves, at least I can't remember reading about a sure-fire method. Excessive kill-green can be caught in the brew, when astringency/bitterness sticks around with longer brews, and doesn't fade away into a nice hui gan. It's just like with a green tea, which usually has a grassy-like astringency which can stick around for a while.

Anyway, these are just some things I've read/heard/experienced, so some of it may not be true. But anyway, just my two cents.

Great insights! Thanks for taking the time to write them up.

 

[Maitre_Tea]

So I asked my local pu-erh expert BearsBearsBears, creator of the Pu-erh LJ Community, about why a pu-erh would exhibit hong cha characteristics. This happens when the factory decides to be sneaky and use non-puerh leaves and instead use leaves from the Feng Qing area, which is known for making hong cha. There's no real way to see this in the leaf, because leaves from this area can look awfully similar to the pu-erh big leaf variety, and even if the Feng Qing leaves are processed perfectly like pu-erh, they will still taste like hong cha because of the nature of the leaf.

These kind of hong cha pu-erh can taste like Oriental Beauty, and I think a "good" example of this would be Hou De's 2004 Changtai

 

[netsurfr]

So I asked my local pu-erh expert BearsBearsBears, creator of the Pu-erh LJ Community, about why a pu-erh would exhibit hong cha characteristics. This happens when the factory decides to be sneaky and use non-puerh leaves and instead use leaves from the Feng Qing area, which is known for making hong cha. There's no real way to see this in the leaf, because leaves from this area can look awfully similar to the pu-erh big leaf variety, and even if the Feng Qing leaves are processed perfectly like pu-erh, they will still taste like hong cha because of the nature of the leaf.

These kind of hong cha pu-erh can taste like Oriental Beauty, and I think a "good" example of this would be Hou De's 2004 Changtai

I am going to display my ignorance but I thought that all of the tea came from the same plant and that the differences were in the processing of the leaves once harvested (oxidation amount, kill green process, etc.). I understand there are differences between plantation, arbor trees, and ancient trees but I thought that they all came from the same basic tea plant genus species. So, I am not quite sure I understand the above post. Appreciate enlightenment to advance my poor knowledge in this area.

 

[Maitre_Tea]

I'm not entirely sure about how distinct/large these differences are so I'm also in the same boat as you are...

but IIRC (and I will investigate this more) is that they're all from the same plant but there are subtle differences that arise when these plants are grown in different regions over the past thousands of years or so. For example, many of the tea varietals that you see in Taiwan, such as Taiwan Wuyi (which IMO is just Baozhong) and TGY, both came from China. I had an African shou pu-erh which was made (IIRC) with leaves from an Indian tea bush. It was very interesting...it tasted like shou, but also different in a way.

Think of it like agriculture (apples, oranges, etc.) All the same species...but different varietals, and they all taste pretty different from each other.

(I'm not a farmer or an expert in agriculture, so if the statement above is wrong...than just take it as a sign that I'm only speculating)

 

[netsurfr]

thanks my friend. I appreciate any insights. I am always learning how much I do not know about this subject...

 

[P_K]

My understanding is that there are variants within the species. Think of how many types of Japanese maples there are. Then humans can engage in selective breeding or cloning. This gives you the ability to emphasize certain characteristics within the plant differentiating it from the mother plant. Then you can also speak of terroir or specific mineral content of the soil it which it is grown.

 

[silvertip beard]

There are dozens of different "cultivars" or "varietals" of camellia sinensis that are used to make tea across the globe. There is even some molecular genetic analysis comparing different varietals.

Shiuwen mentions this several topic times in her blog, as Taiwan has several imported cultivars and an active research program to develop and study the various tea cultivars on their island.

IMO, the cloning and propagation of tea plants makes the seed stock wild trees that much more precious.

Tea husbandry is a fascinating topic indeed.

 

[netsurfr]

There are dozens of different "cultivars" or "varietals" of camellia sinensis that are used to make tea across the globe. There is even some molecular genetic analysis comparing different varietals.

Shiuwen mentions this several topic times in her blog, as Taiwan has several imported cultivars and an active research program to develop and study the various tea cultivars on their island.

IMO, the cloning and propagation of tea plants makes the seed stock wild trees that much more precious.

Tea husbandry is a fascinating topic indeed.

Great point! The ancient tea trees are in fact a world treasure.

 

[GG1]

Wow, I've been drinking pu-erh for a little while (thanks to our man Steve aka netsurfer).
I can tell raw from ripe and I'm starting to discern what I like a bit.
But man, how can people know so much and be able to distinguish such fine details in small leaves.
I'm impressed and amazed, thats all I can say

 

[netsurfr]

I guess it is not unlike French wines. There are some people that can distinguish the not only the grape varietal (OK, that may be a fairly easy one) but the specific region and individual winery. I defer to Ouch on this subject!

 

[ambrose]

Oh man I love learning about tea

Ive also been learning about the caffeine content in the same variety of tea at different growth periods.