Identification of Plantation Leaves

[Fatman2]

Hi,

Starting to examine the leaves closely of late. Can share your knowledge on identifying plantation tea leaves please. After drinking tea for so long, I still do not know. Embarrassing.

thanks.

[Victoria]

Not sure what you are asking that seems pretty general of a question.
There are ways to tell hand picked from machine harvested, is that what you mean?

Or do you mean looking a a leaf and determining its type of brew?

Looking at a leaf and telling what plantation it is from is impossible.

Please clarify and we'll try and help!

[TIM]

Hi,

Starting to examine the leaves closely of late. Can share your knowledge on identifying plantation tea leaves please. After drinking tea for so long, I still do not know. Embarrassing.

thanks.

show us some leaves and we might be able to ID it either plantation, wild, old, young and type... everyone jump in : )

[Salsero]

Can share your knowledge on identifying plantation tea leaves please. After drinking tea for so long, I still do not know.

I am in the same boat. I have read a lot of people talking about the characteristics of spent sheng puerh tea leaves. It is my impression that even if mao cha is all chopped up in pieces it can still make great tea. On the other hand, I love to handle and look at the the big leaf sets, though some are bigger than others and some are thick, thin, yellow-green, dark blue-green, etc.

OK, Tim, your proposal makes sense. Maybe we could all post a lot of leaf samples for conversation. HERE, are some particularly attractive spent leaves I just posted today in TeaDay. The leaves are from a 2007 Guanzizai Yiwu Early Spring cake from Puerhshop.

The dry leaves can be viewed HERE where you can click to get a bigger view.

[shogun89]

Heres my view on it, not 100% on this.

Wild leaves usually have a thick leaf with large bulging veins, usually large. Plantation are usually think and weak with very small thin veins.

[TIM]

Can share your knowledge on identifying plantation tea leaves please. After drinking tea for so long, I still do not know.

I am in the same boat. I have read a lot of people talking about the characteristics of spent sheng puerh tea leaves. It is my impression that even if mao cha is all chopped up in pieces it can still make great tea. On the other hand, I love to handle and look at the the big leaf sets, though some are bigger than others and some are thick, thin, yellow-green, dark blue-green, etc.

OK, Tim, your proposal makes sense. Maybe we could all post a lot of leaf samples for conversation. HERE, are some particularly attractive spent leaves I just posted today in TeaDay. The leaves are from a 2007 Guanzizai Yiwu Early Spring cake from Puerhshop.

The dry leaves can be viewed HERE where you can click to get a bigger view.

sal- this tea looks way too green? I think is a good quality semi wild plantation. Tree might be around 40-80 yrs. old. Is the brew way bitter if steep for 20 sec. +? More like over steep green? my 2 cents

[heavydoom]

guys and girls, what happened to just drinking tea? you know, bring that cup to your lips, tilt it, and down the tea goes down your parched throat.

[TIM]

guys and girls, what happened to just drinking tea? you know, bring that cup to your lips, tilt it, and down the tea goes down your parched throat.

and.... why do you brew the next one?

[heavydoom]

guys and girls, what happened to just drinking tea? you know, bring that cup to your lips, tilt it, and down the tea goes down your parched throat.

and.... why do you brew the next one?

why do i brew the next one? hmmmmmm, this may be a trick question.

all i was trying to say was, why not just enjoy a cup of tea without bringing out the electron microscope so that we can study the molecular structure of the spent tea leaves in our gaiwans/cups. eh?

[PolyhymnianMuse]

guys and girls, what happened to just drinking tea? you know, bring that cup to your lips, tilt it, and down the tea goes down your parched throat.

and.... why do you brew the next one?

why do i brew the next one? hmmmmmm, this may be a trick question.

all i was trying to say was, why not just enjoy a cup of tea without bringing out the electron microscope so that we can study the molecular structure of the spent tea leaves in our gaiwans/cups. eh?

.

True dat.

I dont think you can really tell where specifically, thats like having a potatoe and asking what farm it came from in Idaho, not really something you will find out unless they supplier actually tells you. AFAIK, what you can tell from the leaves depends on the size, color, shape, etc. Like for instance, an autumn harvest may look distinct from other leaves.

[Salsero]

sal- this tea looks way too green? I think is a good quality semi wild plantation. Tree might be around 40-80 yrs. old. Is the brew way bitter if steep for 20 sec. +? More like over steep green?

Tim, I have had only one session with this tea. I brewed it 17 s, 20 s, 1 m, 45 s, 50 s, 1:15 m and found it to be a little rough in the third infusion. Otherwise, my notes just say "aromatic and gentle," which could indicate a green-tea taste. I will watch this one carefully the next time I brew it.

What you can read from these leaves is phenomenal! Do the leaves turn a darker color during processing or are the good leaves darker when they are still on the tree?

all i was trying to say was, why not just enjoy a cup of tea ... eh?

That "eh?" must be your Canadian accent showing!

I agree with you, of course, in principal, but sometimes it is just fun to play with food!

[shogun89]

If thats Canadian , thats interesting because I use that everyday when I'm talking to people.

[heavydoom]

long live doug and bob!!!! eh?

[nada]

it's a good question Fatman - I asked this same one to many tea people in China.

I got a variety of answers, but the one which seemed to ring true was that just looking at the leaves or examining the bitterness of the tea wasn't sufficient - there are indeed plantation leaves that are thick with strong veins, but only old trees appear to give 'Hou Yun' - sometimes translated as throat feeling, or a huigan in the throat. The huigan with plantation trees is usually towards the front of the mouth.

I've been consciously trying to observe this hou yun for a while now. It is getting a little easier, but has taken a bit of practice, and could do with some more.

I'm sure there are people who would disagree with this approach - in the world of tea there seem to be many opinions and many experts. I guess each of us just needs to drink many old growth teas and also some plantation teas and get to learn the characteristics of each for ourselves.

[nada]

(2007 Spring Yiwu Old growth Maocha was in the region of 300+RMB/kg - price can also tell you something about the leaves)