About Sinensis Assamica Leaves
Tea Leaves
Puer or Pu erh tea should be made from camelia sinensis assamica. But the leaves could come from any kind of sinensis assamica plant; wild trees, ancient arboreal trees,old trees, bushes.
These leaves are all daye zhong (camelia sinensis assamica) old tea tree leaves. The leaf on the left is clearly older, but still new growth. This gives an idea of the variation in leaf size. The first leaves of spring (tou chun) are typically smaller than the leaves shown here.
20 centimetres
Right;
The leaf on the left is from an old tea tree, on the right from a daye tea bush - tai di.
(click on the picture to enlarge)
Note the more regular formation and serrations on the upper margins of the tea bush leaf. Different areas also have trees that produce leaves with different structural peculiarities
Clearly size alone is not a reliable indicator - big leaves are not necessarily from big trees.
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10 centimetres
Old tree tea dregs of young tea - particularly if they have not been pressed into cakes - should look something like this.
These particular leaves were about 6-7 cm long. Note the thickness of the petioles and the raised midrib on the lamina..
These particular leaves were about 6-7 cm long. Note the thickness of the petioles and the raised midrib on the lamina..
