Many Tea enthusiasts tend to discard the “tea residue” after drinking their tea. However, this seemingly exhausted residue can actually reveal much about the quality of the tea.

The leftover tea residue is professionally referred to as “leaf base.” In professional tea evaluations, assessing and scoring the leaf base is a final step.

After being soaked in water, the tea leaves absorb moisture and expand, returning to their original shape. The reasonableness of the tea's picking, processing, and storage can all be discerned from the leaf base. When examining the leaf base, one should primarily focus on its tenderness, color, uniformity, and degree of expansion.

Tenderness

Pinch the Tea Residue, Examine the Leaf Quality

Tenderness refers to the proportion of buds and tender leaves within the tea, as well as the overall tenderness or maturity of the leaves.

It's not always easy to distinguish the content of buds and tender leaves when the tea hasn't fully expanded, but it becomes clearer when examining the leaf base. By laying out a few tea leaves flat, we can determine their picking grade, such as single bud, one bud with one leaf, and so forth. To assess the overall tenderness of the leaves, visual inspection should be complemented by tactile examination.

The general principles for differentiation are:

■ Leaves that feel soft and resilient when pinched indicate tenderness; those that are hard and spring back when released indicate maturity.

■ Leaves with smooth veins, like silk, indicate tenderness; those with prominent veins indicate maturity.

■ Leaves with smooth edges indicate tenderness; those with pronounced serrations indicate maturity.

■ Thick and soft leaf flesh is optimal, indicating high tenderness and rich internal substances, typically sourced from high-quality tea from high altitudes; soft but thin leaves are average, often sourced from plantation teas; hard and thin leaves are of the poorest quality.

Color

Directly Reflects the Tea Raw Material

The color of the leaf base can very directly reflect the quality of the raw material and the processing of a tea. It is best to compare the colors of several different teas to avoid being influenced by lighting, environment, and subjective factors.

The general principles for differentiation are:

Shade: The shade should align with the expected color requirements for that type of tea. For Black Tea, an oily black hue is preferred, while yellow-green and iron-plate colors are less desirable; for green tea, shades of fresh green, yellow-green, and emerald green are ideal, whereas deep green is less favorable. If there are any spots, charred leaves, red leaves, red stalks, or shattered leaves, these are further signs of poor quality; for Oolong Tea, the desired appearance is “green leaves with a red border,” and the ratio of red to green can help determine the degree of fermentation.

Luster: “Lustrous” indicates a glossy and reflective surface of the tea leaves; “dull” indicates a lack of luster or poor sheen.

Brightness: “Bright” indicates vibrant and lively colors, suggesting freshness in the finished product; “dull” suggests a dark and unreflective color, usually due to coarse old leaves or improper initial processing.

Degree of Expansion

Indicates Tea Activity

The better the degree of expansion in the leaf base, the higher its activity. Generally, high-quality teas or new teas from the current year will have leaves that lay flat and evenly after being steeped in hot water; aged teas or low-quality teas may only partially unfold and appear wrinkled and uneven.

It's worth noting that some heavily rolled teas, such as oolongs, may still have slightly curled leaves even after fully expanding, which is normal. However, if the leaves remain tightly coiled and hard after Steeping, or completely flatten without elasticity, these are indications of flaws in the processing. For example, some tea manufacturers use heavy charcoal roasting to mask defects in the tea, and for such teas, we can identify issues through the tightly contracted, dark, and hard leaf bases.

Uniformity

Reveals Picking Conditions

Uniformity refers to the consistency in terms of the age, size, thickness, and wholeness of the leaves. Among the aspects of leaf base assessment, uniformity is relatively less important.

Poor uniformity indicates that the tea was not picked or processed according to standards, or that it has been blended. Uniformity is related to the management of tea picking and processing. During processing, some tea factories mix leaves from different mountains or batches without proper sorting, resulting in poor uniformity.

In summary, the “tea residue” can truly reflect the “true face” of the tea raw material. From the leaf base, we can discern the vitality of the tea growth and judge the quality of tea-making techniques based on the characteristics of the tea picking.

As the saying goes, “seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times.” Now that you've learned these methods, why not examine the “tea residue” in your Teacup and test your tea?