Beautiful leaves -- a strange question

I would think any fresh green would do. I think some of the most physically appealing tea that I've seen has been Qie She (little bird beak?) or Zhu Ye Qing (bamboo leaf green). There should still be an abundance of fresh greens to be had since spring has just passed.

I think it depends on what you find photogenic. Colour? Shape? In what setting -- dried? Wet? In water? Out of water? I think the answer differs depending on what you're looking for.

MarshalN

Dry leaf, color and shape. I want to get across that pleasure of opening up the canister and seeing this crisp, wiry/tippy/folded vibrant whole leaf creation that is such a contrast to the dust and fannings of tea bags and the thin broken leaf of so many "fine" teas in elegant packages. I've found that the reaction of my friends is "I didn't know tea could look like that."

I just hosted a tea evening for a restaurant owner friend and this reaction was immediate. I showed and we tasted just eight teas -- Lapsang, Ambootia for the blacks, Iron Goddess and Spring Pouchong for the oolongs, Jasmine Pearl and Kyokuro for greens and Silver Needle and 100 Monkeys for the whites. I added a tuocha with hammer to smash, just for fun. The visual element of the tea really was a grabber for the twenty or so attendees. BTW, my (non-sales) pitch to my restaurant friend was that he offers his guests a rich range of choices of appetizer, main course and dessert where they spend $50-$100 but no comparable choice in teas. He has definitely gotten the message and is talking about adding a tea menu option.

So, Marshall, I am fumbling around the notion that most people have no idea`of the range of teas and their quality and that the visual apperance of the leaf in and of itself helps shift their expectations and interest.

Peter

My idea of beautiful leaf is the clunking sound fisted Taiwan Dong Ding makes when it hits the glass pot and the seeming from nothing clog a pot mutliple whole unbroken leaf on stem which is good enough to eat when finished.

Jim

I believe a great, intact maocha from Yunnan destined for puerh production can be very beautiful.

I also think that dianhong, the golden tip kind, is very nice looking.

A properly handled Oriental Beauty is quite nice looking.

MarshalN

Dear Peter,

Though beauty is of course in the eye of the beholder, this particular beholder finds Oriental Beauty to be one of the most visually appealing leaves. A wonderful mixture of colours can be found - on opening a packet (of a decent grade), I am often simply arrested, halted, staring down at the pretty mixture of colours before me.

shows an approximation of this, though I failed to convey their true beauty. Some of the colours are almost, well, blue. Striking.

Toodlepip,

Hobbes

I think the most beautiful infused color is blood red from Yunnan Black Gold. I think all leaf even fines has something to offer. I like to watch Indian fines rain rocks from the initial volcanic infusion plume on the surface. Afterwords I can spin the fines backup into a tornado in a cylindrical glass pot. I like to watch the log jam from needles right itself. I consider it an absolute sacrilege to hide the agony of the leaves. If I have too I'll give up taste over beauty.

Jim

PS My sister-> ...

If people were intrigued by the look of tea, you may want to show them the different styles as far as they go like full leaves, long leaves, short leaves, pearls, gunpowder.. etc. Also, you could consider showing them the more for looks than taste blossoming teas. I can't vouch for any of them being high quality teas, but I had one called Rose of Suzhou that was wonderful to watch unfrul and bloom in the water, I enjoy the taste also but don't know as much of green tea to know good from great.

intricacy of the flower arrangement which hold up to multiple infusions. I like drinking the cheap ones because they will wilt after the first infusion but have the most taste. You probably could drink tea blossoms just for the taste but you find they seem like real flowers with aroma. I caused my sister-in-law to sneeze from PMT infintely fine white down tea dust. She was impressed at the big glob of tea you could simply pinch with the fingers. We look at dry and infused leaf but it is also has a tactile sensation. I want my Long Jing to be dry and slippery with enough body that won't crush much when pressed between fingers. Sencha has exactly the same feel as LJ but it will spring back without crushing when pressed. I now man handle Puer. I don't use tools anymore. For the really stubborn stuff I put in a cloth towel and bang against hard surface.

Jim