I have been drinking loose leaf tea daily for somewhere over a year
now, and have largely focused on developing a sense for what is out
there in the very broadest sense: Japanese Green, Chinese Green, light
oolong, dark oolong, pu-er (cooked, raw), assam, darjeeling, china
black(red), etc. Now I am at the point where I am trying to focus on
the finer distinctions in various teas, such as regional
characteristics, production techniques, time of harvest, etc. I am
doing this casually, mind you, but with an intent to slowly learn as
much as possible about tea for my own personal enjoyment. I have thus
far focused a bit on taste and I think my sense is developing. I have
some problems brewing consistently, but I now notice things that I
originally didn't even think about at all a year ago: e.g., mouth feel
rather than just taste.

In an attempt to evolve my evaluation of tea, I am thinking about
bringing a slightly more analytical focus to spent tea leaves. Does
anyone have any good resources in this regard? Here are some things I
have noticed:

1. tea leaf shape appears largely the same, but size varies. Oolongs
are larger leafed, greens are typically smaller, often with just tea
buds. Pu-er is typically large as well. I suppose this is related to
the ability of delicate young (i.e., small) teas being able to
withstand the harsher production techniques required in the oolong
manufacture.

2. whole leaf/part leaf: many teas, such as Japanese tea and India
tea, are not whole leaf. At first I thought of this as a negative
characteristic, but now I am more interested in learning what torn
leaves contribute to tea. I generally like Japanese greens and many
India teas, so how can the fact that they are cut (possibly machine
harvested?) be a bad thing?

3. leaf color: of course, green tea is largely green, but not all
green's are equal. Gyokuro is famous for being shaded and a darker
green. I had a longjing that was yellowish. Oolongs and black teas are
darker. Pu-er teas seem to reveal a lot regarding color. At some point
online, I even saw an analysis of color *patterns* on tea leaves
(e.g., examining where the leaves should be red in a properly
processed tea).

4. leaf condition: what really made me start thinking about tea leaves
more carefully is that I was drinking a tea after trying gongfu
brewing in a small cheap yixing-style pot for the first time and I
noticed that all of the leaves were crinkled and semi-furled
afterwards. I wondered if it was because I put too many in the pot,
but I don't think that is it. Why does some tea unfurl and some tea
not unfurl--is it a result of roasting? Some of the tea (my example is
a low grade Kings Tea dark oolong from Ten Ren) seems extraordinarily
dark--almost black. I have seen this in Pu-er as well. In the case of
pu-er, are there ways to determine wet storage/dry storage from leaf
condition after brewing?

5. miscellaneous. pouring from a gaiwan through a tea filter, I have
noticed that some teas produce a lot of white/yellow "fuzz" that I at
one point collected and rolled into a soft ball (not sure why). I
received lots of fuzz from green tea with lots of buds, so thought
the buds may be the source at first. But I have also seen it in
Oriental Beauty, which I had thought of as a dark oolong. What does it
signify? Also, some tea leaves seem shiny and firm after brewing, some
are dull and fall apart. I have seen some talk of differences in the
edge shape of leaves (jagged or not?). I have heard mention of certain
teas having holes in the leaves from tiny bugs--is this a sign that
the leaves are organic? picked at a certain time of year?

I often find myself looking at tea leaves after I drink tea, but I am
never sure what I am looking for. I know there are a ton of different
things that can likely be told from leaves, and maybe there is no easy
way to catalog it all into an easy reference. But if anyone has
resources on this topic, I would be interested in hearing more. If
anyone has thoughts about the observations above, or other
observations, I would also be curious to read them. Sorry for long
post.