"MarshalN" > writes:

> [...leaf appearance...]
> 4) In the case of puerh, I think you can definitely have some clues
> with regards to storage condition just by looking at the spent
> leaves. A rough way of telling them apart is that wet stored teas are
> blacker, a little less flexible, with uneven colours and what not,
> while dry stored leaves are more likely to be brownish and more
> uniform in colour, as well as being a bit more flexible and retains a
> certain sense of freshness that wet stored teas don't. I wouldn't say
> this is all there is to it, but it is at least partly what you can use
> to tell storage condition apart.

Speaking of diminished flexibility, I've noticed that with non-Pu'er
heicha it's common to find spent leaves that are remarkably stiff. I
sometimes wonder, did this leaf ever live? I don't recall running
into this with cooked Pu'er, which I *think* is manufactured in a
similar way. But who knows, really?

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html