The term yu ye describes in tea production an incomplete leaf that precedes real leaves in a bud. It is somewhat harder and does not respond well to processing. They are easy to spot in the finished product: they simply look like any dry leaves from a tree and not like a processed tea leaf. Usually they are removed manually after processing and before the final bake-dry.
Since the price for lower end white peony and shou mei is not catching up with the rising labour cost in China, you can see more yu ye in the tea as the grade goes down.
