The phrase “small leaf” variety is often very misleading. It says nothing more than the size of the leaves at the time of the picking. A number of cultivars used for making either black tea or pu’er tea are “small leaf”, yet they are of the assamica variety or a cross of it. The fact is, there are also many cultivars of the assamica variety which leaf sizes differ dramatically. As in the sinensis variety.<div><div></div><div>Today, a lot of the Yunnan “Golden” (see review in Tea Guardian), esp those almost purely of Golden shoot leaves, are produced from crosses, some even purely from sinensis cultivars, so that the leaves size can be a lot more even and the downy hair much more visually pleasing.</div><div></div><div></div><div>Many of the shu cha pu’er, particularly those that are used in exports, are blended. i.e. there could be more than one type of cultivars used. The production style of the sources of the materials before the blending can differ quite dramatically as well. </div></div>
tea guardian special features
At Teashop Finder
