Green Tea Leaves - Size and Quality

by John
(Calirfornia)

Does the size of green tea leaves bear any relation to its quality? Is small or large leaves better?

Answer:

The best green tea is made from young tea shoots, with lots of buds. These buds are plucked early spring, and so tends to be smaller than later harvests that consist of larger, more matured leaves.

So in this regard, smaller is better, because buds are smaller than leaves.

However, there can be poor quality buds, just like there are poor quality leaves.

The best buds are picked earliest in spring. They tend to stouter and larger.

So in this regard, a fat tea bud is better than a thin one.

These are generalisations. Actual practice varies from tea to tea.