I tried them again tonight, and I actually found them quite tasty.
@Vinifera7, actually, only black tea leaves are fermented. Green tea leaves are just dried, so pretty much straight from the bush. I think most people would find green tea leaves equally as nasty as black tea leaves, but from your responses, I gather that normal people do not eat tea leaves, whether they be green, black, or polka dotted.
These were oolong, which are fermented, but not to the extent of black teas. I decided that the leaf itself tasted like a combination between brewed tea and collard greens, and that it was, in fact, the stem-like vein running through the middle of the leaf that tasted terrible.
My instincts tell me there’s also quite a caffeine kick in eating the leaves. I don’t have any hard evidence, but I did perk up quite a bit very quickly (maybe 30 seconds) after I ate it, which I hadn’t been expecting. I think absorption through the tissues of the mouth is a possibility, similar to absorption of nicotine from chewing tobacco or coca and caffeine through coca leaves.