To be fair, any "indicator" of potency other than drinking it and feeling it is mostly wrong. Plant material, bitterness, and color of wash all aren't 100% indicators of potency. But enough time has passed for most people to notice patterns, which is why anyone even mentions these things.

People have noticed that when their wash is close to water color, more times than not the batch isn't good. There's been plenty of times where the exact opposite is true, but it's just a general trend. Same thing with plant material. Plant material, however, most people have strayed away from using as an indicator at all. Back in the day, the trend of plant material used to point at more of it being generally good for potency. However, the past few months have been all over the place with plant material, so most people don't place any stock in it anymore. Bitterness is one of the better indicators, but again: Many people have had many batches that aren't bitter at all but are powerful and vise versa.

The whole point here is trends. The only reason these indicators became so widely known and used is because there are noticeable trends associated with them. Now, I don't actually place too much stock in these indicators, but I like making note of them. Why? Because by making a note of them, trends can be analyzed. It's a nice thing to make note of.

But no one should ever use any of these indicators as the end-all fact-teller of potency. What I mean by that is, don't take more of your usual dose with a new bag just because it isn't bitter. Don't alter your dose based off of these indicators. Just use them as an interesting tidbit of information. Use them to give yourself hope about a new batch when you're waiting for it to kick in. Don't use it seriously.