Tea Grades – What Do Tea Grades Mean?
Tea grades refer to the size and condition of the tea leaves. While the grade does not indicate the quality of the brewed tea, each grade of tea does give certain characteristics to the brewed tea. Keep in mind that the tea grade is not necessarily indicative of quality.
Grades of Black Tea
Flowery Orange Pekoe (FOP)
Flowery Orange Pekoe is the highest grade of tea, including the leaf bud only.
Orange Pekoe
Orange Pekoe is high quality whole leaves of uniform size. Orange Pekoe is of higher quality than Pekoe.
Pekoe
In China , pekoe leaves are leaves picked from the tip of the branch, the leaf bud and the two leaves below the bud only. In India and Sri Lanka, Pekoe tea can include any whole leaves of a uniform size, and this is the common usage.
Souchong
Souchong leaves are large leaves, but not from the tip of the branch.
Broken Orange Pekoe
Most of the tea bags sold in the US are marked “Orange Pekoe” The leaves are broken from Orange Pekoe leaves. Most tea sold in the US as Orange Pekoe is a blend of black teas.
Fannings
Fannings are broken tea leaves that are separated from the whole leaves through sieving. Usually fannings and dust are used in the making of tea bags. Broken leaves infuse more flavor quickly, which is desireable , however they tend to stale quickly also.
Dust
Dust is also broken tea leaves, but smaller size pieces.
Darjeeling Tea Grades
Some teas, especially high quality Darjeelings, are graded according to an alternate system:
TGFOP: Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe. 'Tippy', 'Golden', and
'Flowery' are all references to the leaf bud at the tip of the branch.
(Buds have a lighter color than fully formed leaves, hence 'golden'.)
FTGFOP: Fancy Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe. 'Fancy' is a
term also used in the grading of oolongs.
SFTGFOP: Super-Fine [Fancy] Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe.
When dealing with Darjeelings, you may also see the following terms:
Estate: Identifies the plantation where the leaves were grown
Vintage: means that the leaves are the product of one harvest, and are
not blended with any others.
First Flush: the leaves were plucked in the first growth of the season.
It usually produces a very light, delicate drink.
Second Flush: The Second Flush is the harvest from th second growth of the season. These leaves are more robust and flavorful than the first flush.
Autumnal Flush: harvest after the rainy season.
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