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Grading Tea

After processing, the tea is graded by size. Grading tea is more of an art than a science. Here is what you need to know...

The size needs to be consistent among the various grades because smaller, broken pieces of leaves brew faster than whole leaf.

Before I explain the grades let me first say that whole leaf is considered better quality than broken, and smaller whole leaves generally have more flavor than larger ones.

Now, with that said, the grades of tea are represented by initials or a series of initials. Here are the grades of leaf sizes from largest to smallest:

 

Whole Leaf

S - Souchong (Usually the fourth leaf of the shoot which means it comes from coarse plucking and is therefore, lower quality)

FOPFlowery Orange Pekoe (It’s often thought that Orange Pekoe is a type of tea, but it’s really just a size. Flowery refers to its shape resembling a crushed flower because it is loosely rolled.)

OPOrange Pekoe (Generally regarded as a good quality tea that is rolled up slightly tighter than FOP)

 

Broken Leaf

PPekoe (A large broken leaf grade that usually does not contain any visible tips)

BOP – Broken Orange Pekoe (Broken into pieces that are typically square shaped)

 

Fannings and Dust

FFannings (The size usually found in tea bags. The name comes from an old practice of using fans to separate the smallest pieces from the larger)

DDust (The finest of all grades, almost powder-like)

 

Additional Modifiers:

TTippy (A modifier used in whole and broken leaf grades to indicate that the that there are buds present)

GGolden (Describing the coloring of the tips or buds and is considered favorable)


When grading whole leaf teas, they usually start at the lowest grade, PS (Pekoe Souchong) to FOP which is a higher quality. Then, they will add the modifiers such as GFOP (Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe) which is even better.

After that, even more modifiers are added such as, FTGFOP (Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe) and even SFTGFOP (Special Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe). Whew, that’s a mouthful!

 

 

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