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)
FOP
– Flowery 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.)
OP
– Orange Pekoe (Generally regarded
as a good quality tea that is rolled up slightly tighter than
FOP)
Broken
Leaf
P
– Pekoe (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
F
– Fannings (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)
D
– Dust (The finest of all grades,
almost powder-like)
Additional
Modifiers:
T
– Tippy (A modifier used in whole
and broken leaf grades to indicate that the that there are
buds present)
G
– Golden (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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