In the quest of nourishing my knowledge about Tea, I landed up on a very interesting subject of Tea Grading – the most integral part of determining the Tea quality.
Tea is graded based on its physical appearance (including leaf size and color). Indian black teas are subject to the most structured and extensive grading system. Black tea is broken down into four different categories: Whole leaf tea, Broken leaf, Fannings, and Dust, each of which is described below:
Whole Leaf Tea / Orthodox Tea Grades-
OP – Orange Pekoe: The basic term for whole leaf grade tea. OP contains long, pointed leaves that are larger than FOP and have been harvested when the end buds open into leaf. OP usually does not contain tips.
FOP- Flowery Orange Pekoe: FOP tea is made from the end bud and first leaf of each shoot. FOP contains fine, tender young leaves with buds also referred to as tips (a mark of quality tea).
GFOP – Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe: FOP with golden tips.
TGFOP – Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe: FOP with a larger proportion of golden tips than GFOP.
FTGFOP – Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe: Very high-quality FOP.
SFTGFOP – Supreme Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe: Very high-quality FOP with lots of golden tips. The numeral “1” is often added to the end of the description to indicate a top quality tea (e.g. SFTGFOP1).
CTC TEA
Grades of CTC Tea:
CTC (crush-tear-curl) is a tea that has been produced by a modern, mechanical process that tears the leaf in order to induce oxidation. Because the CTC process breaks the leaf, there is no whole-leaf CTC tea, and thus CTC tea is divided into broken-leaf, fannings, and dust. CTC is widely regarded as inferior, and the primary benefit is its lower cost of production, due to automation, although like other teas, CTC tea still varies widely in quality.
CTC tea grades include for broken leaf tea, BP, BOP, BPS, BP1, and FP, and for fannings, OF, PF, and BOPF. There is a myriad of grades for CTC dust.
Broken Leaf Grades –
The term Broken Orange Pekoe, or BOP, is used to describe large leaf fragments. The same grading terminology that is used for whole leaf (OP) teas is also applied to BOP teas (e.g. TGBOP = Tippy Golden Broken Orange Pekoe). These grades of Tea are often used to make Tea blends.
BOP1 – Broken Orange Pekoe One
GFBOP – Golden Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe
TGFBOP – Tippy Golden Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe
TGFBOP1 – Tippy Golden Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe Grade One
BS – Broken Souchong
BPS – Broken Pekoe Souchong
GBOP – Golden Broken Orange Pekoe
FBOP – Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe
BOP – Broken Orange Pekoe
Fannings –
Fannings are finely-broken pieces of tea leaf that still have a recognizable coarse texture; they are the grade of tea used in most tea bags. GOF – Golden Orange Fannings
FOF – Flowery Orange Fannings
BOPF – Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings
FBOPF – Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings
Dust –
Dust is a fine powder, much finer than fannings, made of tea particles left over from producing higher grades of tea. Tea made by pulverizing larger pieces of leaf or the tea plant is not classified as dust.
Coming up with more inputs in the next blog.
Until then, enjoy your cup of this Holy Drink !!