Tea Help

Samples of different grades of tea.

The last stage in the tea production process is the sorting or grading of the tea leaves. As the final product comes out of the dryers or ovens, it is passed through sifters with graduated mesh sizes to divide them into different-size pieces. Although the classification is based on the appearance and type of the pieces rather than the taste, the finest grades almost always give the finest quality. The two main divisions are "leaf" grades and "broken" grades.

Grading is a crucial stage in the tea-making process because when brewing, the grade affects the strength, flavor and color. The larger the leaf, the slower the rate of infusion, and vice versa. One should make sure that the leaves used to make each pot or cup are of the same size. This is especially true when blending teas.

Note though that the grading only considers the size of the leaves, so therefore different sized leafs from the same tea will have identical quality. The quality varies only with the production or environmental factors (e.g. weather) of the estate in which the tea was grown. The number 1 is usually added after the grading letters to denote teas of the highest quality.

Grades of Tea:

• Flowery Orange Pekoe (FOP) - This denotes tea made from the end bud and first leaf of each shoot. FOP contains fine, tender young leaves rolled with the correct proportion of tip, the delicate end pieces of the buds, that guarantee quality.
• Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe (GFOP) - This is FOP with "golden tips" - the very ends of the golden yellow buds.
• Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe (TGFOP) - This is FOP with a large proportion of golden tips.
• Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe (FTGFOP) - This is exceptionally high quality FOP.
• Special Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe (SFTGFOP) - This is the very best FOP.
• Orange Pekoe (OP) - This contains long, pointed leaves that are larger than in FOP and have been harvested when the end buds open Into leaf. OP seldom contains "tips."
• Pekoe (P) - This consists of shorter less fine leaves than OP
• Flowery Pekoe (FP) - The leaves for FP are rolled into balls.
• Pekoe Souchong (PS) - This consists of shorter, more coarse leaves than P.
• Souchong (S) - Large leaves are rolled, lengthwise, producing coarse, ragged pieces. The term is often used for China's smoked teas.
• Broken leaf grades are divided into the following categories: - Golden Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe (GFBOP), Golden Broken Orange Pekoe (GBOP), Tippy Golden Broken Orange Pekoe (TGBOP), Tippy Golden Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe (TGFBOP), Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe (FBOP), Broken Orange Pekoe (BOP), Broken Pekoe (BP), Broken Pekoe Souchong (BPS).
• Fannings/Fines/Dusts - Fannings are made up of the finest siftings and are useful in blends for tea bags which require a quick brew. A number I is also added to broken leaf grades to denote the best quality. Dusts and fannings are further categorized as: Orange Fannings (OF), Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings (BOPF), Pekoe Fannings (PF), Broken Pekoe Fannings (BPF), Pekoe Dust (PD), Red Dust (RD), Fine Dust (FD), Golden Dust (GD), Super Red Dust (SRD), Super Fine Dust (SFD), Broken Mixed Fannings (BMF).