Grades of Tea

It is the production process which determines the grade of a tea. Although there are different grading systems in existence, there is one particular system which uses letters which is considered to be the standard. Tea can be broadly classified as Orthodox or CTC (Crush-Tear-Curl)

Which Tea Companies Use this System?

The most common use for this grading system is for black teas and that too it is most commonly used for varieties which are loose leaf sold by specialized tea retailers who focus more on the British and the Western tea cultures. Most of the teas produced by China and Taiwan including Green tea, Oolongs, White tea and Black tea are usually not graded using this system. Manufacturers and marketers of tea bags will rarely ever use this grading system, especially for the most common variety in the market which is orange pekoe.

What Does Grade Mean?

This grading system mostly deals with the leaf size. It is usually thought that whole leaf teas are of a higher quality and therefore more expensive but just like some broken leaf varieties can be outstanding, some whole leaf varieties can be mediocre too. The whole leaf teas are extremely hard to generalize which explains a lack of uniform grading system.

Tea grades also indicates a variety’s caffeine content to a large extent. This is because leaf buds have a higher caffeine content then mature leaf. Similarly, tippy teas such as TGFBOP will have more caffeine than OP or FOP grades. Souchong grades have even less caffeine as they are made out of older and larger leaves.

Grades also indicate the brewing technique of different varieties. Whole-leaf teas will usually take longer time to infuse while the broken leaf teas take a shorter time. Fanning and Dust often take the least amount of time. Whole leaf teas are also considered suitable for multiple infusions but usually the teas which are used for multiple infusions use a different grading system.

One obvious drawback of this system is the fact that some letters can have different abbreviations, for example, the letter F can mean either ‘Flowery’, ‘Fine’, or’ Fanning’.

What Are Some of the Misconceptions And Myths Surrounding the Grading System?

Two of the most common misconceptions surrounding tea grades is that one, the higher the grade the better the tea and second, a higher-grade tea will always mean a higher price. The truth is that there are a lot of factors which determine the quality of tea, including its packaging, its age and what an individual preference is. Usually, a higher-grade tea will have a milder flavor, lighter body and a higher caffeine content, a lot of people will not prefer this profile. Some lower grade teas might be more expensive because of their origin location, they might be from a famous estate.

Any grade of tea will lose its qualities if it has not been stored properly or if it is really old. Sometimes you might come across a higher-grade tea at a very low price and similarly, a lower grade tea might also be very expensive.

Grades of Orthodox Tea

Whole Leaf Tea

Whole Leaf Tea refers to tea that has not been broken or torn during production. The size and shape of the leaf varies widely, both as a function both of the types of leaves used, and how it is processed.

SFTGFOP1 - Special Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe, Grade 1 - Usually the highest grade of tea for sale. Typically only Darjeelings, or occasionally teas from Assam, Nepal, or other nearby regions.

SFTGFOP - Special Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe - Like SFTGFOP1, mostly Darjeelings and occasionally teas from surrounding regions.

FTGFOP1 - Fine/Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe Grade 1

FTGFOP - Fine/Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe

TGFOP1 - Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe Grade One

TGFOP - Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe - This and higher grades are usually only produced in Assam, Darjeeling, and surrounding Himalayan regions, uncommonly in Yunnan province. This grade is common in Assam and Darjeeling teas.

GFOP - Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe - Distinguished from FOP by a larger proportion of tip. This grade is common among African teas, especially Kenyan teas.

FOP - Flowery Orange Pekoe

OP - Orange Pekoe - This is the "standard" or most common grade of black tea. However, most companies selling "orange pekoe" tea in teabags are actually selling more broken grades.

OPA - Orange Pekoe A, A long-leaf tea with large, thick leaves, that can be either tightly-wound or more open. Most common in Ceylon black tea, and commonly consumed in Russian and Middle Eastern tea cultures.

FP - Flowery Pekoe

P - Pekoe

S - Souchong

There are some inconsistencies in the way this grading is applied across different regions. Although many Chinese teas can be graded through this system, very few of them actually use it. Some of the highest quality teas coming from the region do not use this grade. The Chinese teas coming from Yunnan are most commonly graded by this system. They rather use the name of the region, the leaf size, age, harvest date and village of production.

Broken-Leaf Tea

Broken-leaf tea is tea that has been torn or broken, but is still in large enough pieces to be recognizable as pieces of leaf.

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 - A standard grade of broken-leaf tea, often offering good value.

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.

FBOPF (Ex. Spl.) or FBOPFEXS - Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings Extra Special - The highest grade of fannings typically sold, and often looking visually close to broken-leaf teas, with some larger, more intact pieces of leaf. To our knowledge, only occurring in Ceylon teas.

FBOPF - Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings - Relatively common in Ceylon teas, and uncommon among Indian and Chinese teas.

TBOPF - Tippy Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings - A rarely used grade of tea, used in Kerala. A high grade of fannings, higher in tips, but more broken than FBOPF.

BOPF - Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings

FOF - Flowery Orange Fannings - Relatively finely broken, but with a large portion of tip. Rarely sold, but typically good quality.

GOF - Golden Orange Fannings - A lower grade of fannings typically used in blending and flavoring, rarely marketed as such. Occurs in Assam and occasionally sold openly.

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, such as Matcha, is not classified as dust.

OPD - Orange Pekoe Dust

BOPD - Broken Orange Pekoe Dust

BOPFD - Broken Orange Pekoe Fine Dust

FD - Fine Dust

D-A - Dust A

Spl. D - Special Dust

GD - Golden Dust

OD - Orthodox Dust

Rarely, grades can be mixed, and labelled as such with the letter M. For example, BOPSM could be used to represent a broken-leaf mix of Orange Pekoe (BOP) and Souchong(S).

In practice, you will never see loose-leaf tea dust for sale; it is typically sold wholesale and packed into teabags. Because of its low grade, companies using it generally do not advertise that they are doing so, so you will not see dust grades displayed on tea bag packaging or labels.

Grades of CTC Tea

CTC Tea or Crush-Tear-Curl tea is produced using an automated process which tears the leaf to induce oxidation. On the other hand, in the orthodox method, tea leaves are manually bruised during production. As the CTC process involves breaking the leaf, there is no whole leaf variety.

The CTC teas are often regarded to be inferior in quality when compared to the Orthodox varieties. But on major advantage with them is their lower cost of production due to automation. But CTC teas also differ a lot in quality.

It is less common for tea drinkers to see CTC tea graded in tea for sale in stores or online. CTC tea grades include, for broken leaf tea, BP, BOP, BPS, BP1, and FP, and for fannings, OF, PF, and BOPF. There are a myriad of grades for CTC dust.

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