Tea leaf grading

Grading by size

Although grading systems vary, the size of the leaf or broken pieces is an essential quality. Size is an important factor how tea is prepared as a beverage. In general, larger leaves or pieces require a longer steeping time. Also, if measured by volume, the larger sizes need more tea to produce the same strength beverage.

Grading by appearance

Some teas are graded by their appearance. Whole leaves are easier to grade by appearance than broken pieces.

Orange Pekoe

Orange Pekoe (/ˈpɛkoʊ, ˈpiːkoʊ/), also spelled pecco, or OP is a term used in the Western tea trade to describe a particular genre of black teas in the British Orange Pekoe Grading System. Despite a purported Chinese origin of the term "Pekoe", it is typically used for teas from Sri Lanka, India and countries other than China; it is not generally known within Chinese-speaking countries. The Orange Pekoe Grading System is based upon the size, appearance and quality of processed, dried black tea leaves.

The tea industry uses the term orange pekoe to describe a basic, medium-grade black tea consisting of many whole tea leaves of a specific size; however, it is popular in some regions (such as North America) to use the term as a description of any generic black tea (though it is often described to the consumer as a specific variety of black tea). Within this system, the teas that receive the highest grades are obtained from new flushes (pickings). This includes the terminal leaf bud along with a few of the youngest leaves. Grading is based on the "size" of the individual leaves and flushes, which is determined by their ability to fall through the screens of special meshes ranging from 8–30 mesh. This also determines the "wholeness", or level of breakage, of each leaf, which is also part of the grading system. Although these are not the only factors used to determine quality, the size and wholeness of the leaves will have the greatest influence on the taste, clarity, and brewing time of the tea.

When used outside the context of black-tea grading, the term "pekoe" (or, occasionally, orange pekoe) describes the unopened terminal leaf bud (tips) in tea flushes. As such, the phrases "a bud and a leaf" or "a bud and two leaves" are used to describe the "leafiness" of a flush; they are also used interchangeably with pekoe and a leaf or pekoe and two leaves.

Etymology

The origin of the word "pekoe" is uncertain. One explanation is that it is derived from the mispronunciation of the transliterated Amoy (Xiamen) dialect word for "white down / hair" (Chinese: 白毫; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: pe̍h-ho), which refers to the down-like white trichomes (velvety fuzz / hair) covering the leaf buds and the youngest leaves of the tea plant, regardless of how the tea is eventually processed, i.e. "Black", "Oolong", "Green", "White" (generally minimally processed). This is how "pekoe" is listed by Rev. Robert Morrison (1782–1834) in his Chinese dictionary (1819) as one of the seven sorts of black tea "commonly known by Europeans".. Another hypothesis is that the term derives from the Chinese word báihuā for "white flower" (Chinese: 白花; pinyin: báihuā; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: pe̍h-hoe) which refers to a certain content of whitish trichome covered leaf buds and youngest leaves in higher quality "Pekoe", or rather "Orange Pekoe" teas.^{[citation needed]}

Sir Thomas Lipton, the 19th-century British tea magnate, is widely credited with popularizing, if not inventing, the term "Orange Pekoe", which seems to have no Chinese precedent, in Western markets at least. The "Orange" in Orange Pekoe is sometimes mistaken to mean the tea has been flavoured with orange, orange oils, or is otherwise associated with the fruit, which, however, has no relation to the tea or its flavor. There are two explanations for its meaning, though neither definitive:

1. The Dutch House of Orange-Nassau, the royal family since 1815, had long been the most respected aristocratic family of the Dutch Republic. The Dutch East India Company played a central role in bringing tea to Europe and may have marketed the tea^[when?] as "Orange" to suggest an association with the House of Orange.
2. Colour: the coppery colour of a high-quality, oxidized leaf before drying, or the orange hues in the dark, dried leaves in the finished tea, may be related to the name. These leaves usually consist of the leaf bud and the first two leaves, all covered in fine, downy-white hair. The orange colour appears when the tea is fully oxidized.

Fannings

Fannings are small pieces of tea that are left over after higher grades of teas are gathered to be sold. Traditionally these were treated as the rejects of the manufacturing process in making high-quality leaf tea like the orange pekoe. Fannings with extremely small particles are graded "Dust" (See "Dust grades" below). Fannings and dusts are considered the lowest grades of tea, separated from broken-leaf teas which have larger pieces of the leaves. However, the fannings of expensive teas can still be more expensive and more flavourful than whole leaves of cheaper teas.

This traditionally low-quality tea has, however, experienced a huge demand in the developing world in the last century as the practice of tea drinking became popular. Tea stalls in India and the South Asian sub-continent and Africa prefer dust tea because it is cheap and also produces a very strong brew; consequently, more cups are obtained per measure of tea dust.

Because of the small size of the particles, a tea infuser is typically used to brew fannings. Fannings are also typically used in most tea bags, although some companies sell tea bags containing whole-leaf tea.

Some exporters focus primarily on broken-leaf teas, fannings, and dusts.

Whole-leaf grades

Broken leaf grades

Fannings grades

Dust grades

Other terms

• Musc. – Muscatel
• Cl. – Clonal
• Ch. – China varietal
• Qu. – Queen jat
• FBOPF Ex. Spl. – Finest Broken Orange Pekoe Flowery (Extra Special)
• FP – Flowery Pekoe
• PS – Pekoe Souchong
• S – Souchong
• BOF – Broken Orange Fannings
• BPF – Broken Pekoe Fannings
• RD – Pekoe Dust / Red Dust
• FD – Fine Dust
• GD – Golden Dust
• SRD – Super Red Dust
• SFD – Super Fine Dust
• BMF – Broken Mixed Fannings