Standard Grades of Black Tea

By Stephanie Harkin

When speaking of tea grading systems, one must keep in mind that the grading system applies to descriptions of the dried and cured leaves only, not the tea as it is when it is brewed. Grading may refer to the shape and appearance of the leaf, which is non-indicative of the final product. You may find that some finely ground bagged teas taste better than some whole leaf teas, and the entire point of enjoying tea is to have a pleasurable experience with it, so go with what tastes the best to you! However, since the grade does indicate some information to the reader, let’s explore a few of the different tea grades and what they mean.

For black teas, the basic grades of tea are Orange Pekoe (OP), Flowery Orange Pekoe (FOP), Pekoe, Souchong, Broken Orange Pekoe (BOP), Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings (BOPF), Broken Pekoe (BP), Fannings, and finally, dust.

The word ‘Pekoe’ (pronounced as ‘PECK-oh’) comes from the Chinese word for ‘white’, which referred to the downy white hairs on the leaf buds of the tea bushes, but refers to whole leaves of a standard size. While originally the term was exclusive to leaves plucked from the tip of the branch - two leaves and a bud - the term now includes leaves which are harvested from anywhere on the plant.

The reason orange is included in the description does not refer to flavor or aroma (no oranges in this tea, sorry!), but instead it refers to the Dutch House of Orange.

‘Orange’ only relays the size and physical condition of the leaves, not flavor or quality. Broken Orange Pekoe means that the leaves have been mechanically broken into smaller pieces, usually for use in tea bags. Just as the word orange is misleading in tea grading terms, so is the word “flowery”, which refers to the leaf bud and does not actually include flowers of any type in the tea.

The word Souchong generally means large leaves from lower down on the tea tree branch. Fannings refer to smaller pieces of tea leaves left over from processing whole tea leaves, and dust literally means tea leaves that are in a dust-like form, which brew a strong brew rapidly but also goes stale much more quickly.

Stephanie’s site, The Tea Review Blog, is full of great tea reviews!