Pekoe
Tea leaf grading is the process of evaluating tea based on the quality and condition of the tea leaves themselves.
The highest grades for Western and South Asian teas are referred to as "orange pekoe" (abbreviated as "OP"), and the lowest as "fannings" or "dust". Pekoe tea grades are classified into various qualities, each determined by how many of the adjacent young leaves (two, one, or none) were picked along with the leaf buds. Top-quality pekoe grades consist of only the leaf buds, which are picked using the balls of the fingertips. Fingernails and mechanical tools are not used, to avoid bruising. Certain grades of leaf are better suited to certain varieties of tea. For example, most white tea is processed from the buds or shoots of the tea plant.
When crushed to make bagged teas, the tea is referred to as "broken", as in "broken orange pekoe" ("BOP"). These lower grades include fannings and dust, which are tiny remnants created in the sorting and crushing processes.
The "OP" grade is also subdivided to include categories higher than OP, which are determined primarily by leaf wholeness and size; "TGFOP1" (Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe, First Grade) is an example of a higher grade of OP.
Broken, fannings and dust orthodox teas ("orthodox tea" meaning the leaves are processed only by traditional methods) have slightly different grades. CTC teas, which consist of leaves rendered to uniform fannings by machine, have yet another grading system.
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