Common Tea Leaf & Grade Descriptions
Whole Leaf
OP Orange Pekoe (Peck-Oh) Long, wiry leaves which sometimes contain yellow tip or leaf buds. The liquors are light and pale in color. This is not a kind of tea, but merely a term used to describe a certain size of tea leaf.
FOP Flowery Orange Pekoe - A leaf which is as long or longer than an OP but is not as tightly rolled. The cup tends to be lighter than the broken grades.
PEKOE The leaves of this grade are shorter and not as wiry as an orange pekoe. In Europe this type of leaf is often referred to as curly.
GFOP Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe - An open OP leaf with a golden brown tip.
TGFOP Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe - This grade represents some of the most precious tea in the world. After brewing, it is not uncommon to see whole leaves in their original state. The tip on these leaves can make up as much as a fourth of a whole leaf.
SOUCHONG A bold, flat leaf, often light in liquor. Formosa and China are the most common producers of this grade.
Broken Leaf
BP Broken Pekoe - A very short, even, curly leaf. It develops a dark, heavy cup and is very popular in the middle east.
BOP Broken Orange Pekoe - The smallest of leaf grades. The liquor usually has a good color with strength in the cup and is very useful in many blends.
FBOP Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe - Is usually larger than the standard BOP and often contains brown and silver tips. The tips are not pieces of flower, but merely tender new leaf buds.
GFBOP Golden Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe - A BOP with more tip than the FBOP. Tips do not necessarily add to the quality of the cup. However, most top grades do have tip.
Tea Bag
Fanning Much smaller than BOP. Its main characteristics are quick brewing with good color in the cup. For use in tea bags only.
Dust Is the smallest grade produced. Very useful for a quick brewing cup of tea. Dusts are manufactured in all qualities.
The most important grades to remember are FOP, BOP and FANNING.