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What You Need to Know about the Alphabet Soup of Tea Grading
Michele LillieHave you ever bought a black tea and seen letters such as GFOP or TGFOP on the package? What does this alphabet soup mean? This post will teach us what these and other letters mean and how they can help you pick out a great tea.
After tea leaves are plucked from the tea plant, those leaves go through a type of processing that eventually results in what you see in that bag of tea you purchased. One of the final steps in that processing is to grade the tea leaves. This is where these letters come into the picture.
Not all countries use the same method of grading tea. In India, Sri Lanka and other Asian countries (although not China), they use a system that uses letters to denote the final grade. This system is sometimes called the Orange Pekoe system. The origin of this term is somewhat uncertain. It is believed to be related to the Dutch House of Orange-Nassau. In conjunction with the Dutch East India Company, they helped to promote tea throughout Europe. The term came to represent quality because of the association with this aristocratic house. Some sources also say that it might refer to the orange color of the brew using these high-quality oxidized leaves.
This grading system looks at different aspects of the tea leaf after the processing of the tea leaves.
Size of the tea leaf – larger leaves are generally considered higher quality.
Appearance of the tea leaf – the presence of golden tips on the tea leaves is also considered a manifestation of quality.
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Whether the tea leaf is whole or broken – The higher quality tea leaves are felt to be those that are more intact.
The letters used in this grading system all stand for certain words. If you know what those words are, it is much easier to understand what a string of the letters means.
O – Orange
As noted above, this is thought to refer to the House of Orange as well as maybe the color of the brew. It does not, though, have anything to do with an orange flavor.
P – Pekoe
This is used to signify whole tea leaves.
F – Flowery or Finest
Flowery means whole tea leaves with some young, unopened leaf buds.
Finest is an indication of exceptional quality.
G – Golden
Golden means some of the leaf buds will have golden tips.
T – Tippy
The buds (unopened leaves) are the youngest leaves, and they have lighter colored or golden tips. When the term “tippy” is used, all the buds have these golden tips. These young buds are considered better quality than the larger, older leaves of the tea plant. During the winter, the tea plants do not produce any leaves but continue to absorb nutrients from the soil. When the first buds/tips appear in the spring, they are full of these stored-up nutrients and a very complex flavor. That is one reason tea made from these very young leaves is so prized.
S – Special or Souchong
Special signifies high-quality leaves with additional leaf attributes that make it more prized.
Souchong is the term used for the larger leaves picked nearer the bottom of the branch of the tea plant. These leaves are usually twisted lengthwise.
B – Broken
This term refers to broken pieces of tea leaves, although they can still be recognized as tea leaves.
When you put these letters together, you will get abbreviations such as the following.
Whole Leaf Grades
OP – Orange Pekoe
FOP – Flowery Orange Pekoe
GFOP – Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe
TGFOP – Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe
FTGFOP – Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe
SFTGFOP – Special Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe
PS – Pekoe Souchong
Broken Leaf Grades
GBOP - Golden Broken Orange Pekoe
GFBOP – Golden Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe
TGBOP – Tippy Golden Broken Orange Pekoe
TFBOP - Tippy Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe
TGFBOP - Tippy Golden Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe
FBOP - Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe
BOP - Broken Orange Pekoe
BPS – Broken Pekoe Souchong
If you know what the individual letters stand for, you can decipher the string of letters you might see on a package of tea. For example, one of the most common terms you may see is Orange Pekoe. You now know that this has nothing to do with an orange flavor; it just means that the tea is made up of whole, intact leaves and is considered good quality. Because there is no F (flowery), G (golden), or T (tippy), you can expect there will not be the presence of young leaf buds or golden tips. If you see TGFOP, you will expect many golden tips and unopened buds.
Although tea masters may explain these terms in more detail, this explanation will help you understand the important points, so you are not confused when you see these letters. From them, you can get an idea of higher or lower quality from the point of view of the tea masters.
They can give us glimpses of the flavor of the tea and how best to brew it.
Whole leaves will most likely have a smoother and more complex flavor. They also lend themselves to being able to brew more than once without developing bitterness or losing flavor.
Broken leaves will have a stronger flavor and will brew more quickly. It will also have a tendency towards bitterness if over-brewed.
Fannings/Dust are very quick to brew and produce a strong, bold flavor. Because of the tiny size, they easily over-brew and develop bitterness. These are not at all suited to multiple brewings.
There you go – what at first seems just like alphabet soup turns out to be rational and helpful as we continue our delightful tea journey!