Tea Grading System - India, Sri Lanka

Tea grading can be somewhat complicated, and each country has its own grading conventions. Tea generally falls into four categories: Whole Leaf, Broken Leaf, Fannings, and Dust. One common black tea grade is OP, or Orange Pekoe (pronounced “peek-oh”). If there is a grade with the number 1 at the end, such as FTGFOP-1, it indicates the highest grade within that particular classification. A grade describes the leaf style of a tea, not necessarily its overall quality. Below is a guide to grading terms commonly used in today’s teas.

WHOLE LEAF

SFTGFOP: Special Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe – Top grade; almost all tea leaves have golden tips.

FTGFOP: Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe – Excellent quality with lots of golden tips.

TGFOP: Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe – Golden buds have a lighter colour than other leaves.

GFOP: Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe – Smaller amount of golden tips.

FOP: Flowery Orange Pekoe – Long whole leaves.

OP: Orange Pekoe – Rarely contains golden tips.

FP: Flowery Pekoe – The next grade down from OP, with a smaller leaf.

PS: Pekoe Souchong – Pekoe leaf further broken down into Pekoe Souchong.

Souchong: Shorter and tightly rolled leaf style for Indian Souchong. In the Chinese grading system, the term can refer to larger leaves.

Pouchong: A rare, bold, flat tea leaf that is often light in liquor. China is a common producer of this grade.

BROKEN LEAF TEA

Broken-leaf grades include the letter B in the tea grading.

GFBOP: Golden Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe

FBOP: Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe

GBOP: Golden Broken Orange Pekoe

TGBOP: Tippy Golden Broken Orange Pekoe

BOP: Broken Orange Pekoe

FANNINGS

BOPF: Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings – This grade is primarily used in tea bags because the smaller leaf particles steep very quickly.