Grades of black teas

Today, I have done a little research on different grades of black teas.

So, I wanted to share what I have found out with you all. J

It’s quite meaningless to classify black teas into different grades when it’s a finished product because most tea companies do not reveal the grade of black teas they used.  

There is no law or regulation on this so it seems that all tea companies use fancy words to sugarcoat their products.

The tea wholesale dealers in Hong Kong mark grades on green teas or black teas they sell.

Very occasionally, famous brand teas also indicate the grades.

It’s not going to be very useful to know all different grades, but this could be common knowledge tea lovers should know.

The tea will have the best grade if young and small leaves are used.

First-class

FOP: Flowery Orange Pekoe

-       Refers to the youngest leaf buds.

Secondary class

OP: Orange Pekoe

-       Soft young leaves.  Second leaf from the top of the stem.  The leaves higher than OP grade will not be grounded and used as whole leaf.

Generic class

P: Pekoe

-       Refers to regular grade black tea leaves containing low amount of young leaves.

PS: Pekoe Souchong

-       The leaves from lower part of the stem.  The sizes of leaves are bigger and darker.  The taste is strong and bitter.

S: Souchong

-       The big leaves from the very bottom of the stem and are mostly thrown away.

Most premium brand teas will never use the leaves graded lower than orange pekoe.

FOP will be used in most cases.

Other popular brands would mix pekoe and orange pekoe.

Lower grade tea leaves are bitter and sour while higher grades are soft and almost no bitterness.

Well, I guess I learned something new about the tea.

There are still lots of things to learn about the teas.  I hope I can master them all someday.

Have a fragrant day~