Tea is broken into various classes based on the production process. Broadly, tea is classified as Orthodox or CTC (Crush-Tear-Curl). This grading system is typically used solely for some variants of black tea.
FTGFOP Assam
1. Whole leaf tea: Whole leaf tea refers to tea that has not been broken or torn during production. The size and shape of the leaf vary widely, both as a function both of the types of leaves used, and how it is processed.
| Grade Name | Nomenclature |
|---|---|
| FP | Flowery Pekoe |
| FTGFOP | Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe |
| TGFOP | Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe |
| TGFOP1 | Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe Grade One |
| GFOP | Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe |
| FOP | Flowery Orange Pekoe |
| OP | Orange Pekoe |
| OPA | Orange Pekoe A, A long-leaf tea with large, thick leaves, that can be either tightly-wound or more open. |
| P | Pekoe |
| S | Souchong |
BOP
2. Broken Leaf Tea: Broken leaf tea is the tea that has been torn or broken but is still in large enough pieces to be recognizable as pieces of leaf.
| Grade Name | Nomenclature |
|---|---|
| BOP1 | Broken Orange Pekoe One |
| GFBOP | Golden Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe |
| TGFBOP | Tippy Golden Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe |
| TGFBOP1 | Tippy Golden Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe Grade One |
| BS | Broken Souchong |
| BPS | Broken Pekoe Souchong |
| GBOP | Golden Broken Orange Pekoe |
| FBOP | Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe |
| BOP | Broken Orange Pekoe |
| BOPSM | Broken Orange Pekoe Small |
| BP | Broken Pekoe |
3. Fannings: Fannings are finely-broken pieces of tea leaf that still have a recognizable coarse texture; they are the grade of tea used in most tea bags.
| Grade Name | Nomenclature |
|---|---|
| PF | Pekoe Fannings |
| GOF | Golden Orange Fannings |
| FOF | Flowery Orange Fannings |
| BOPF | Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings |
| FBOPF | Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings |
4. Dust: Dust is tea in powder form, much finer than fannings. It is made of tea particles left over from producing higher grades of tea. Tea made by pulverizing larger pieces of leaf or the tea plant is not classified as dust.
| Grade Name | Nomenclature |
|---|---|
| PD | Pekoe Dust |
| OPD | Orange Pekoe Dust |
| BOPD | Broken Orange Pekoe Dust |
| BOPFD | Broken Orange Pekoe Fine Dust |
| FD | Fine Dust |
| D-A | Dust A |
| Spl. D | Special Dust |
| GD | Golden Dust |
| OD | Orthodox Dust |
Rarely, grades can be mixed and labeled as such with the letter M. For example, BOPSM could be used to represent a broken-leaf mix of Orange Pekoe (BOP) and Souchong(S).
CTC (crush-tear-curl) tea is the tea variant that has been produced by a modern, mechanical process that tears the leaf to induce oxidation, rather than manually rolling the leaves to bruise, as in the manufacturing of orthodox tea. The CTC process breaks the leaf, and thus CTC tea is classified into broken-leaf, fannings, and dust. CTC is widely considered as inferior in quality. The essential benefit is its reduced cost of production, due to automation, although like other tea variants, CTC tea ranges widely in quality.
It is less frequent for tea drinkers to see CTC tea graded in tea for sale in stores or online. CTC tea grades include, for broken leaf tea, BP, BP (SM), BOP, BOP (SM), BPS, BP1, and FP, and for fannings, OF, OF1, PF, and BOPF. There is a myriad of grades for CTC dust from PD, PD1, RD, CD1 etc.