Tea Grading

tea leaves grading

Tea grading is a process the tea industry uses to evaluate the leaf style of individual tea types. These acronyms usually follow a tea's name and are helpful as they provide information about the tea's characteristics that one can use to identify teas that you are likely to prefer.

There are four categories; Whole Leaf, Broken Leaf, Fannings and Dust. The chart below identifies whole and broken leaf grades. Leaf size that is smaller than BOP is graded as fannings. This grade is primarily used in tea bags since it is small and steeps quickly; dust grade is finer still.

Whole Leaf Grade

Grade	Description
OP	Orange Pekoe Main grade, consisting of long wiry leaf without tips.
OP1	More delicate than OP; long, wiry leaf with a light liquor.
OPA	Bolder than OP; long leaf tea which ranges from tightly wound to almost open.
OPS	Orange Pekoe Superior Primarily from Indonesia; similar to OP.
FOP	Flowery Orange Pekoe High-quality tea with a long leaf and few tips, considered the second grade in Assam, Dooars, and Bangladesh teas, but the first grade in China.
FOP1	Limited to only the highest quality leaves in the FOP classification.
GFOP	Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe Higher proportion of tip than FOP. Top grade in the Milima and Marinyn regions, but uncommon in Assam and Darjeeling.
TGFOP	Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe The highest proportion of tip, and the main grade in Darjeeling and Assam.
TGFOP1	Limited to only the highest quality leaves in the TGFOP classification.
FTGFOP	Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe Highest quality grade.
FTGFOP1 STGFOP SFTGFOP	Limited to only the highest quality leaves in the FTGFOP classification.

Broken Leaf Grades

Grade	Description
BT	Broken Tea Usually a black, open, fleshy leaf that is very bulky. This classification is used in Sumatra, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and some parts of Southern India.
BP	Broken Pekoe The most common broken pekoe grade; from Indonesia, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Assam and Southern India.
BPS	Broken Pekoe Souchong Term for broken pekoe in the Assam and Darjeeling regions.
FP	Flowery Pekoe High-quality pekoe. Usually coarser with a fleshier, broken leaf. Produced in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Southern India, as well as in some parts of Kenya.
BOP	Broken Orange Pekoe Main broken grade. Prevalent in Assam, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Southern India, Java, and China.
FBOP	Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe Coarser and broken with some tips. From Assam, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Indonesia, China, and Bangladesh. In South America, coarser, black broken.
F BOP F	Finest Broken Orange Pekoe Flowery The finest broken orange pekoe, with a higher proportion of tips; mainly from Ceylon's "low districts".
G BOP	Golden Broken Orange Pekoe Second grade tea with uneven leaves and few tips.
GF BOP1	Golden Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe 1 As above, but with only the highest quality leaves in the GFBOP classification.
TGF BOP1	Tippy Golden Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe 1 High-quality leaves with a high proportion of tips; finest broken First Grade Leaves in Darjeeling and some parts of Assam.