Black teas
Black teas are graded thusly (in order of commercial value): - Flowery Orange Pekoe (pronounced peck-oh)
This grade is often considered the ultimate, most subtle and complex of the leaves. The 'flowery' in flowery orange pekoe refers to the bud of the plant, a not completely mature leaf, usually the last leaf at the end of a branch. See 'orange pekoe' and 'pekoe' for further descriptions of those terms. - Orange Pekoe
The 'orange' in orange pekoe is a reference to the Dutch House of Orange, some of the first great historical tea traders. The grade 'orange' is a testament to the quality of the leaf, greater than simply 'pekoe.' - Pekoe
Originally, pekoe meant that the leaf was harvested from the end of the branch, only one of the three leaves at the tip. Today, however, this term has been expanded and can refer to any whole leaf of a uniform size. The word pekoe is a western corruption of the chinese term bai hao (white tip), called such due to the white hairs covering the tip of the bud, an indication of it's immaturity and therefore high quality. - Souchong
Souchong refers to any large whole or almost whole leaf, not necessarily from any particular part of the plant. The word souchong is a derivation ofthe Chinese word xiaozhong.
- Broken Orange Pekoe
This is merely orange pekoe leaves that are no longer whole, but have been torn or somehow rendered into pieces. - Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings
This grade is the 'fannings' that remain of the orange pekoe after processing and sorting. - Broken Pekoe
The large remains of pekoe after the whole leaves have been sorted out. - Fannings
Fannings are tiny pieces of leaf that remain after the larger pieces have been sorted out of a batch of tea, often the size of coffee grounds. - Dust
Dust is literally that, the dust of the tea leaves that remain after sorting.
Broken tea, fannings and dust are used in tea bags, while loose tea is whole leaves and mostly whole leaves.
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