It’s hard to imagine that once upon a time one found the term “orange pekoe” to be such a mystery. It’s really quite simple. “Pekoe” is a common grading of Ceylon and Indian teas that has several finer gradings (each indicated by an additional letter added to the left of the others). The story goes that many years ago when Dutch traders first brought tea to Europe, they presented the finest pickings to Dutch royalty – or the House of Orange as they were then known. Ever since, tea of such refined quality has been called Orange Pekoe.

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Grades Nomenclature - Orthodox Black Tea :

 

PEKOE-               a) Orthodox/ Rotorvane manufacture: Neat, with fair twist, larger than BOP and could be choppy

                            b) Leafy manufacture: Shotty, curly or semi curly leaf of large size

PEKOE 1-            Shotty, curly, smaller in size than PEKOE

BOP-                   Neat in style and of medium size, devoid of fine particles [Fannings and Dust]

BOP Sp.-             Much superior to and neater than BOP

BOPA-                 Flaky and larger than BOP

BOPF-                 Neat in style, smaller than BOP and devoid of fine Dust particles

BOPF Sp.-           Much superior to and neater than BOPF

OP 1-                   Long, wiry and well twisted

OP-                      Less wiry than OP1 and better twisted [less bold] than OPA

OPA-                   Long and bold with fair twist and preferably without excessive stalk

BOP 1-                Wiry, twisted and shorter than OP1

FBOP 1-              Longer than FBOP, twisted and wiry, preferably with a presence of tips

FBOP-                 Smaller and shorter than BOP1 and larger than FBOPF1, preferably with a presence of tips,

FBOPF-               Similar in size to BOP and preferably with a presence of tips

FBOPF -1            Larger than FBOPF and smaller than FBOP, preferably with a presence of tips

FBOPF Sp.-         Similar in size to FBOPF or FBOPF1, with a fair presence of tips

FBOPF Ex. Sp.-   Similar in size to FBOPF Sp., with an attractive show of golden or silver tips

FBOPF Ex. Sp.1- Larger and leafier than FBOPF Ex. Sp., with an attractive show of golden or silver tips

DUST1-               Grainy, even, well-made and smaller than BOPF

DUST-                 Similar in size to DUST1, with flaky leaf but reasonably clean

BP-                      Choppy and hard, with some stalk and fibre

BOP1A-               Semi-leafy and flaky, without excessive stalk and fibre

BM-                     Mixed and flaky, with stalk and fibre

BT-                      Larger than BM, ragged and mixed leaf of varying sizes, with or without stalk and fibre

FNGS1-               Small, flaky leaf, without excessive fibre

FNGS-                 Similar to FNGS1, uneven and fibrous

 

 

Brand Names

 

Orange Field Teas are marketed under the following brand names –
a) Orange Field

b) Orchard



Tea Grades Produced in the factory