Tea leaf grading

The grading begins by labeling the tea leaves according to the country and estate where they were grown. The origin of the tea must be known as well as the leaf grade in order to have any basis for judging quality even roughly.

The labeling automatically tells a tea –grading expert much about the climate and soil conditions, which will affect the overall quality of the tea.

After variety of tea leaves and the geographic location are identified teas are further classified according to whether they are whole or broken into smaller-sized pieces.

The grading of the tea leaf differs by country and by recessing method. For example, black teas are usually divided into 2 categories: whole leaf and broken leaf.

Whole leaves
*Flowering orange pekoe – the first two leaves and leaf bud of the first growth in a season. The highest grade
*Pekoe
*Orange pekoe – popular in South America
*Pekoe souchong

Broken leaves
*Broken pekoe
*Broken orange pekoe
*Broken souchong
*Fanning – left over after higher grades of tea gathered to be sold
*Dust – fanning with extremely small particles

The large coarse leaves are usually put through cutting machines to reduce their size to the particular grades desired. Fragments remaining after the grading process are sold as fannings and dust.

Broken grades consist of smaller, broken leaves. These teas infuse faster and yield more flavour and fragrance.

Broken grades of tea are preferred, nowadays, in the United Kingdom because of their superior liquoring qualities and in the United States because of their suitability for use in tea bags.

After grading, teas are either packed as ‘speciality’ teas or blending with other teas.
Tea leaf grading