It is known to the Chinese as Pak-ho, meaning “white hairs,” and is so called because of the small white hairs, or “down” and refers to the fine, white down that covers the buds of the tea plant.
Orange Pekoe is merely a type of pekoe tea, named after the Dutch royal family, the House of Orange. The Dutch East India Company, the first large tea trading company in Europe, gave this tea this name.
Pekoe being composed mainly of the young spring-buds, the gathering of these must, of course, be injurious in some degree to the future produce of the shrub, and this description of tea is accordingly both dear an small in quantity.
There is a species of Pekoe made in the Green-tea country from the young buds, in like manner with the black kind; but it is so little fire that the least damp spoils it.
Pekoe tea
