Orange Pekoe

Did you know that Orange Pekoe is not a flavour of tea? After years of drinking teabags growing up I learned that it is actually the grading system for black teas from India and Sri Lanka. And then I learned that what was in my tea bag was a lower grade of leaf called fannings or dust and not OP at all. Today what gets into most teabags is a CTC Grade. The Cut Tear and Curl method is to create a small leaf tea that will provide the quickest brewing tea.

Some of the grades of tea are from highest to lowest are

SPECIAL FINEST TIPPY GOLDEN FLOWERY ORANGE PEKOE (SFTGFOP) –The highest grade of FOP
FLOWERY ORANGE PEKOE (FOP) - tea made from the end bud and first leaf containing the correct amount of tip
ORANGE PEKOE (OP) – Seldom has tips. It is the leaf that has been plucked after the end buds open
There are also broken leaf grades
BROKEN ORANGE PEKOE (BOP) – OP that has broken leaves found after leaf grades have been removed
FANNINGS/DUST – These are the finest bits of leaves and are used in tea bags where a quicker infusion is required.

After learning that Orange Pekoe had nothing to do with how the tea tasted I wanted to know why the name. Pekoe I soon learned comes from the Chinese word pek-ho or baihoa and refers to the silvery hairs on the underside of some tea bushes or the hairs on the bud itself.

The Orange is thought to be in reference to the House of Orange in Holland. The Dutch created the first East India Company and were trading tea in the 1600s. Tea was presented to the House of Orange and was promoted as being endorsed by the royal house. It is also thought that as tea was being imported for sale in Holland and then re-exported to other European countries the House of Orange was connected by default.

Over the past 13 years I started to drink only loose tea having discovered that there was more to tea than the quick infusing teabag of my youth. Not that I would trade one cup.