Tea Tip from In Pursuit of Tea:

Here are some of the meanings and origins of tea classification terms. These terms can be confusing to the uninitiated as they often have no intuitive relationship to what they mean. In this edition we will address one of the biggest offenders which also is the root for many classification terms – ‘Orange Pekoe’.

Orange Pekoe (pronounced pe-ko not peeko) has nothing to do with oranges, or orange flavoring. Pekoe is the Anglicization of the Chinese word Pa-Ko which describes the hairs on young tea leaves. The finest teas are produced from pickings of the first two leaves and a new leaf bud. The larger of the two leaves is called the pekoe leaf. And with time it became orange pekoe. There is no such tea as Orange Pekoe tea, it is just a blend of generally undistinguished black teas, marketed by several of the major tea companies.

Souchong means sub-variety and probably referred originally to an Oolong Tea. Now there is the famous Lapsang Souchong smoked tea.

Congou is probably derived from Gong Fu (skill and patience that is the term denoting a method of brewing Oolong Tea). Now it denotes Black Tea (or Red Tea as its known in China).

Bohea comes from the Anglicization of Wu Yi, the famous tea growing mountains in Fujian Province, China. Hyson comes from the Anglicization of Yu-Tsien the Chinese words meaning "before the rains". Often the best Green Teas come from the first picking of the young shoots after the plants have awakened from winter dormancy.

Pouchong means ‘paper wrapped’ in Mandarin. This has come to describe a lightly oxidized Oolong tea grown in northern Taiwan. ‘Paper wrapped’ has no relationship to its processing, its just that it has been considered a extremely valuable tea that was often wrapped to give as presents to high officials.

With Black Teas from India the nomenclature can be just as confusing, but once you decipher the code it is not so bad. Remember these classifications refer to the size and appearance of the leaf. There is not a direct relationship to the quality of the leaves. Here’s our simple guide.

FTGFOP – Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe
Now this is slightly confusing. Fine does refer to good quality leaf. Tippy refers to the golden color of the new leaf buds (as opposed to the black of fully oxidized mature leaves). The more golden or orange, indicates that generally the younger and more carefully picked leaves have been used to make that tea. That is one important indicator of potential quality. Occasionally a 1 can be added for a particularly fine grade of tea.

TGBOP – Tippy Golden Broken Orange Pekoe
Often these are used in lower quality blends of loose leaf teas. Any of the major companies English Breakfast Teas or Darjeeling Teas will contain TGBOP, or perhaps the less visually attractive BOP leaves, and probably mechanically picked.

GOF – Golden Orange Fannings
Fannings and dust are the terms used for the tiny tea particles that are used to fill tea bags. Although we shy away from teabags, some can contain fairly good quality teas. These are either the by products of fine made teas (as in some of the specialty tea bags) or have been completely grown, harvested, and processed by machines for the bulk tea bag market (you can guess who we are referring to here).

Past Tea Tips:
White Teas
Display Teas
For more information on drinks and beverages, read Charmaine Solomon's article on well-known drinks you may encounter in Asian travels or upon inspection of the refrigerator section of your local Asian grocer.