The Grading of Ceylon Tea

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The Grading of Ceylon Tea

The grade names which follow are an indication of size and/or appearance of Ceylon Teas (Sri Lanka, but the name Ceylon still applies to the tea of that island nation) and NOT of its quality. The Tea Research Institute of Ceylon points out that “there is a lack of uniformity in the market grades today which makes it difficult to describe them with any accuracy.” Briefly, however, Ceylon teas are divided into two groups: (1) the Leaf grades such as were originally made by the Ceylon pioneers, and (2) the smaller Broken grades which are in style today.

Leaf grades are usually divided into:

Orange Pekoe (O.P)
Pekoe (Pek.)
Souchong (Sou.)

Broken grades are divided into:

Broken Orange Pekoe (B.O.P.)
Broken Pekoe (B.P.)
Broken Pekoe Souchong (B.P.S.)
Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings (B.O.P.F.)
Dust (D.)

The grades may be described as follows:

O.P. -- Long, thin, wiry leaves which sometimes contain tip. The liquors are light or pale in color.
Pek. -- The leaves of this grade are shorter and not so wiry as O.P., but the liquors generally have more color.
Sou. -- A bold and round leaf, with pale liquors.
B.O.P. -- This grade is one of the most sought after. It is much smaller than any of the leaf grades and contains tip. The liquors have good color and strength.
B.P. -- Slightly larger than B.O.P., with rather less color in the cup; useful primarily as a filler in a blend.
B.P.S -- A little larger that B.P. and in consequence lighter in the cup, but also used as filler in a blend.
B.O.P.F. -- This grade also is much sought after, especially in the U.K., and fetches high prices. It is much smaller than B.O.P. and its main virtues are quick brewing, with good color in the cup.

In addition, there are various “Flowery” variants of the main grades (e.g., F.O.P and F.B.O.P.) the nature of which I will describe slightly farther down.

Only a small quantity of the Leaf and Flowery grades is produced in Ceylon. They find their chief market in North America and a few European countries. Few of the Up-country Ceylons make these grades at all, their stable lines being B.O.P. and B.O.P.F. such as are so dominant in the U.K., Australia and (less so) in South Africa. The demand appears to be for ever smaller and smaller leaf, and a great deal of cutting or milling is resorted to today both in countries of origin and by the packers.

“Tippy” or “Flowery” teas (such grades as Flowery Orange Pekoe) are still made in Ceylon and fetch high prices in most Western tea markets. They are extremely more expensive to produce than the run-of-the-mill grades, since they involve sorting out the tip by hand. The below article regarding “Flowery” Ceylon tea appeared in a London newspaper, THE PALL MALL GAZETTE dated 13 March, 1891:

“Unusual excitement prevailed on Tuesday in Mincing Lane (the London Tea Auction Houses were/are located there), on the offering by Messrs. Gow Wilson and Stanton, tea-brokers, in public auction, of a small lot of Ceylon tea from the Gartmore estate in Maskeliya (Mr. T.C. Anderson). This tea possesses extraordinary quality in liquor, and is composed almost entirely of small “golden tips,” which are the extreme ends of the small succulent shoots of the plant, and the preparation of such tea is, of course, most costly. Competition was of a very keen description.

“The bidding, which was pretty general to start with, commenced with an offer of 1 pound, 1 shilling per pound of tea; as the price advanced to 8 pounds per pound of tea many buyers dropped out, and at this price about five wholesale dealers were willing to purchase. Offers where then made up to about 9 pounds, 9 shillings per pound of tea by three of the leading houses, the tea being ultimately knocked down to the “Mazawattee Ceylon Tea Company” at the most extraordinary and unprecedented price of 10 pounds 12 shillings 6 pence per pound of tea.”

THIS WAS AN EXTRAORDINARY PRICE IN 1891. It still fetches an extraordinary price on the market and to the consumer BUT what a magnificent tea it is indeed.

The Tea Man

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