Grading and Sorting of Black tea

At the last process of making black tea, leaves are separated according to the particle size using sieves, and then tea is cleaned by removing the dust. This process is called grading. In China, black tea is classified from No 1 to No 6, and they are reflected in the price. In other country, grade does not tell the quality or price of tea. It only tells the size and shape of the tea leaves. There is no common criterion which is worldly standard for the grading, thus the standard varies depending on the countries. Currently, there are roughly two ways of processing the black tea. One is a traditional way, and another one is called CTC method. The followings are types (size) of black tea. Whole leaf or Loose leaf (without chipping) Broken type Crushed leaves (fine, dust) Within Leaf type, there are OP(orange peco) and P(peco). Within Broken type, there are PBO(broken orange peco) and BP(broken peco). Some times T(tippy), G(golden) or F(flowery) are added in front of above names for the additional information of the leaves. There is no single criterion for these sign, but they are added as a complement of the tea. Here are examples of the criterion: OP: Large leaf, carefully rubbed and twisted, also tips are included The length of the each leaf is 7-11mm. Most of the darjeeling tea is OP type. BOP: Same leaves as OP, but they are cut in 2-4 mm and includes more tips. Easily extracted and color and the aroma are strong, thus most popular kind among all. BOPF: Smaller than BOP. About 1-2 mm. Often used for tea bags. D(dust): Powdery tea, made with CTC method. Traditional way of processing tea can provide whole leave types, and CTC method provides broken, fining, and dust types. CTC method is a process cutting and shaping the tea at the same time, and the tea made with CTC method is easily extracted. Also after brewing tea the CTC method tea has clear color and strong aroma, thus they are popular for making tea bags black tea. Now, about 60% of total production are CTC method tea. Some people prefer the tea made with orthodox method for the unique taste.

(Kiyoshi Iwaasa)