Grades describe leaf, not quality
The first thing to unlearn: tea grades are not a league table. They describe the size and style of the made leaf after manufacture — whole leaf, broken, fannings or dust. Each size brews differently, and each has markets where it is preferred.
Quality is a separate judgement, made by tasting. A tippy whole-leaf grade can be poorly made; a humble dust can be superb.
The orthodox alphabet
In orthodox manufacture, the leaf is rolled to preserve its shape, then sorted by size. OP (Orange Pekoe) is a long whole leaf; Pekoe is shorter; Broken grades (BOP, FBOP) are cut leaves that infuse faster; Fannings and Dust are the smallest particles.
Prefixes add nuance: 'F' for flowery (with buds), 'G' for golden (golden tips), 'T' for tippy. So TGFOP is a Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe — a whole-leaf tea rich in buds.
CTC grades
CTC (crush-tear-curl) manufacture produces small, hard pellets rather than twisted leaf, graded as BP (Broken Pekoe), PF (Pekoe Fannings), PD (Pekoe Dust) and so on. These brew fast, strong and dark — the profile behind most tea bags and the strong milk teas of South Asia and the Gulf.
Most of the world's black tea by volume is CTC, and most of that moves through the auctions of Mombasa, Guwahati and Colombo.
Choosing the right grade
The right grade is the one that fits the brew method and the market. Whole and broken leaf for teapots and speciality retail; fannings and dust for tea bags and karak-style boiling. A good supplier asks how you brew before recommending what to buy.
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