orange pekoe

1. Why not just Google it?

1. If a "specialty tea shop" has no idea what an "orange pekoe" is, not only its not a "specialty" tea shop, but not a tea shop at all. Its like a car shop that has no idea what a "sedan" is. One cannot spend more than 10 minutes on reading about black tea without learning about orange pekoe, fannings, tippery, flowery and other basic black tea terminology.

Sasha.

Right. OP is actually a designation of leaf size, not a type of tea as some companies would have you believe. From the link, Tim Hortons created its own blend, so you'd have to ask for Tim Hortons, not OP.

Well they're sort of right.. it's not a "type of tea" it's a "grade" of tea.

I'm just glad you didn't ask for some Super Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe.

Well, Wiki's article is a bit confusing, IMHO. Try this forum's FAQ, its a much better source.

Sasha.

how do you access the forum faq?

By Google.

Sasha.

/Lew

It's whatever you want it to be.

It's not really a type of tea. But you can get a box of Assam or Ceylon black, Yunnan black, or Kenya black, and write ORANGE PEKOE on the box and you'd be right on the money.

Orange Pekoe is a sort of grade of tea... it's one of the lowest sorts of grade of tea. It's like saying "table wine." It doesn't tell you what it is or where it comes from, but it establishes some minimum standard.

--scott

Sorry, Scott,

I do not agree with you at all.

You may not believe each and every label on a tea box, but that does not change the meaning of the words. You are right - ITS NOT A TYPE OF TEA, because it never was and it never claimed to be such. It always was and still is an attempt to describe the TYPE OF LEAF from the point of view of it being mostly whole, broken or fannings plus the presence and quantity of tips, etc. OP has to be at least a large part leaf and at least some - whole leaf teas. Majority of " box of Assam or Ceylon black, Yunnan black, or Kenya black," - will be fannings or broken leaf. If you put an OP label on such a box it will be a... hm... misrepresentation.

Sasha.

snip

[Sasha]

OF LEAF from the point of view of it being mostly whole, broken or fannings plus the presence and quantity of tips, etc.

My instincts say you are right here, but what about the fact that Assam and Darjeeling leaves, even excellent ones, are cut to smaller uniform sizes as part of the production process? I *think* the FOP and more elaborate designations refer to the leaves not as they appear in your package when you buy it, but rather to a condition of the leaf in an earlier stage, back at the ranch as it were. Otherwise, traditionally (whatever that means), there would be *NO* OP at all from those two regions, save for some variations on Oolong themes that are quite new on the tea scene. Basic Assam and Darjeeling are *always* "broken." Am I making any sense here? Or did I miss a crucial point you made? Michael

Michael -

I included the following description of the Darjeeling process which I find to be the most clear in describing it.

Please, notice that at the end of the description they mention the sieve grading stage. That is when size grading (P-OP-BP) happens. It is my understanding that F, T and other grade designations that has nothing to do with the size and integrity of the leaf are made even earlier when different ways of picking up the tea (a bud with 1 leaf, 2 leaves, etc) is being ordered from the plantation crew.

Sasha.

I would agree with you here Michael, I have to say that even if a black tea (say assam or ceylon) is labled as OP, or FOP, it's always broken somehwhat in the bag. The only full-leaf teas that steep and unfurl as actual whole leaves that I've seen are the oolongs and greens from Taiwan and China (also maybe some puerh leaves). Even sencha is a bit fragmented in the bags I've bought.

Melinda

snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com1/10/07 20: snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com

Yes, indeed. A "classically" made Darjeeling includes a break-the-leaf-into-pieces step. Therefore the difference between a B/roken O/range P/ekoe and a F/lowery O/range P/ekoe must be a matter of leaf condition before production. Or not. Who knows.

Put another way, if the leaf pieces are to be more or less uniform in shape and size, their breakdown has to be purposeful, not random. Or not. Who knows.

Michael

One thing I also noticed early on was that the wet leaves of an OP from, say, a single estate Assam, had what I thought at first were stems, but then I realized that they were the center vein of the leaf with the tea along it's edges broken off. So it was a relatively large leaf piece but it wasn't just a section of the whole leaf intact from side to side, because the more fragile part of the leaf (I'm sure there must be a botanical term for this but I don't know it) was broken off and the center vein remained more intact.

I remember I was a little scandalized at first because I thought they were stems and even then I knew stems oughtn't to be showing up in that sort of tea. The Darjeeling I've had from Kyela was less broken than the Assams I've seen, fwiw.

I wonder if OP or FOP is graded by fragment size and not assumed in the industry to be whole leaf. After all, the manufacturing processes for those types of teas are not at all the same as thedelicacy of process with which an a li shan is made.

Just general observations.

Melinda