Useful Information About Tea

Tea is drunk in more countries than any other beverage. It is one of the most popular drinks today. Little wonder it is known as "the cup that cheers."
The only difference between them is the way they are made. The main types of tea available today are black, white, green, and oolong. China is a major producer of green tea. Other countries that produce tea are Kenya, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

India is one of the leading tea producers offering 720 million kilograms each year. The yearly worldwide production of dried tea leaves is over 2.6 billion kilograms.
Though mechanical pluckers are sometimes used, hand plucking is said to be a better option. Approximately 18 kilograms of tea leaves can be harvested a day to produce about 4.5 kilograms of manufactured tea. or a growth of new shoots with many leaves and a bud, which are picked by hand. Grown on hill slopes on tea estates, its botanical name is "Camellia sinensis." In about four to five years the tea tree produces a ?flush?

The tea tree is an evergreen plant with small, white, sweet-smelling flowers.
Tea is graded according to the size of the leaves, which has nothing to do with the quality of the tea. In order of size, they are orange pekoe, pekoe, and pekoe souchong. The smaller or broken leaves are used in tea bags. Each tea company has tea tasters who select only specific teas.
1773 was the year of the famous Boston Tea Party. By 1657, it was being sold in English coffee houses. In the 1600s, it was imported into Europe from China by the Dutch.

In Japan, tea drinking was elevated to a full-fledged ceremony by 600 A.D. It finds its mention in Chinese around 350 A.D. It was supposed to have been discovered by Emperor Shennong of China in about 2737 B.C. Tea has a colorful history.
Today tea is a popular beverage all over the world. The country importing the most tea is the UK, importing a total of about 180 million kilograms per year. It has been calculated that the British drink 3.2 kilograms of tea per person every year. Australians and New Zealanders are also great tea drinkers and each person would, on an average, be drinking about 1.4 kilograms of tea annually. Special varieties of tea are also gaining ground; the market is expanding and offering a greater choice to the consumer. It really is the cup that warms a lot of hearts all over the globe!
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Tea Grading System

You've seen FTGFOP, BOP, CTC on labels of tea...
What do these codes mean?
These codes are used to classify single estate teas such as Darjeeling, Ceylon, and Assam. At the end of a tealeaf makeing process, a machine will separate the tealeaves according to their type, size, and categorize them into different grades.

Letters like P: Pekoe, O: Orange, B: Broken, etc, are connected to indicate the different grades of the black tea.
Here is a summary of the most commonly used codes:
OP
: Orange Pekoe Usually refers to relatively longer and complete tealeaf.
BOP
They make a stronger brew than OP, so they are more suitable to make milk tea. : Broken Orange Pekoe Refers to broken orange pekoe.
FOP
: Flowery Orange Pekoe Refers to tealeaves that have buds, which would create a floral fragrance in the tea.
FBOP
Makes a stronger tea with floral fragrance. : Flower Broken Orange Pekoe Contains both buds and broken tea leaves.
TGFOP
Makes a much more fragrant and strong tea than FOP. : Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe Contains young buds, which appear golden.
FTGFOP
: Fine(est) Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe Very high quality tea that went through an extra procedure of rolling, which would draw out the best flavour in tea.
SFTGFOP
The meaning is obvious. : S stands for Super or Special.
CTC
It is ideal for consuming with milk. CTC leaves make a very strong brew in short amount of time. : Crush, Tear, Curl These teas are compressed into small pieces by a special machine.
Others:
Fanning
,
Dust
Usually used in India to make Chai or milk tea. Refers to very small pieces of tealeaves.
It means the first grade of that FOP. Sometimes, there is a "1" at the end of a tea name, such as FOP1 or FTGFOP1.
Some people prefer BOP instead of FTGFOP becuase BOP makes stronger tea, which is suitable for consuming with milk. The number of letters, however, does not necessarily mean the quality of tea.
Please visit is a tea lover and the founder of O-Square Tea Company. Tom H.
http://www.osquaretea.com
for more information.