Tea Classification System Complex and Varied

The terms used to describe tea leaves and their grades are among the most complicated this writer has ever encountered. So rich and detailed is the subject that tea experts are referred to in the same way that wine connoisseurs are: as sommeliers.

The most important thing to remember about orange pekoe, probably the most popular tea on the market, is that it does not refer to a flavour but rather as a grade of black tea. Tea is graded by leaf size and style. Some say the word Pekoe comes from the Chinese word "Bai choe," which means white hair or down. (This refers to the white downy hair found on the tea leaves.) According to Wikipedia, this purported Chinese origin is contradicted somewhat by the fact that "orange pekoe" is a term typically not used by the Chinese-speaking countries.

The "Orange" part of the term is also somewhat of a mystery. One explanation is that the Chinese sometimes used to use orange blossoms to flavour their tea. Others think that the term orange refers to the Dutch House of Orange, which was the governing entity of the Netherlands in 1815.

Orange Pekoe is in general an indicator of tea that is of medium quality, though the term has modifiers that serve to further classify the tea. Thus for example there are the terms Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe, Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe, Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe and Super Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe...you get the idea. If you don't, that's okay. I'm not altogether sure that I do either. I guess this will have to stand as one of the ongoing future projects for this blog: To try and make sense of the complex world of tea.

Readers should feel free to leave a comment if they can shed any light on this classification system or upon anything else related to tea or coffee that strikes their fancy.