Decoding the Alphabet Soup: A Guide to Tea Grades

If you’ve spent any time looking at speciality loose-leaf tea, you’ve likely seen a string of capital letters that look more like a Wi-Fi password than a drink. 

Take our Bukhial TGFOP Assam, for example. That TGFOP isn't just jargon; it’s a roadmap to the flavour, quality, and care put into the leaf.

In the tea industry, we use these "grades" to categorise leaves based on their size, their integrity, and how many "tips" (the prized young buds) are in the mix.

At Brockworth Tea Company, we believe that when you understand the grade, you understand the ritual. Here is the master list of the Orthodox grading system, from the supermarket bag to the highest peaks of the Himalayas.

The "Whole Leaf" Tier (The Gold Standard)

These grades are used for teas processed using the Orthodox Method, handled gently to keep the leaf intact. This is where you find the most nuanced flavours and the beautiful "unfurling" effect in your teapot

Grade	Meaning	What to Expect
SFTGFOP	Special Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe	The absolute peak. Rare, hand-picked, and loaded with golden tips.
FTGFOP	Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe	Often joked as "Far Too Good For Ordinary People." Exceptional quality.
TGFOP	Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe	The Brockworth Standard. High proportion of golden buds. Found in our Assam and Darjeeling.
GFOP	Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe	High quality with a noticeable amount of delicate tips.
FOP	Flowery Orange Pekoe	Long leaves with some young, tender buds.
OP	Orange Pekoe	The baseline for "good" tea. Large, wiry whole leaves without the buds like our Cream Earl Grey
P / S	Pekoe/Souchong	Larger, tougher leaves. Souchong is often used for smoky teas like Lapsang Souchong.

 

The "Broken Leaf" Tier (BOP)

These are leaves broken during production to increase surface area. This results in a faster infusion and a bolder, darker liquor.

TGFBOP (Tippy Golden Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe): The highest broken grade. It maintains the sweetness of the golden tips but provides the "punch" of a broken leaf.

FBOP (Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe): A high-quality broken leaf that still includes a significant amount of "flowers" (tips). It’s often used in premium breakfast blends (like our Classic English Breakfast) where you want both strength and a delicate aroma. 

BOP1 (Broken Orange Pekoe One): These are typically longer, wiry broken leaves. While "Broken" is in the name, they are often quite large and produce a lighter, more elegant liquor than a standard BOP.

BOP (Broken Orange Pekoe): The industry standard for a "stout" morning cup. It packs a heavy punch and is designed to be paired with milk like our Aromatic Masala Chai.

BP (Broken Pekoe): Thicker, shorter broken leaves that produce a very dark, heavy liquor.

Fannings & Dust (We never sell these)

If you’ve ever opened a standard supermarket tea bag, you’ve seen these. Most are produced via the CTC (Crush, Tear, Curl) method.

Fannings: Small pieces left over from the higher grades. They brew almost instantly.

Dust: The smallest particles. These offer a very dark, bold, and often one-dimensional brew. Great for a quick caffeine hit, but lacking the "soul" of the whole leaf.

Why does Brockworth care about these letters?

You might notice that our Bukhial Assam and Tukdah Darjeeling both carry the TGFOP label.

We chose this grade because it represents great quality without being obscenely expensive. We aren't claiming to have the rarest tea on Earth, but we have the best tea for a daily ritual.

We may sell the highest grades (FTGFOP or SFTGFOP) as a limited edition in the future, but we hope to never sell Fannings or Dust as it defeats the whole purpose of Brockworth Tea Company's existence.