Tea leaf categories and finished product labeling
Contents
- Quality mark
- Black loose tea categories
- Green tea categories
The classification of tea leaves by categories today occurs on a global scale, in other words, the classification is international. Tea packages are marked with various signs in the form of abbreviations and letters. The drink is classified by:
- leaf size: large-leaved, medium-leaved with a broken leaf, small-leaved, the leaf of which is broken even less and low-grade crumbs.
- the method of its processing, including mechanical: loose or long-term, estranged or soluble, pressed in different forms: tablets, tiles, bricks
- the presence of additives.
Quality mark
In the world market for tea, the following designations are used:
- classic (orthodox) tea is designated as classic or orthodox , which indicates high quality, since the leaves are rolled by hand between the palms of the palms;
- the label Big leaf indicates that the pack contains a good large leaf drink;
- the inscription Pure informs that the package contains tea without any additives;
- a mixture of different varieties is referred to as Blended ;
- small-broken leaves in a bundle are marked with the word Broken ;
- low quality granulated tea is labeled as CTC , the abbreviation is Cut, tear & amp; curl , indicating that the tea leaves are torn and machine-rolled;
- crumbs from finely broken leaf, most often filling tea bags, are represented as Fannings ;
- low quality cheap tea, where only the dust from the tea production remains, denoted - Dust .
Black loose tea categories
Black and green tea are labeled differently. Black is subdivided into:
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Sheet with the following markings - abbreviations from the first letters, common all over the world:
- Orange is a high quality beverage containing the freshest leaves;
- Orange Pekoe А - variety with larger leaves than the previous one;
- Tippy or tip tea - an expensive, luxurious drink made from unblown buds;
- Flowery - drink from half-opened kidneys;
- Golden - a drink that turns golden when brewed and also consists of kidneys;
- Composition Pekoe - barely opened leaves;
- For Orange Pekoe leaves are taken from the top of the tea tree, Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe contains some buds, and Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe b> the kidneys are much larger. These are premium teas with great taste;
- The rarest variety - Super Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe , consisting exclusively of buds.
- Sushong is a drink made from the lower stem leaves, which are used to make smoked tea, thanks to tannins.
- Pekoe Sushong is a low-quality drink made from old coarse leaves.
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Medium leaf or broken, tea with chopped or broken leaves:
- Broken Orange Pekoe - when brewed a good, strong and dark drink, the leaves of which are cut and medium in size;
- Broken Flowery Orange Pekoe is also fragrant and strong, but its leaves are chopped more finely;
- Flowery Pekoe - good quality tea with small broken leaves;
- Golden Broken Orange Pekoe is high quality and contains broken leaves and some buds;
- Broken Orange Pekoe 1 - aromatic and strong drink made from broken long leaves;
- Broken Pekoe Sushong is a low quality cut leaf tea;
- Broken Pekoe 1 and Broken Pekoe 2 are not too tall varieties from small cut leaves, and the latter may contain old seedings that have become waste of tea production; < / li>
- Broken Tea contains old tea leaves;
- Broken Mixed - both cut and broken waste of the production process.
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Low-grade tea also has its own designations, but there are much less of them than high-quality tea:
- Pekoe Fannings - medium sized beverage;
- Fannings - these are small, smaller than broken leaves, tea seeds;
- Pekoe Dust - rather coarse dust left over from the production of medium-leaf varieties;
- Dust - very low grade tea dust.
As you can see from the above, there are a lot of varieties of tea: both high-quality expensive and low-grade cheap. Nothing is wasted during production, since everyone has different capabilities, and someone simply cannot purchase a varietal drink. All this goes into the circulation of the tea market and finds its consumer.
Green tea categories
All types of green teas also have world famous markings. These include:
- GTFF - this abbreviation means that tea contains only small leaves;
- Hyson or «Blooming Spring» and Fine Hyson can be called classical Chinese, containing broken and cut leaves, each of which is twisted in a special way;
- Young Hyson contains larger leaves than Hyson;
- Fine Young Hyson made from sorted freshest tea leaves;
- Young Hyson Special - the highest quality Chinese tea;
- The expensive green Chung Hao includes a jasmine supplement;
- Sencha is made using Japanese technology with evaporation, its taste is very delicate;
- Green Tea Fannings - low quality green tea made from broken leaves;
- GREEN CTC stands for granulated tea;
All these varieties differ in the size of the leaves. Based on this, we can name the categories: Pekoe and Broken Pekoe , where the first category is drinks with a large leaf, and the second - with a broken leaf. The rolling method also affects the quality, taste and color of the tea; the leaf can be rolled into a tube, pea or ball.
In addition, crumpled or flattened sheets are used for some types of teas.
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