Tea Grades

Ceylon tea is divided into various grades. These grade names are an indication of size or appearance of manufactured leaf and not of its quality. 

BOP – Well-made, neat leaf of medium size without excessive stalk or fiber. There should not be any fine particles (fannings and dust) which are not true-to-grade.
BOP Sp – Larger in size than a BOP lack and clean in appearance. Note: BOP & BOP special be treated as two grades, but for cataloging purposes treat as one grade.
BOPF - Neat leaf, fairly clean. ….. but smaller than the BOP grade. There should not be any fine dust present.
BOP 1 – Should be wiry and twisted, but shorter than an OP1.
FBOP – Smaller/shorter than BOP1 with presence of tips, but larger than FBOPF1.
FBOP 1 – Long, twisted, wiry leaf. Fairly tippy. Longer than BOP1.
PEKOE – Shotty, curly or semi-cirly leaf of large size of any elevation.
PEKOW1 – Same as Pekoe, but smaller in size than Pekoe of any elevation. This replaces the Flowery Pekoe grade.Note: Pekoe and Fekoe 1 will be treated as two grades, but for cataloguing purposes treat as one grade.
FBOPF (FF) – Similar in size to BOP……… and must contain tips.
FBOPF 1 (FF1) – Larger than BOP. Smaller than a FBOP with a show of tips.
FBOPF – Similar in size to BOP with a fair presence of tips.
FBOPF Ex. Sp. - Small leaf and must have an attractive show of golden or silver tips with little black leaf.
FBOPF Ex. Sp1 - Leafy and must have an attractive show of golden or silver tips with little black leaf.
OP 1 – Long, wiry well or partly twisted.
OP - Less wiry than OP1, but much more twisted than OPA.
OPA - Long bold leaf tea with air twist.
BP – (Off Grades) – Should e choppy, hard leaf.
BOP 1A – (Off Grades) – Any flak leaf without stalk and fiber (Clean tea).
BM (BROKENS) - (Off Grades) Mixed flaky leaf tea. Can have more fiber and stalk than BOP 1A.
BT – (Off Grades) – All mixed teas of varying sizes, with or without stalk and fiber.
FNGS 1 (FGS1) – (Off Grades) – Flaky leaf of small size. Can contain more fiber than BOPF, but reasonably clean.
FNGS (FGS) – (Off Grades) – Same as Fannings 1. Can be more fiber and uneven and not as clean as Fannings1.
DUST1 - Smaller than BOPF. (Rainy even well-made and reasonably clean)
DUST - (Off Grades) ………… size to Dust 1. Could be flaky and contain some fiber.
SILVER TIPS – Long tippy leaf, silver in colour, with hardly any black leaf.
GOLDEN TIPS – Long tippy leaf, golden in colour, with hardly any black leaf. Note: Tips and Golden Tips are not catalogued, but sold only privately.
BP1 – Equivalent to size of a high grown BOP, but granular.
BP Special – Larger particle size than BP1.
PF 1 – Equivalent in size to grainy high grown BOPF, but granular.
OF – Smaller than the PF 1. Larger than PD.
PF – (Off Grades) – Similar or slightly larger than PF1 and may contain some fiber.
PD – Grainy Dust grade. Should be smaller than OF.
DUST 1 – Less grainy than PD. Clean.
DUST - (Off Grades) – Inferior to Dust 1. Could be powdery and fibry.

In addition, there are the various “Flowery” varieties of the main grades (e.g. FOP and FBOPF).This tea possesses extraordinary quality in liquor and is composed almost entirely of small golden tip which are the extreme ends of the small succulent shoots of the plant, and the preparation of such tea is course most costly, since it involves sorting out the tip by hand.