Types of Tea & Grades
All tea comes from the “Camellia sinensis” plant. However, location the climate, soil conditions, altitude, etc, and how the tea is processed, determines the flavor characteristics of the tea. Based on the method of production, teas can be divided into two categories, which is known Orthodox and CTC dust.
GRADES OF TEA
Tea is broken into various grades based on the production process. There are different systems for tea grading, but one particular system, using letters, is in fairly widespread use. Broadly, tea is classified as Orthodox or CTC.
Tea grading is based on the size of the leaf and types of leaves included in the tea. Though leaf size is an important quality factor, it is not, by itself, a guarantee of quality.
Teas are often designated as OP or FOP. These designations are part of the grading system used for whole leaf black teas and refer to the leaf size and amount of tip in the tea. Pekoe means teas picked as 2 leaves and a bud. OP, or Orange Pekoe, is a full-leaf tea with no tip or buds. FOP, or Flowery Orange Pekoe, is a longer leaf than an OP and has some buds. Grading systems and terminology vary with tea type and country. Generally, the more whole the leaf is and the more buds it contains, the higher the grade of tea.
Types of Tea
The primary types of tea are Black tea, Green tea, White tea, Oolong tea, Purple tea, and Herbal infusions.
If you’re new to tea, the many different types and varieties of tea can seem confusing and overwhelming. What exactly is the difference between black tea and green tea? What about herbal tea and other teas?
Here, at Ajus Tea Factory, we handle almost different kinds of tea, so we know about breaking tea down into more manageable, easy to understand categories.
We love guiding our customers through their tea journey, whether they’re new to tea or are experienced tea drinkers. Our handy guide to types of tea can help beginners and experts alike learn more about the world of tea!
Black Tea
Black tea is the most common type of tea accounting for up to 85% of total tea consumption in the western world. Read more..
Green Tea
Green tea is ‘unoxidized’ tea. The leaves are heated soon after picking in order to destroy the enzymes that cause oxidation. Read more..
Oolong Tea
Oolong tea is semi-oxidized, so the leaf is allowed to sit for maybe 2-4 hours, before being heated up to halt oxidization. Read more..
Orthodox Tea
Orthodox tea refers to the tea, which is made or processed using traditional method. Orthodox teas are generally bright and brisk and have a multilayered flavor profile.
Orthodox Tea is produced using the traditional methods of Tea production, which includes plucking, withering , rolling, oxidation and drying.
Orthodox tea’s are carefully rolled or shaped into various sizes and styles depending on the type of tea being produced. Orthodox processing is used to produce various styles of loose leaf tea, including White, Green, Oolong and black
Let us look in detail about the processing of Orthodox tea
CTC Dust
The CTC process of manufacture is similar to that of the Orthodox type except in the matter of rolling, which is much more severe. Named for the process, “Crush, Tear, Curl” (and sometimes called “Cut, Tear, Curl”) in which black tea leaves are run through a series of cylindrical rollers. After a brief conditioning roll, the leaf is made to pass through a machine consisting two steel cylinders with a fine tooth-like sharp ridges. The rollers produce small, hard pellets made of tea.
The objective is to ensure that most of the cells of the leaf is ruptured thereby achieving accelerated and intensive fermentation. This CTC method is different from standard tea manufacturing, in which the tea leaves are simply rolled into strips. Tea made via this method is called CTC tea.
Blended Tea
Tea blending is an art as much as it is a science. Not all tea leaves have similar quality, flavour or fragrance just like the fruits and herbs. The tea leaves differ not just in size and flavour strengths, but also have high notes, aftertastes et al. Hence, there is no right way of blending a perfect flavour; however certain combinations will indeed leave a mark on our minds.
Hence, we have introduced various blends of tea through years of research and testing by our experts and tea tasters. The process begins with an organoleptic taste by our expert tea tasters. Later, hundreds of selected teas will be tasted carefully and a few will be shortlisted. These get processed at our state-of-the-art facility.
Our customers can sample and order different blended teas without burning a hole in their pocket as these are made available to resellers at every price point.
