Tea World

Lesson 23

What is Orange Pekoe?

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You may notice that in naming the grades of tea, some term like Orange pekoe (pronounced ‘Peck-o’) is used. But, Orange Pekoe actually has nothing to do with oranges or orange flavor. This is a very common misunderstanding. It is merely a classification of leaf size. Pekoe has derived from the Chinese word “Pek-hoe”, meaning white hairs and refers to the ‘tip’ in tea.

The above grading terms are usually applied to black teas from India and Sri Lanka (and a few Chinese teas). In China, grading is also specific to leaf appearance, but the system is quite different. Similar is the case in Japan and Taiwan. You will learn about it a bit later.

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