Tea leaf grading

In the tea industry, tea leaf grading is the process of evaluating products based on the quality and condition of the tea leaves themselves. The highest grades are referred to as "orange pekoe", and the lowest as "fannings" or "dust".

Pekoe tea grades are classified into various qualities, each determined by how many of the adjacent young leaves (two, one, or none) were picked along with the leaf buds. Top-quality pekoe grades consist of only the leaf buds, which are picked using the balls of the fingertips. Fingernails and mechanical tools are not used to avoid bruising.

When crushed to make bagged teas, the tea is referred to as "broken", as in "broken orange pekoe" (BOP). These lower grades include fannings and dust, which are tiny remnants created in the sorting and crushing processes.

Orange pekoe is referred to as "OP". The grading scheme also contains categories higher than OP, which are determined primarily by leaf wholeness and size.

Broken, fannings and dust orthodox teas have slightly different grades. CTC teas, which consist of leaves mechanically rendered to uniform fannings, have yet another grading system.

Orange Pekoe (band)

Orange Pekoe (オレンジ・ペコー, Orenji Pekō, or orange pekoe) is a Japanese music duo which formed in 1998, and had its first major debut in 2002, with the single "Happy Valley". The band is named for orange pekoe, a type of tea.

Background

Orange Pekoe is composed of Kazuma Fujimoto, who plays guitar and does the composition, arrangement, and programming of the music, and Tomoko Nagashima, who writes the lyrics and performs vocals.

The pair, both originally from Hyōgo prefecture, began working together as graduate students at Kwansei Gakuin University in Osaka. They began performing in cafes and small venues in Osaka and Kobe in 2000, and released their first mini-album, self-titled, in April 2001, under an independent label. After having their music played on a local radio station, and gaining popularity locally, the pair were picked up by major music label BMG Japan, releasing their first single, "Happy Valley", in April 2002. The single entered heavy rotation on radio stations across Japan, and the duo's first album, Organic Plastic Music, was released the following month.