Whole Leaf Tea/Loose Leaf Tea- Get Wholesome Benefit of Tea

The key to good tea is to know what you are getting. As with any product that is loved by connoisseurs, there are rigid standards. If there is any doubt about the love of tea, the fact that there are seven different grades to separate quality tea from poor tea should eliminate that doubt. It is important to note that the grades of tea are not directly related to flavor, they are related to size and quality of the leaves.

In actuality, the tea that we drink does not get it’s flavor profile from the leaves. So why rank the tea by the leaves then you ask. We'll get to that. First let's look at the leaves.

• (FTGFOP) Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe (p?´k?) - This is the top end of loose-leaf tea. This will provide a consistent and reliable tea when brewed. The aroma, and appearance should be a strong representation of the flavor tea that you have chosen
• Next is (TGFOP) Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe - As the name suggests this is very similar to the first grade just not as fine. It wills till produce a tea that is likely better than most have ever enjoyed. This would be considered very good gourmet tea.
• (GFOP) Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe - This is the first significant drop in the leaf size. This can be either because the leaves are naturally smaller or because they are broken or even damaged. The flavor profile of this quality level of tea would still be good and puts any tea bag to real shame.
• (FOP) Flowery Orange Pekoe - Is again a good whole leaf tea variant and you will certainly enjoy it but this is moving down on the gourmet tea spectrum.
• (OP) Orange Pekoe - This is not a type of tea as most people believe it is. It is a grade of tea, which while it will provide good tea is pretty much the end of the line as far as gourmet tea is concerned.
• (BOP) Broken Orange Pekoe - If you are the type of person that appreciates tea enough to buy gourmet teas this quality level is likely not good enough to suit you. This is the tea you will find in top-end tea bags.
• (P) Pekoe - Pekoe is about as plain as it sounds. Unfortunately, this is the tea that you will find in most tea bags.

Now that you know all about the quality ranks and that the leaves and their size determines that quality. Lets talk tea. The leaf doesn't determine the flavor profile of tea as much as the oil in the leaf does. The mathematics is simple, the bigger the leaf the more oil it retains. So a whole leaf tea is rich in tea per se than a tea made from broken tealeaves. Single ounce of tealeaf contains as much more oil than an ounce of leaves that are crumbled. The logic is this; more the tealeaves are crumbled or broken the greater is loss of leaf oils through the increased surface area of the crumbles (finer the particles greater the surface area) via evaporation.

The reason the so many people believe Orange Pekoe to be a brand is that tea bags rarely come in that quality. To take advantage of this fact companies will display the fact that their tea is "Orange Pekoe". This became so popular that it is now perceived as a brand instead of the quality-rating which it actually is.

I urge you that if you are person that enjoys drinking tea that has only enjoyed it in the bag. Consider how far down the quality of the tealeaves have to be for them to be found in a tea bag. If you truly want to enjoy tea, take the next step to gourmet teas and enjoy it by brewing as a whole leaf tea or loose-leaf tea. We bet that real tea lovers cannot appreciate any other form of tea than one prepared from whole leaf or loose leaf, after all they give wholesome taste and aroma without missing to the drinker. Ain’t it? If any doubt just try tasting a sip or two of tea made from whole leaves.