"Roy Smith" > wrote in message
...
> I had lunch in a restaurant today that specializes in serving many kinds
> of tea. The list included many varieties that were marked "O.P". We
> asked the waitress what "O.P." meant and she said it meant high quality
> tea, but didn't know what the letters stood for.

She didn't know what she was talking about, but was conveying the myth that
size matters.

> A little web searching this afternoon found the explanation
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Pekoe), but I'm still a little
> confused about something. The chart lists a bunch of grades, with OP
> being the lowest of them.

PF (Pekoe Fannings) and BOP (Broken Orange Pekoe) are smaller than OP. These
are referenced in other paragraphs and, IMHO, should have been included in
the chart.

> So what were all the teas that didn't have OP
> (or any letters) next to their name? Does that mean they're such a low
> grade they don't even rate the lowest rating?

No. Teas from India and, IIRC, Sri Lanka (Ceylon) use the letter gradings,
teas from other countries don't necessarily. Don't get hung up on it, just
sample the grand variety of teas that are available and decide which you
like. Eventually, you might discover that you consistently prefer a certain
set of letters but you'll also gain the understanding that weather and
storage conditions will change the taste of your favorite teas from year to
year and from vendor to vendor.

--
~~Bluesea~~
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