On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 14:48:04 -0500
Serendip > wrote:

> Now I'm really confuzzled...
>
> I went back to the store that had the tins of Wedgwood and bought a few.
> What can I say - the tins are a really fun shape and a very pretty blue.
>
> Anyhoo... I couldn't resist one that is labeled "Orange Pekoe" where the
> flavor designation would be. On the back, where the description is, it
> says, "Wedgwood Orange Pekoe is a brisk, smooth, and light blend, with a
> bright appearance typical of this classic tea. It can be enjoyed
> throughout the day." It shows Sri Lanka as country of origin.
>
> From everything I've been learning the past 6 weeks or so, I was certain
> that OP was a leaf size, yes? No? Sometimes?


It's a corruption of the chinese "Bai Hao" meaning "White Tip" or
"White Down" - which is believed to describe a new leaf that has just
unfurled, and still has white fluff on it.

As for the 'orange' connotation it is variously believed to refer to
either the dutch house of Orange (eg William of) and is merely an old
brand name (like bandaid, styrofoam, etc), or to refer to an old chinese
method of flavoring teas with oranges.

Neither of these assumptions are at all well substantiated. For
whatever it's worth, it's been argued that the chinese have never used the
Bai Hao term to refer to fermented leaves.


> I opened the tin, and it smells *exactly* like standard American
> supermarket teabags - Lipton, Savarin, Red Rose, whatever. I made some,
> and sure enough, it tastes exactly like that, too. The leaves look
> like... well, just like the English Breakfast and Earl Grey leaves - any
> of the black teas I see on websites - TGFOP, FTGFOp - I think you know
> what I mean.


TGFOP, FTGFOP, etc, are part of the grading system for orange peoke tea
usually attributed to Thomas Lipton. It's been suggested that he spent too
much time in the sun because it's not well understood precisely what
qualities are described when saying a given tea is 'golden' or 'flowery' -
'tippy' almost makes sense. I've been drinking Special Finest Tippy Golden
Flowery Orange Peoke lately and i admit it's nice but i wonder precisely
what it did to deserve the designation. I've heard there are yet more
initials that show up from time to time.

A letter 'B' in there means broken - bits of leaves instead of whole
leaves. these will generally brew up faster and stronger and possibly more
bitter than whole leaf.

I hope i've managed to confuse you with some additional facts.