Coos wrote:
> What is the difference between FTGFOP-1 and FTGFOP-1S?

The spelling :-)

Afaik it started in the mid-70s, that some gardens, after additional
sieving and grading added a "1" after the standard grade to make a
further distinction, "1." meaning "first quality". Some years later the
first packs appeared with an additional "S" or "SPL" for "Special",
either because someone found those leaves to be of exceptional quality
or more probably to help in selling those leaves. My personal 2 ct on
"S" and "SPL" - fuggedaboutem. Give me a bag of Lipton's over a third
of the SFTGFOP.1-SPLs I recently sampled any day of the week. Honestly.
BTW, afaik most upscale retailers in the west get their DJs shipped in
chests, with their contents graded by the estates. and usually label
their retail packages accordingly. Here in Darjeeling however, some
retailers label their packs with whatever comes to their minds, so
quite a few FTGFOPs end up in packs marked SFTGFOP-1S or -SPL. Some
time ago I asked some of those guys about their in-house gradings and
most of them freely admitted upgrading their retail packs - without
feeling too guilty about it.
Finally all those grades don't mean too much when it comes to the
quality in the cup.

Enjoy your tea !
Karsten / Darjeeling