"Michael Plant" > wrote in message
...
> 1/10/07
>
>> I would agree with you here Michael, I have to say that even if a black
>> tea
>> (say assam or ceylon) is labled as OP, or FOP, it's always broken
>> somehwhat
>> in the bag. The only full-leaf teas that steep and unfurl as actual whole
>> leaves that I've seen are the oolongs and greens from Taiwan and China
>> (also
>> maybe some puerh leaves). Even sencha is a bit fragmented in the bags
>> I've
>> bought.
>>
>> Melinda
>
> Yes, indeed. A "classically" made Darjeeling includes
> a break-the-leaf-into-pieces step. Therefore the difference
> between a B/roken O/range P/ekoe and a F/lowery O/range
> P/ekoe must be a matter of leaf condition before production.
> Or not. Who knows.
>
> Put another way, if the leaf pieces are to be more or less
> uniform in shape and size, their breakdown has to be
> purposeful, not random. Or not. Who knows.
>
> Michael
>
One thing I also noticed early on was that the wet leaves of an OP from,
say, a single estate Assam, had what I thought at first were stems, but then
I realized that they were the center vein of the leaf with the tea along
it's edges broken off. So it was a relatively large leaf piece but it wasn't
just a section of the whole leaf intact from side to side, because the more
fragile part of the leaf (I'm sure there must be a botanical term for this
but I don't know it) was broken off and the center vein remained more
intact.
I remember I was a little scandalized at first because I thought they were
stems and even then I knew stems oughtn't to be showing up in that sort of
tea. The Darjeeling I've had from Kyela was less broken than the Assams I've
seen, fwiw.
I wonder if OP or FOP is graded by fragment size and not assumed in the
industry to be whole leaf. After all, the manufacturing processes for those
types of teas are not at all the same as thedelicacy of process with which
an a li shan is made.
Just general observations.
Melinda