Pekoe
Whole leaf black tea produced by a medium plucking of the second leaf on the tea bush. The word Pekoe comes from the Chinese meaning 'white hair' and was originally applied to the early tea pluckings, due to the white down on the backs of the young leaf tea.

Broken Orange Pekoe
BOP, black tea comprising broken segments of somewhat coarser leaf, without tip. Can be applied to both Orthodox and CTC teas.

Fannings
Small grainy particles of leaf (1 to 1.5 millimeters) sifted out of better grade teas. Fannings will make a liquor that is often as good as that of a whole leaf grade and its grade which applies to both Orthodox and CTC teas. In the Orthodox teas fannings will include broken orange pekoe fannings (BFOP) and golden orange pekoe fannings (GOPF) which describe the amount of tips in a grade.

Flowery Orange Pekoe
FOP, can be either whole leaf or broken leaf Orthodox black tea with a lot of tip which gives it a finer quality.

Flowery Pekoe
A whole leaf black tea with the leaf rolled lengthwise.

Orange Pekoe
Black comprising leaf 8 to 15 millimeters long, which has fewer tips than an FOP.

Dust
The smallest particle of leaf size in both Orthodox and CTC teas which is normally used for tea bag teas, as they infuse quickly with the full flavor and strength coming through the tea bag material.

The graded - sorted leaf is now packed into plywood chests lined with aluminium paper or into multi walled bags inner lined with aluminium paper. They are printed with the plantation name, grade of tea, reference invoices number etc. and presented for sale at weekly public auctions in Colombo.