CTC Tea question?

[Shai Guy]

I am trying to learn about the different Tea grades and I have a question if I may ask some of you tea experts on here.I've read that Orange Pekoe is a type of Tea grading system and CTC Tea has it's own grade system,but I've seen Lipton Teabags and others(store-brands) that have Orange Pekoe written on the box.Are'nt most of the cheap Teabags you get in the states CTC leaves??I am kind of confused here

[Mary R]

CTC isn't really a grading thing, it's just denoting a method of processing. Most CTC teas end up being pretty tiny when sold as loose leaf, and others end up about the size of 'dust' and 'fannings' found in tea bags.

[Chip]

Usually for blacks. Cut, tear curl I think it stands for. Some manufacturers of this "type" of tea have machinery that turns leaf into almost tiny pellet looking particles of CTC tea that can be handled very easily...Kenya does a lot of this. Very uniform. Brews potent cups quickly and brews very uniformly. CTC is more modern marvel manufacture vs traditional.

Dust and fannings are I believe grades that are left over often in the manufacture of tea leaf. Basically the crap that is leftover. CTC is often "better" than fannings and dust produced traditionally, yet typically inferior to tradtional higher grades of loose leaf.

[shogun89]

Chip, It can actually have many different meanings even though its all processed the same way, It can mean cut, tear, curl as you mentioned or also cut, tear, crush.