Tea grading has been using the same terms (with minor additions) for centuries. This has been integral part of the Indian and global tea industry as it allowed traders, wholesalers, and brands to purchase tea in bulk from tea auctions – without even seeing or trying the teas beforehand. 

While we believe this grading system to be archaic and out of touch with most modern consumers (who actually want to consume the tea) – we have broken down the grading below so our customers may be able to differentiate between different qualities of tea and thereby make an informed decision.

 TEA GRADES FOR WHOLE LEAF TEAS:

Other than WHOLE LEAF teas, there are further grades of 'tea' that are lower than those mentioned above. These include:

1. Brokens: this refers to tea leaves that have been 'broken' or compressed in size. This is typically the quality of any teas found in pyramid tea bags as the Whole Leaf teas were 'broken' so they may fit in the tea bags.

2. Fannings: these are small particles of teas and similar to when teas have been crushed or further broken into minuscule forms than brokens. This is more commonly found in teabags – typically only from reputed brands.

3. Tea Dust: while this can hardly be called 'tea' since it forms such a large part of the teas sold within India, it would be remiss of us to not mention it. As named, this is when tea has been ground to a powder and possibly as unchecked material mixing of poor quality in it – tea dust is usually mixed to bring down costs for mass CTC brands such as Red Label, Tata Gold, etc. 

We believe if you're going to drink tea – drink the best. It's worth paying Rs. 5 more per cup of tea and get a vastly improved/better experience – both from a taste and health perspective. This is why at Country House, we refuse to even retail 'Brokens' and only source and sell the absolute finest quality grade of Whole Leaves – even in our blends!