CTC tea grades, explained: what's really in your chai

1 hour ago

2 min read

Most of the chai brewed in Indian homes is made with CTC tea. More than 80% of the tea India produces is CTC, yet very few of us know what the letters on a tea chest mean, or why they matter for the cup we drink every morning.

What does CTC mean?

CTC stands for crush, tear, curl. Fresh leaf is passed through rollers with hundreds of sharp teeth that crush, tear and curl it into small, hard granules. The first CTC machine was put to work in 1930 at the Amgoorie Tea Garden in Assam, under Sir William McKercher, and the method soon spread across India.

CTC brews fast, gives a deep red-brown colour and stands up to milk and a long boil, which is exactly what Indian chai needs.

Why tea is graded

After manufacture, the granules are sifted by size. Each size is a grade, and size decides how quickly the tea brews, how dark it turns, and how it tastes. CTC grades fall into three families:

Broken leaf, the largest granules: grades such as BOPL (Broken Orange Pekoe Large), BOP, BOPsm, BP (Broken Pekoe), BPS (Broken Pekoe Souchong) and FP (Flowery Pekoe).
Fannings, smaller pieces: OF (Orange Fannings), PF (Pekoe Fannings) and BOPF (Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings).
Dust, the finest: PD (Pekoe Dust), D (Dust) and a range of finer dust grades.

How the grade changes your cup

Bigger grains brew a little slower and give a rounded, full-bodied cup with natural sweetness. You need less sugar.
Dust brews almost instantly and turns very dark, which is why it suits tea bags and busy tea stalls. It can easily taste harsh if it's boiled too long.

A good cup isn't about the darkest colour. It's about the right grains, balanced well.

How we blend Mahak

At Mahak we use broken-leaf CTC grades and never dust. Leaf from each garden changes with the season, so we taste and balance the grades in every batch to keep the cup consistent. That's why Mahak is made for brewing at home, and why it's just as good without the sugar.

Next time you buy tea, look for a named grade on the pack. If the label won't tell you what's inside, the cup usually will.