What is orange pekoe cut black tea?

Orange pekoe black tea is not a flavor or type of tea, but rather a category in a system of grading cut, processed and dry black tea leaves. According to the orange pekoe tea leaf grading system, orange pekoe leaves are larger than broken orange pekoe or pekoe fannings, which are both finer and less intact forms of black tea leaves.

Although orange pekoe is technically simply a measuring designation, the term has been generalized in some places to simply refer to black tea. The orange pekoe grading system was developed in east Asia, specifically in Sri Lanka and India, and may not be known in other tea-consuming parts of Asia.