Whittard – Assam TGFOP1 2nd Flush
This site uses Amazon Affiliate Links. If you click on an Amazon link from this page and make a purchase, I will – at no cost to you – earn a small commission.
In The History of Tea, author Laura C Martin explains the different grades of whole leaf tea. Whole leaf – already at the top of the tea leaf food chain, above broken leaf, fannings and dust – is often graded further to denote its quality using a bunch of cryptic looking initials.
“Just remember,” Martin tells us. “That the more letters, usually the higher quality of the tea” which is why, when I saw that Whittard stocked Assam TGFOP1 2nd flush, I had to have it. ‘Look at all those letters!’ I thought. ‘So many letters!’
Let’s break down what TGFOP means shall we? It’s easiest if we work backwards.
OP stands for Orange Pekoe
Every letter that gets added to the front of it indicates more levels of specialness. The word Pekoe is thought to derive from the Chinese word pak-ho which means ‘fine hair’, a reference to the downy hairs on young tea buds.
There is a bit of a dispute about this (and another possible etymological source pe̍h-hoe which means bud) because the term is not used in China, so it seems a bit weird to have a Chinese name for a classification which is mostly for Indian and Sri Lankan tea.
The ‘orange’ part of the name most likely comes from the Dutch Royal Family House of Orange Nassau and was used by the Dutch East India Company as a canny bit of branding, in order to convey an air of fancy schmancy poshness. (The Dutch East India Company played an important role in the Westernisation of tea. They were East-India-Company-ing before the British)
F stands for flowery
The posher the tea, the higher the proportion of flower buds. Bog standard teas will be all leaf. FOP will typically consist of pluckings containing two leaves and a bud.
G stands for Golden
Referring to the golden tip, which is the very end of the tea bud.
T stands for Tippy
Indicating that there is a large proportion of golden tips in the blend.
Put it all together and you get TGFOP or Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe. there are extra levels above TGFOP. Such as FTGFOP (Finest Tippy Golden Flowering Orange Pekoe) and SFTGFOP (Special Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe) and TATGFOP (Totes Amazeballs Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe – although to be fair, I did just make that last one up).
The ‘2nd Flush’ part of Whittard TGFOP1’s name refers to its late spring harvesting. I am not entirely sure what the ‘1’ means so I’m not going to mention it. Except in that previous sentence where I just did.
So how – after all that – does Whittard Assam TGFOP1 2nd Flush actually taste? Oh, it’s gorgeous. All those golden flowery tippy bits must be doing a grand job because what you get here is a cup of hot brown pure awesomeness.
It’s an Assam so it’s a nice dark, robust brew that is entirely amenable to a splash of milk. You could probably dunk a digestive biscuit in this if you had a mind to. I wouldn’t judge you. It has a punchy depth of flavourful Camelia sinensis-ness that affirms why I love tea so much. It’s both ordinary and extraordinary at the same time.
There’s a mnemonic for TGFOP, which is “Too Good For Ordinary People”, which I find very pleasing. (And was very handy for getting the letters in the right order while writing this review). However, I do have to disagree with the sentiment.
Fancy airs and ridiculously high tea expenditure aside, I am quite the plebeian when it comes to tea appreciation. Behold me adding milk to every black tea where I think I can get away with it. This tea is not too good for me. It is the right amount of Good. I like this level of Good. It makes me incredibly happy.
Today’s featured book is, of course, A History of Tea by Laura C Martin, a fantastic book which covers every aspect of tea production and tea history and which helped me understand the different types of tea grades.
I actually wondered what those letters are for when I saw this tea on Whittard’s website, but I did not care enough to look it up, because it’s Assam and I thought I wouldn’t like it much anyway (and the price was quite steep). But I’m happy I know now!