Tea trade glossary

49 terms across 6 groups, each with its own anchor so a single definition can be cited on its own.

Definitions for the grade codes, contract clauses, regulatory instruments and processing terms used in the Chinese tea export trade. Grade codes such as gunpowder 3505 and Chunmee 41022 describe a finished make, not a garden. HS subheadings 0902.10 through 0902.40 split tea by fermentation and by packing size. Maximum residue limits are set per jurisdiction, so the destination decides the standard.

Cover illustration for the article: HS code 0902: tea classification and the 3 kg rule

Grades and makes

Gunpowder: Chinese green tea rolled into tight pellets. Export grades run 3505, 9375, 9475 and 9575, ordered by pellet size, tightness and colour consistency. Produced mainly in the Pingshui belt of Shaoxing, Zhejiang.
3505: The reference gunpowder export grade for Morocco and Senegal. A family rather than one specification: sub-grades run 3505AAAAA, 3505AAA, 3505AA, 3505A, 3505B and 3505D.
Chunmee: Refined Chinese green tea with a slender, slightly curved leaf — the name means eyebrow tea. Produced mainly in Zhejiang and Anhui. 41022 is the widest-traded export grade.
41022: The most widely traded Chunmee export grade, used across West Africa and Central Asia. Describes leaf make and screen size within a refining standard, not a garden or harvest.
Bai Hao Yin Zhen also sold as Silver Needle: The top grade of Chinese white tea, plucked as single unopened buds with the silver down intact, and known in English as Silver Needle. Reference origins are Fuding in Ningde and Zhenghe in Nanping, Fujian.
Bai Mu Dan also sold as White Peony: White tea plucked as one bud with one to two leaves, known in English as White Peony. The main volume grade for white tea export.
Gong Mei also sold as Tribute Eyebrow: White tea plucked as one bud with two to three leaves, known in English as Tribute Eyebrow. Fuller in body and lower in cost per kilogram than Bai Mu Dan.
Shou Mei also sold as Longevity Eyebrow: White tea from mature leaf on a later plucking, known in English as Longevity Eyebrow. Fuller in body, lower in cost per kilogram, and the grade most often pressed into cakes for ageing.
Bai Ya Qi Lan: Orchid-scented oolong from Pinghe County, Zhangzhou, Fujian. A cultivar selected in Pinghe and named for its pale bud tips and pronounced orchid aroma; rolled semi-ball make, light to medium roast. Pinghe Bai Ya Qi Lan carries a protected geographical indication.
Tie Guan Yin also sold as Iron Goddess: Rolled ball-shape oolong from Anxi, Quanzhou, Fujian, known in English as Iron Goddess. Produced across a range from jade (unroasted) to medium roast.
Rock oolong: Strip-leaf oolong from Wuyishan, Nanping, Fujian, including Da Hong Pao (Big Red Robe), Rou Gui (Cinnamon) and Shui Xian (Water Sprite). Characterised by charcoal roasting and a mineral character attributed to the growing terrain.
Da Hong Pao also sold as Big Red Robe: Charcoal-roasted strip-leaf rock oolong from Wuyishan, Nanping, Fujian, known in English as Big Red Robe. With Rou Gui and Shui Xian it carries the top of the Fujian oolong price range.
Lapsang Souchong: Black tea from Tongmu inside the Wuyishan area of Fujian — the first black tea on record. Produced in smoked and unsmoked versions, which must be distinguished on the contract.
Jin Jun Mei also sold as Golden Eyebrow: Bud-only black tea from Tongmu inside the Wuyishan area of Fujian, known in English as Golden Eyebrow. Related to unsmoked Lapsang Souchong, with a golden tip.
Tanyang Gongfu: Congou-style black tea from Fu'an, Ningde, Fujian. The historic Fujian export black tea.
Scenting round: One full cycle in which finished green tea is layered with fresh jasmine blossom, left to absorb the aroma, then separated and re-dried. Jasmine tea is graded by the number of rounds — commonly three, five or seven.

Trade names in the Moroccan and West African market

Trade name: A selling designation used by an exporter, importer or brand owner in place of a grade code — El Bellar, Sinia, Sultan, Flecha, Dahmiss, Achoura. It fixes no property a laboratory can measure, so the contract must still state the grade code, moisture, screen size and the residue standard by destination. Some trade names are registered marks belonging to third parties.
El Bellar: A trade name used in gunpowder green tea listings for Morocco and West Africa, quoted beside grade codes such as 3505AAA. Also written El-bellar. A seller's designation, not a grade in any standard.
Sinia: A trade name used by Chinese exporters for gunpowder green tea offered into Morocco. A selling designation rather than a grade code.
Sultan: A product or brand name seen on packed Moroccan mint tea and on gunpowder 3505 listings. It is not a grade, and it may be a registered mark belonging to a third party.
Flecha: A quality designation used on Chunmee green tea offered into West Africa. A selling designation rather than a grade code.
Dahmiss: A trade name used on Chunmee green tea for Morocco, quoted in marketplace listings against grade 41022.
Achoura: A name used in listings for Chinese green tea quoted into Morocco and West Africa, commonly as an Achoura price. A selling designation whose scope has to be confirmed against a grade code in the quotation.

Specification and quality

Moisture: Water content of the finished dry leaf, expressed as a percentage. The standard Chinese green tea trade specification is at or below 7.0%; scented tea runs at or below 8.5%. Moisture governs shelf life and is the first line on a certificate of analysis.
Fannings: Small broken particles separated during refining and screening. The permitted fannings percentage is a grade variable and belongs in the contract, not only in the grade code.
Certificate of analysis (COA): A laboratory statement of a lot's measured properties — typically moisture, ash, and broken and fannings content. Distinct from a pesticide residue report, which measures a different set of parameters.
Maximum residue limit (MRL): The highest concentration of a pesticide residue legally permitted in or on a product. For tea the limit is set on the dry leaf. Each jurisdiction publishes its own values, so a lot compliant in one destination may be refused in another.
AQL: Acceptable Quality Limit. A sampling standard used to decide whether an inspected lot is accepted, defining sample size and the maximum number of defects tolerated at that size.
Transaction certificate: An informal name for the per-shipment document that links a consignment to a certified organic operator. For the United States the formal document is the electronic NOP Import Certificate, required for organic imports since 19 March 2024; for the European Union it is the electronic certificate of inspection (e-COI) issued in TRACES. Neither is a substitute for residue testing.

Classification and documents

HS heading 0902: The Harmonized System heading covering tea, whether or not flavoured. Splits by fermentation and by packing size into 0902.10, 0902.20, 0902.30 and 0902.40.
0902.10: Green tea, not fermented, in immediate packings of 3 kg or less. Covers retail-packed green tea, packed jasmine and tea bags. White tea is classified with green tea.
0902.20: Green tea, not fermented, other than in packings of 3 kg or less. The bulk line for gunpowder, Chunmee and bulk white tea.
0902.30: Black tea (fermented) and partly fermented tea in immediate packings of 3 kg or less. Oolong is partly fermented and falls here when retail packed.
0902.40: Black tea (fermented) and partly fermented tea, other than in packings of 3 kg or less. The bulk line for oolong and black tea.
Phytosanitary certificate: A certificate issued by the exporting country's plant protection authority attesting that a plant consignment meets the importing country's plant health requirements.
Certificate of origin (CO): A document attesting the country in which goods were produced. Usually required to obtain preferential duty treatment, including on tea entering Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union.

Regulation by market

ONSSA: Office National de Sécurité Sanitaire des Produits Alimentaires — Morocco's national food safety authority, which sets and enforces pesticide maximum residue limits on imported tea. Order 156-14, published in Bulletin Officiel 6322bis on 1 January 2015, established the MRL framework.
TR CU 021/2011: The Eurasian Economic Union technical regulation on food safety. Governs contaminants and pesticide residues for food entering Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia.
TR CU 022/2011: The Eurasian Economic Union technical regulation on food labelling. Sets mandatory label content, which must appear in Russian for products placed on the EAEU market.
EAC mark: The Eurasian Conformity mark. Applied to products that comply with the applicable EAEU technical regulations and are covered by a registered Declaration of Conformity.
Declaration of Conformity: The document that evidences EAEU technical regulation compliance and clears customs. Registered by the importer or an authorised representative established within the Union — not by the exporter.
Rosselkhoznadzor: The Russian federal service responsible for veterinary and phytosanitary supervision, including plant health control on imported plant products.

Trade and logistics

FOB: Free On Board. The seller delivers the goods on board the vessel at the named port of shipment; risk and cost transfer to the buyer at that point.
CIF: Cost, Insurance and Freight. The seller pays freight and insurance to the named destination port, but risk transfers on loading at origin.
DDP: Delivered Duty Paid. The seller bears cost and risk to the named destination, including import duty and clearance — the maximum obligation on the seller.
Cubing out: The point at which a container is full by volume before it reaches its weight limit. Common with tea, which is bulky relative to its mass, and the reason packed density drives container economics more than payload does.
Khorgos–Altynkol corridor: The rail border crossing between China and Kazakhstan used for freight into Central Asia, including tea for landlocked Uzbekistan. A gauge change and multiple border transfers change the packing brief relative to sea freight.
Attaya: The West African tea ritual practised in Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, the Gambia and Niger, in which the same charge of gunpowder green tea is brewed three times with sugar and mint in progressively sweeter rounds. It is why re-infusion behaviour is a commercial variable in these markets.
Atay: The Moroccan preparation of gunpowder green tea with fresh mint and sugar, poured from height. Morocco's daily consumption of it is why 99.85% of China's tea shipments to Morocco are green tea.

Maintained by ODM Tea as the reference set the rest of this site writes against.

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