Fannings
Fannings are what falls through the sieve after the broken grades have been separated. They are not a lesser tea by accident: the small particle size is the point, because it brews fast and strong, which is what a tea bag needs.
What it is
A size class one step finer than the broken grades and one step coarser than dust, produced by the same graduated-mesh sifting that separates every other grade. Fannings-size particles are the deliberate target of most modern teabag manufacture, not a byproduct.
Where you meet it
Inside the overwhelming majority of ordinary teabags. BOPF is the leading orthodox fannings grade for teabag packing and PF 1 the leading CTC one; between them they account for most of the tea drunk from a bag rather than loose.
How to read it
Read fannings the same way as broken grades: a particle-size classification chosen for how fast and strong it brews, not a verdict on quality. There is no international standard fixing exactly how small a fannings particle has to be, only the mesh size a given factory uses.
A common mistake
Assuming fannings are simply the sweepings left over from making 'real' tea. Fannings are a deliberate manufacturing target, sized specifically for the quick, strong infusion a teabag format needs.
Sources
- fannings are made up of the finest siftings left after the larger whole-leaf and broken-leaf particles have been removed, and are useful in blends for teabags, which require a quick brewing tea; the grade is also called 'Fannings/Fines.' Pettigrew & Richardson, Tea Classified (2008)
- there is no international standard for particle size in a grade, and grade names are an approximate indication of leaf size and manufacturing method. Willson & Clifford, eds., Tea: Cultivation to Consumption (Chapman & Hall, 1992)