Vietnam CTC Black Tea: Grades, Process and Buying Guide

2 October 2026

BOP CTC black tea granules from Vietnam, black to dark brown, big and firm

Vietnam CTC black tea is the grade most tea bag packers, chai blenders and milk tea brands ask us for. CTC stands for Cut, Tear, Curl: instead of rolling the withered leaf whole, the leaf is passed between toothed rollers that cut and tear it into small, firm granules. The result is a tea that brews fast, dark and strong, holds up to milk and sugar, and fills a tea bag evenly. This guide explains how CTC black tea is made in Vietnam, how our four CTC grades — BOP, BP, PF and PD — differ, how much of each grade fits in a container, and how to buy CTC black tea from Goo Farm.

What CTC black tea is, and how it differs from orthodox

Black tea is fully oxidized tea. The difference between CTC and orthodox black tea is in the rolling step:

Orthodox black tea is rolled so that the leaf stays whole or in large pieces. It gives a layered, aromatic cup and is sold on the look of the leaf as much as on the liquor. See our orthodox black tea grades and our guide to Vietnam orthodox black tea.
CTC black tea is cut, torn and curled into dense granules of roughly even size. More of the leaf surface is exposed, so the tea oxidizes evenly and brews quickly, with a bright ruby-red liquor and a strong, malty taste.

For a buyer the practical differences are speed, strength and price per cup. CTC brews in two to three minutes, gives a consistent color from bag to bag, and the small, dense granules pack more tea into a container than large-leaf grades. That is why CTC is the standard for tea bags, chai and milk tea, and for strong breakfast blends.

How Vietnamese CTC black tea is made

Our CTC black tea is processed at our factories in Phu Tho and Yen Bai, in the tea-growing regions of northern Vietnam. The Yen Bai factory is certified to ISO 22000:2018 for the manufacturing and trading of dried tea. Fresh leaf comes from tea gardens in Phu Tho, Yen Bai, Ha Giang, Moc Chau, Lai Chau, Lao Cai, Thai Nguyen and Nghe An.

The process has five steps:

Withering. Fresh leaf is spread on troughs and withered with air to reduce moisture and soften the leaf.
Cutting, tearing and curling. The withered leaf goes through CTC rollers — toothed cylinders turning at different speeds — one or more times. Each pass cuts the leaf smaller and curls it into granules.
Oxidation. The cut leaf is spread in a controlled, humid room. Enzymes in the leaf react with air, the leaf turns copper-brown, and the characteristic color and strength of black tea develop.
Drying. Hot air stops oxidation and brings the tea down to a low, stable moisture content.
Sorting and grading. The dried tea is passed over sieves and sorted by granule size into the CTC grades below. Fiber and stalk are removed.

Every step is controlled from raw material to finished product, and every order we ship is the same as or better than the sample you approved.

Vietnam CTC black tea grades: BOP, BP, PF and PD

CTC grades describe the size of the granule, from largest to smallest. All four of our CTC grades share the same character — a ruby-red liquor, an invigorating, fresh aroma and a strong, malty taste — and differ mainly in granule size, brewing speed and use.

BOP CTC black tea: big, firm black granules

BOP Black Tea CTC (Broken Orange Pekoe): the largest CTC grade. Big, firm granules, black to dark brown in color, with a deep amber to ruby-red liquor and a rich, malty, smooth taste. BOP is chosen for loose CTC tea and for premium tea bags where a visible, even granule matters.
BP Black Tea CTC (Broken Pekoe): big, firm granules slightly smaller than BOP, with the same ruby-red liquor and strong, malty flavor. BP is the workhorse grade for tea bags and for strong loose tea in markets that brew with milk.
PF Black Tea CTC (Pekoe Fannings): small, firm granules that brew fast and strong. PF is the usual base for English Breakfast, Masala Chai and other strong blends, and for standard tea bags.
PD CTC Black Tea (Pekoe Dust): the finest CTC grade, with small, dense granules, a full-bodied taste and a hint of natural sweetness. PD gives the fastest, darkest brew and is used in tea bags, instant and ready-to-drink tea, and milk tea where a quick, strong extraction is needed.

PF CTC black tea: small, firm granules for tea bags and blends

If you need an even finer cut, see our guide to Vietnam tea dust: the tea dust category includes Tea Dust Black Tea PD and Tea Dust Black Tea PF, as well as F and dust grades for tea bag and extract use.

How to read a CTC specification

When you ask us for a CTC black tea specification, you will see four lines for each grade:

Liquor — the color of the brewed tea. For our CTC grades it is ruby red.
Appearance — the size and color of the dry granule: big and firm for BOP and BP, small and firm for PF and PD, black to dark brown.
Aroma — invigorating and fresh.
Flavor — strong and malty; PD adds a hint of natural sweetness.

A grade name alone does not fix the quality. Two lots of BP from different gardens or seasons can differ in brightness and strength. Start every purchase with a sample, brew it the way your customers will drink it — plain, with milk, or as chai — and compare it against your current supply. The approved sample then becomes the standard for the order.

Which CTC grade for which product

Tea bags (standard): PF or PD. Small granules fill the bag evenly and give full color in two minutes.
Tea bags (premium) and loose CTC tea: BOP or BP, where the customer sees the granule.
Masala chai and milk tea: PF or PD for strength that stands up to milk, sugar and spices; BP where a slightly slower, rounder brew is wanted.
English Breakfast and strong blends: PF as the base, with BOP or BP for body, often blended with orthodox grades for aroma.
Instant tea and ready-to-drink: PD and the finer dust grades, which extract fastest.

Ask for two neighboring grades — for example BP and PF — and brew them side by side with the same water, temperature and time. The difference in granule size shows up directly in the cup.

Container loading per grade

CTC granules are dense, so a container of CTC black tea carries more tea than the same container of large-leaf orthodox tea. With standard packing, a 40-foot high cube (40HC) container holds roughly:

PD: 26 tons
PF: 25 tons
BP: 24 tons
BOP: 23 tons

For comparison, orthodox grades load from about 13 tons (OPA, TH) to 20 tons (BOP) and 22 tons (FBOP), while dust loads up to 28 tons. The smaller the grade, the lower the freight cost per kilogram. These figures are for reference only; we confirm the exact quantity once we know your grade and packing. See the full table on our packing and loading page.

Packing Vietnam CTC black tea for export

CTC black tea for bulk export is normally packed in:

PP/PE bags — woven polypropylene bags with a polyethylene inner liner, the most common packing for CTC.
Kraft paper sacks, stacked on pallets for container loading.
Export cartons, with or without an inner liner.
Vacuum aluminum bags inside export cartons, for buyers who want the longest shelf life.

We also pack under your own brand: custom-printed bulk bags, private-label tea bags and retail packs such as printed boxes, zip pouches, aluminum bags and tins. Tell us the pack size and the design, and we will quote the packing together with the tea.

Where Vietnam CTC black tea is sold

Goo Farm Tea Vietnam produces up to 6,500 tons of tea a year across all categories and has exported tea to more than 30 countries. Our customers are tea bag packers, blenders, distributors and wholesalers, and the main markets for Vietnam CTC black tea are:

CIS: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Middle East and South Asia: Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Southeast Asia: Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.
Africa and others: Nigeria, Chad, Egypt and Trinidad.

Each market brews differently — strong and sweet in Central Asia, with milk and spices in South Asia, as a breakfast blend elsewhere — so we match the grade to the way your customers drink it.

Frequently asked questions

Is Vietnam CTC black tea lower quality than orthodox? No. It is a different product for a different use. CTC is judged on strength, brightness, color and consistency, orthodox on leaf appearance and aroma. A good CTC gives a clean, bright, strong cup every time.

What is the difference between BOP and BP in CTC? Granule size. BOP is the largest CTC grade, BP is one step smaller. Both have big, firm granules and the same ruby-red liquor and malty taste; BP brews slightly faster.

Which CTC grade is best for tea bags? PF and PD for standard bags, BOP or BP for premium bags where the granule is visible. Send us your bag size and target brew time and we will recommend a grade.

Can you pack tea bags under my brand? Yes. We offer private-label tea bags, custom-printed bulk bags and retail packs. See packing and loading.

Do you supply samples? Yes. Tell us the grades you are considering and we will send samples with a specification sheet.

Request samples and a quotation

Tell us which CTC grades you are considering, the quantity, the packing and your destination, and we will reply with samples and a quotation. Contact us, or browse all our CTC black tea grades.