GFOP stands for Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe, the grade one step up from FOP, distinguished by a visibly higher share of golden tip buds mixed into the whole leaf.
The “golden” in GFOP refers to the color of the unopened leaf buds once dried — they turn a light, golden-tan shade rather than the dark brown or black of fully processed leaves. More gold tips generally signals a more careful, selective pluck, since tips are the youngest, most delicate part of the tea plant and bruise easily during processing. GFOP sits in the middle of the tip-grade ladder: above FOP, below TGFOP, FTGFOP, and SFTGFOP, each of which packs in progressively more tip content and finer sorting. The extra buds tend to add a touch more sweetness and a smoother finish compared to tip-free FOP.
