pekoe, n.
(ˈpɛkəʊ, ˈpiːkəʊ)
Also 8 peco, pecko, peckho.
[From Chinese: in Amoy dialect pek-ho, in Cantonese pak-ho; from pek, pak = Mandarin peh, pai white + ho, Mandarin hao down, hair.]
A superior kind of black tea, so called from the leaves being picked young with the down still on them.
| 1712 Addison Spect. No. 328 Coffee, Chocolate, Green, Imperial, Peco, and Bohea-Tea seem to be Trifles. 1771 J. R. Forster tr. Osbeck's Voy. I. 250 Back-ho, or Pack-ho, is that which we call Peckho, which has leaves with dots. 1859 Sala Tw. round Clock (1861) 141 The huge tea ware⁓houses, where..the flowery Pekoe or the family Souchong, slumbers in tin-foiled chests. |
Hence ˈpekoe v. trans., to mix with pekoe tea.
| 1892 Walsh Tea (Philad.) 182 A choice or ‘pekoed’ Formosa will be found the most desirable and valuable. Ibid. 184 If the Assam be ‘pekoed’ so much the better. |