Earl Grey Tea

EARL GREY TEA is a delightful light refreshing tea - quite unlike the brown tea with milk commonly drunk in the UK. It should be unsteamed China black tea flavoured with oil of bergamot. Some makes such as Twinings use Indian and Sri Lankan (Ceylon) black tea and this produces a heavier tasting tea which the British seem to prefer. It should always be drunk black.

The Bergamot Orange is the flavoring used in Earl Grey Tea. Oil of bergamot is extracted from the peel of the bergamot orange (Citrus bergamia or Citrus aurantium bergamia), a small pear shaped sour orange which is cultivated today mostly in southern Italy. Latest genetic research indicates that the Bergamot orange is most likely a cross (natural??) between the sweet or pear lemon (Citrus limetta) and the Seville or sour orange (Citrus aurantium) [First International Citrus Biotechnology Symposium, August 2000)] The sour orange is native to southern Vietnam, hence the Chinese connection. (This is NOT Bergamot or Bergamot mint; they are different plants in the mint family, also called bee balm or Oswego tea.)

Today, Earl Grey is the world’s most popular blend and is sold in more than 90 countries.

Earl Grey Tea - the most inexpensive luxury drink in the world.

Earl Grey of Howick Hall, near Craster, was one of Britain’s most popular Prime Ministers. His 1832 Reform Act completely changed the democratic system in Britain to the system we have today of parliamentary constituencies of (roughly) equal size and a one man, one vote electoral system. As Prime Minister, he also once sent a diplomatic mission to China and by chance the envoy saved the life of a Chinese Madarin. In gratitude, the Mandarin sent the Earl a delightfully scented tea, with its recipe. The special ingredient with which it was flavoured was oil of Bergamot. Earl Grey was delighted and in future always asked his tea merchant – the Tyneside company, Twinings, for that blend. His drawing room soon became famous for its tea and in due course the family gave permission for the blend to be sold to the public.