Earl Grey the world's MOST popular flavoured tea!
A Chinese mandarin tea master blended the first Earl Grey tea as a gift for Charles Grey, the 2nd Earl of Grey and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1830 to 1834.
Earl Grey tea, believe it or not, is not its own category of tea. It falls into the category of flavored teas. Flavored teas include any type of tea—white, green, oolong, black—that has been scented or flavored with fruit, flowers, spices, oils, extracts, and natural or artificial flavors.
Earl Grey is one of the most recognized flavored teas in the world. This quintessentially British tea is typically a black tea base flavored with oil from the rind of bergamot orange, a citrus fruit with the appearance and flavor somewhere between an orange and a lemon with a little grapefruit and lime thrown in.
Type of bergamot used:
Today’s cultivar of the bergamot orange is believed to be a hybrid of the bitter Seville orange native to the Mediterranean and a sweet lime/lemon native to Southeast Asia.
The flavor of natural bergamot can vary immensely depending on where it was cultivated and how it was processed. Natural bergamot is often defined as a sharp and intensely citrus flavor. Calabria, in Southern Italy, is home to 80% of the commercially grown bergamot, followed by France and Turkey
Types of Earl Grey
- The English are fans of flavored teas and blended Chinese Lapsang Souchong black tea with Earl Grey for a smoky version.
- Lady Gray is an Earl Grey blend that is said to be more subtle and more floral than a traditional Earl Grey, but most manufacturers marketing this blend have different approaches.
- The French add their beloved lavender to Earl Grey for a distinctively Parisian version.
- Earl Green is blended using green tea instead of black
Keen to try Earl Grey for yourself. Daily Ritual currently has available a Premium Bergamot Earl Grey and a Blue Flower Earl Grey.