What is Earl Grey tea?

Earl grey tea is known for its citrus flavor. It basically contains two ingredients black tea and bergamot oil.

Black tea is derived from plant Camellia sinensis which is the base of all types of teas. Camellia sinensis is an evergreen shrub of the camellia family that is native to China and northeast India. Black tea has a distinct malty, dark, and bold flavor, it’s generally stronger than other teas types. Also, it has a deep nutty aroma.

what is earl grey tea

Whereas bergamot oil is extracted from the zest of Citrus bergamia, which grows on the bergamot orange tree. The bergamot orange is originally cultivated in Italy, Calabre. It looks like an orange in shape and size, and it has a lime color peel. The fruit is cold-pressed to extract the oil.

 Bergamot has a unique tart and sour profile. It also has floral notes. Bergamot oil not only gives the signature note to earl grey tea but also used for many other purposes. It’s used in aromatherapy to elevate the mood and for Skincare to treat acne and used in perfumes. In the food industry, it also used as a flavor in many recipes such as baked goods.

History

There are many stories around that how earl grey tea is originated, but all the stories have one common link is Charles Grey, the second Earl Grey and the British Prime Minister, who was somehow connected to a Chinese tea merchant. This Chinese merchant developed this tea with the flavor of bergamot oil and gifted this tea to the Charles grey. Although it’s still not clear the exact story, they all surround Charles grey.

Charles Grey

Processing of earl grey tea can be flavored in two ways:

  1. The black tea leaves are coated with bergamot essential oil or extract to infuse the flavor on tea leaves.
  2. The dried black tea is mixed with dried orange rinds, and both flavors will itself infused in the water when added to hot water.

caffeine in earl grey tea

Note: Bergamot oil is highly acidic, and tart hence added in very small quantity and usually added with other similar flavors such as lemon or orange to balance the notes.

How to prepare Earl Grey Tea

There are a few important steps that you need to take care if you want to enjoy the flavor and aroma of early grey in a proper way

  1. Use a non-reactive vessel such as a glass pot or stainless steel pot for preparing tea or any flavored tea because it helps to prevent impurities in the finished drink.
  2. Use fresh and filtered water to prepare tea to enjoy tea’s freshness without any off-note of water.
  3. Heat the water, and when it’s about to boil, remove the pot from heat. It usually takes 2- 3 minutes to boil water depending on heating equipment.
  4. Now properly measure the loosed tea and add to hot water. It usually mentioned on the back of the pack. In general, for every 6-ounce cup, add one tsp of loose tea for steeping. You can also use early grey dip tea, but they are not as strong as loose tea.
  5. Steep for 3-5 minutes, depending on your preference. If you like light-flavored, then steep only for 3 minutes, but if you like strong notes, then steep tea for 5 minutes.
  6. If you live in a cold-weather country, you should definitely rinse your teacup with hot water before pouring tea. And the reason behind this is when you serve warm tea in cold teacups, it begins to cool, and tea starts losing its essence. Similarly, if you are transferring tea from tea kettle to another glass pot to serve on the table, do the same thing with a glass pot to maintain the same temperature.
  7. Then strain the tea leaves and pour hot tea into warm teacups.
  8. You can enjoy tea with a slice of lemon if you like more enhanced notes to your tea or add hot milk and add sugar to taste.

earl grey tea

Caffeine in Earl Grey Tea

The source of caffeine in earl grey tea is Black Tea. The caffeine content varies based on a variety of black Tea and % of black Tea in the final drink or tea bag.

  1. Regular Earl Grey tea contains 55 to 99-milligram caffeine per cup
  2. Decaf Earl Grey tea contains 2 to 10-milligram caffeine per cup

Types of Earl Grey Tea

As the earl grey tea gained its popularity, it touched many countries and people, creating its many different versions. I have listed down a few popular types:

Lady Grey Tea: named after Lady Mary Elizabeth Grey, the wife of Earl Charles Grey. This tea is basically flavored with Seville orange or Lavender in addition to bergamot oil. It is also known as Citrus Lady Grey and Lavender Lady Grey Tea

French Earl Grey: It’s made with the addition of dry rose petal in regular earl grey tea. This tea has a sweet aroma and floral notes.

Russian Earl Grey: The Russian tea variation contain citrus rinds, lemongrass, and black tea.

Double Bergamot Earl Grey: This Tea contains a double amount of bergamot oil, which enhanced its citrus and aromatic flavors. This tea tastes good with butter toast and scones for afternoon or evening tea.

Red Earl Grey (Aka Earl Red or Earl Rooibos): Red earl grey made with Rooibos tea and bergamot flavor or oil. Rooibos tea is made leaves from a shrub called Aspalathus linearis, which usually grows in the western coast of South Africa

Earl Grey Green: this one is made with green tea that is flavored with bergamot oil.

Earl Grey Oolong: In this variant, oolong tea is coated with bergamot oil. People who love oolong mild tea can give a try to this tea.

 Benefit :

This tea is made with black tea; hence it benefits are also the same as black tea. Bergamot oil % is quite less in because of its concentrated notes. I have already mentioned the benefits of bergamot oil at the start of the article.

I hope this article gives you enough information about earl grey tea and its variation and other things. Please comment if you found this article helpful. Keep enjoying your love for teas.