Earl Grey Tea: The Bergamot Blend, Its Murky History, and How to Brew It

The name points to Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, who served as British Prime Minister in the 1830s. The famous version of the story says a grateful Chinese mandarin, whose son had been rescued from drowning by one of Lord Grey's men, presented the blend to the Earl in 1803. It is almost certainly apocryphal: the Wikipedia entry on earl grey tea, which collects the competing accounts, notes that Lord Grey never travelled to China and that scenting tea with bergamot oil was then unknown in China.

Other versions have attached themselves to the name, including a diplomatic gift. The Grey family's own account holds that a blend was made specifically to suit the water at Howick Hall, the family seat in Northumberland, with bergamot chosen to offset the lime in the local water, and that Lady Grey served it so often as a political hostess that guests asked to buy it.

Two London tea houses have also staked claims. Jacksons of Piccadilly say Lord Grey gave the recipe to George Charlton, a partner at Robert Jackson & Co., in 1830, and that it never left their hands. Twinings tells a version in which the tea was presented by an envoy returning from China.

None of these accounts comes with a contemporary document that settles the matter. The blend is real; the founding myth is negotiable.

When the legends are set aside, the surviving records tell a less romantic but more interesting story. The earliest known reference to tea flavored with bergamot dates to 1824 — and that article does not mention Earl Grey at all. Bergamot appears to have been used to make low-grade tea taste more expensive than it was. In 1837, charges were brought against a company accused of secretly adding bergamot to pass off its tea as a superior product.

That detail matters, because it makes it unlikely that a sitting or recently retired prime minister would have lent his name to a flavoring with a reputation for disguising cheap leaf. The trade names that do appear in print come later:

• 1852 — the earliest advertisement for “Grey's Tea” or “Grey's mixture” is attributed to a tea merchant named William Grey, after the 2nd Earl's death.
• 1850s–1860s — further advertisements use the “Grey's” name without an earldom attached.
• 1880s — the first known published references to an “Earl Grey” tea are advertisements by Charlton & Co. of Jermyn Street, London.

One theory is that “Earl” was added to make the tea sound more refined; another is that the name drifted toward Henry Grey, the 3rd Earl, who was alive when the title began to be attached to the blend. Either way, the documented history is a story about marketing and flavoring, not a gift between statesmen. Earl Grey is also not a registered trademark, which is why nearly every tea company sells its own earl grey tea under the same name.

If you want the wider family this blend belongs to, our guide to black tea covers the leaf, and types of tea places black tea among the other five true teas.

The bergamot orange, Citrus bergamia, is a small citrus tree whose fruit is roughly orange-sized and yellow to green depending on ripeness. Genetic work suggests it is a probable hybrid of lemon and bitter orange. The juice is less sour than lemon but more bitter than grapefruit, so the fruit is grown for its peel oil.

The heartland is a narrow coastal strip in the province of Reggio Calabria, at the toe of Italy. A 2024 study from the University Mediterranea of Reggio Calabria describes bergamot essential oil as “obtained by cold-pressing the peel” in a small area of Calabria, and notes that the oil from that area is protected by the European Union's PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) mark.

There are two broad ways to get bergamot into tea:

1. Oil on the leaf. Black tea is coated or sprayed with bergamot essential oil. This is said to give a stronger, more immediate citrus aroma.
2. Dried peel in the blend. Pieces of dried bergamot rind are mixed with the tea, so the citrus infuses during brewing rather than sitting on the leaf beforehand.

A reality check: many, if not most, Earl Greys on supermarket shelves use other natural or artificial flavorings rather than pure bergamot oil, because they are cheaper and keep longer. If the source of the citrus matters to you, read the ingredients panel — “bergamot oil” and “natural bergamot flavor” are not the same claim, and “flavoring” alone tells you very little.

One more source of confusion: the garden herb sold as “bergamot” or bee balm (Monarda) is a mint-family plant named for its similar smell. It is not what flavors Earl Grey.

Bergamot gets the attention, but the base tea decides whether a cup of earl grey tea tastes elegant or harsh. Traditionally, the blend was built on Chinese black teas such as Keemun, a softer, less tannic style that was intended to be drunk without milk. Some add a little lapsang souchong for smoke. Today the base is just as likely to be Ceylon, Assam, or a mixed black tea chosen for price and consistency.

Those choices change the cup more than most people expect:

Base tea	What it tends to bring	Milk?
Keemun / Chinese black	Smooth, lower astringency, lets bergamot lead	Usually plain
Ceylon	Bright, brisk, clean finish; holds up iced	Either way
Assam	Malty, heavy body that can swamp delicate citrus	Often with milk
Green or oolong base	Lighter, more floral; oxidation is shortened or skipped	Plain

The descriptions above are the conventional character of each tea type, which our Chinese black tea guide explores for Keemun; they are not measurements of any particular brand.

You will also see a crowd of spin-offs on shelves: “cream” Earl Greys with vanilla, versions with cornflower or rose petals, and Lady Grey-style blends with extra citrus. They are all variations on earl grey tea's basic idea — black (or sometimes green) tea plus bergamot — and they brew the same way.

Earl grey tea is a black tea, so it wants hot water, but it is a little less forgiving than plain breakfast tea because over-steeping pulls tannins that clash with the citrus oil. Published guidance is close but not identical, so here is what the sources actually say:

Source	Water	Steep time	Milk
UK Tea & Infusions Association	90–98°C (194–208°F) for black tea	3–4 minutes for Earl Grey	With or without
Wikipedia summary of common practice	Just-boiled	2–3 minutes is common; some suggest up to 5 for fuller citrus	Personal preference
ISO 3103 (lab tasting standard, not a recipe)	Boiling	6 minutes for black tea	Optional

For an everyday mug, the UK Tea & Infusions Association's method is a sensible default: freshly drawn water, one tea bag or one rounded teaspoon of loose tea per cup, water at 90–98°C, and 3–4 minutes before you take the leaves out. Do not re-boil water that has already boiled; the association notes that repeat boiling reduces the oxygen in the water and flattens the flavor.

If your earl grey tea tastes sharp or perfumey, shorten the steep before you change brands. If it tastes thin, add more leaf rather than leaving it in longer — extra time adds bitterness faster than it adds citrus. Our tea steeping times chart puts these numbers next to other teas, and how to make tea covers the basics of kettles, pots, and measuring.

Lemon is a classic partner because it echoes the bergamot.

Bergamot is the reason earl grey tea makes such good iced tea: the citrus reads as refreshing when cold, and black tea's body keeps the glass from tasting watery as ice melts. You have two good routes.

Cold brew in the fridge. Put tea and cold water in a clean jar or pitcher and refrigerate. Ohio State University Extension's food-safety guidance describes cold brewing tea in the refrigerator for “six hours to overnight depending on how strong you like your tea.” Cold-brewed Earl Grey tends to taste rounder, with softer bergamot. Our step-by-step how to make cold brew tea method works for Earl Grey without changes, and the broader cold brew tea guide explains ratios and timing.

Hot-brew, then chill. Brew a stronger-than-usual hot pot, let it cool, then refrigerate. The same Ohio State guidance explains that iced tea turns cloudy when tannins come out of solution as the tea is cooled too quickly; letting it cool gradually, or adding cool water before ice, helps keep it clear.

A few practical notes for iced earl grey tea:

• When bergamot oil coats the leaf, the citrus comes out early. If a cold brew tastes more like perfume than tea, shorten the time or add more leaf next round.
• Keep cold-brewed tea in the refrigerator, which the CDC advises keeping at 40°F or below.
• Orange slices, a little honey, or a sprig of lavender all play well with bergamot.

For a side-by-side look at how the methods differ in taste, see cold brew vs hot brew tea.

A London Fog is a hot drink made from Earl Grey tea, steamed milk, and a sweetener, usually vanilla syrup. Despite the name, it is generally credited to Vancouver, Canada, in the 1990s. The story most often told is that Mary Loria, who was pregnant at the time and a regular at Vancouver's Buckwheat Café, started ordering Earl Grey with steamed milk and vanilla, then asked for it at other cafés and recommended it to friends until the drink spread. Loria herself has said she does not know who gave it the name; the “fog” is the steamed milk. Like most café origin stories, it rests on recollection rather than records.

To make one at home:

1. Brew a strong cup of Earl Grey — use a little more leaf than usual or the upper end of the steep time, because the milk dilutes it.
2. Stir vanilla syrup (or vanilla extract plus honey or maple syrup) into the hot tea.
3. Heat milk until steaming, froth it if you have a frother or a jar to shake it in, and pour it over the tea.
4. Spoon the foam on top. A pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg, or dried lavender is a common finish.

Oat and other plant milks work well. An iced version is easy too: pour cold-brewed Earl Grey over ice, add vanilla syrup, and top with cold milk. Cold-brewing at double strength gives you a concentrate without any heat.

Because Earl Grey is built on black tea, it carries black tea's caffeine. The USDA's FoodData Central database lists brewed black tea at 20 mg of caffeine per 100 g, which works out to roughly 47 mg in an 8-fl-oz (237 g) cup using USDA's own portion weight. The FDA's consumer guidance puts a typical 12-fl-oz serving of black tea at 71 mg, compared with 113–247 mg for the same size of regular brewed coffee. Actual amounts vary with the leaf, the amount used, and how long you steep. Decaf Earl Grey exists, but the FDA notes that decaffeinated teas still contain some caffeine, so “decaf” is not the same as caffeine-free. Our cold brew tea caffeine guide explains how cold steeping changes the picture.

When buying, a few signals separate good earl grey tea from the forgettable kind:

• The ingredients list. Look for bergamot oil named specifically. “Flavoring” alone means you cannot tell what produced the citrus.
• The base tea. A named origin (Ceylon, Keemun, Assam) suggests the blender cared about the leaf, not only the scent.
• Freshness. Citrus oils fade, so buy smaller tins and store them airtight, away from light, heat, and strongly scented foods like coffee and spices.

Loose leaf gives you more control over strength, as our loose leaf tea guide explains, but a good tea bag is a perfectly respectable way to drink earl grey tea every day.