Earl Grey tea is a tea blend which has been flavoured with oil of bergamot. The rind's fragrant oil is added to black tea to give Earl Grey its unique taste. However, many if not most Earl Greys use artificial bergamot flavour.
Traditionally, Earl Grey was made from black teas such as Chinese keemun, and therefore intended to be served without milk. Some blend the tea with lapsang souchong tea which lends a smoky character. Other varieties have been introduced as well, such as green or oolong.
History
The earliest reference to tea flavoured with bergamot dates to 1824; however the article in question makes no mention of Earl Grey. Bergamot seems to have been used to enhance the taste of low-quality teas. In 1837, charges were laid against a company accused of secretly adding bergamot to misrepresent their tea as a superior product (and sell it at a higher price).
Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey
It has been suggested that the Earl Grey blend, or "Earl Grey's Mixture", may have been named after Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, British Prime Minister in the 1830s. However, the fact that adding bergamot to tea was being done in a disreputable manner near the time of his death suggests that, while it is possible that the second Earl Grey encountered tea flavoured with bergamot, it seems rather unlikely that he would have championed it. Nonetheless, there have been a number of theories attempting to link the tea to the earl.
One legend claims that a grateful Chinese mandarin, whose son was rescued from drowning by one of Lord Grey's men, first presented the blend to the Earl in 1803. The tale appears to be apocryphal, as Lord Grey never travelled to China and the use of bergamot oil to scent tea was then unknown in China. However, this tale is subsequently told (and slightly corrected) on the Twinings website, as "having been presented by an envoy on his return from China".
Another legend claims that he received as a gift, probably a diplomatic perquisite, tea flavoured with bergamot oil, perhaps as a result of his ending the monopoly held by the East India Company on trade between Britain and China.
According to the Grey family, the tea was specially blended by a Chinese mandarin for Lord Grey, to suit the water at Howick Hall, the family seat in Northumberland, using bergamot in particular to offset the preponderance of lime in the local water. Lady Grey used it to entertain in London as a political hostess, and it proved so popular that she was asked if it could be sold to others, which was how Twinings came to market it as a brand.
Jacksons of Piccadilly claim they originated Earl Grey's Tea, Lord Grey having given the recipe to George Charlton, partner at Robert Jackson & Co., in 1830. According to Jacksons, the original recipe has been in constant production and has never left their hands. Theirs has been based on Chinese black tea since the beginning.
Alternative theories
Other theories for the provenance of the tea suggest that its development had nothing to do with any Earl, and that the title was added at a later date.
References have been found in old advertisements dating to the 1850s and 1860s (after the death of the second Earl of Grey) to "Grey's Tea" or "Grey's mixture", with the earliest being attributed to a tea merchant named William Grey in 1852. The first known published references to an "Earl Grey" tea are advertisements by Charlton & Co. of Jermyn Street in London in the 1880s. It has been suggested that the "Earl" title was added to make the tea seem more posh, or alternately that it became associated with Henry Grey, 3rd Earl Grey, who was alive when the "Earl" title began to be attributed to the tea.
Modern Impressions
A 2010 survey found that a significant number of people in the United Kingdom associate drinking Earl Grey tea with being "posh" or "middle class". Earl Grey tea has also been associated with Patrick Stewart's character Jean-Luc Picard, introduced in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Preparation and variations
"Earl Grey" as applied to tea is not a registered trademark, and numerous tea companies produce their own versions of Earl Grey tea, using a wide variety of tea leaves and additives.
Bergamot orange (Citrus bergamia) is a small citrus tree which blossoms during the winter and is grown commercially in Calabria, Italy. It is probably a hybrid of Citrus limetta (sweet lime) and Citrus aurantium (bitter orange).