Just as cookie dough is served with vanilla ice cream, peanut butter is served with chocolate, and tequila is served with lime, bergamot with black tea is formulated into one of the most popular teas in the world: Earl's Tea.
Earl grey loose leaves
Believe it or not, Earl Grey tea is not its own tea. It belongs to the category of flavored teas. Flavored teas include any type of tea (white, green, oolong, black) and have been aroma treated with fruits, flowers, spices, oils, extracts, and natural or artificial flavors.
Earl Grey is one of the most well-known flavored teas in the world. This typical English tea is usually a black tea flavored with oil in the bergamot rind, a citrus fruit whose appearance and flavor fall somewhere between orange and lemon, and is infused with a pinch of grapefruit and lime. Today's bergamot varieties are believed to be of Mediterranean origin in Seville bitter orange, while sweet orange/lemon is native to Southeast Asia.
So how did England and the rest of the world fall in love with this citrus and floral infused black tea?
The origin of Earl's Tea
Earl's tea is popular in English, but it was not invented in English. Fragrant tea is unique to China. Early Chinese tea masters constantly tried to make their teas more exotic, attracting not only the attention of the rulers of the time, but also global trading merchants who wanted to return home with the unique flavors of the Far East. From fragrant jasmine and wild rose buds to bitter oranges and sweet lychee fruits, Chinese tea masters infuse a variety of aromas and flavors into the tea during processing to create unique and drinkable beverages.
The origin history of Earl Grey tea illustrates that a Chinese Mandarin tea master gave the first Grey tea as a gift to Charles Grey, the second Earl of Grey and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1830 to 1834. The tea master used bergamot as a flavor to offset the lime smell in the well water of Earl Grey Manor's Howwick Manor near Newcastle, England. Lady Grey, the wife of earl Grey, loves the tea so much that she only enjoys it. It proved popular in London society, and she asked London tea merchants to recreate it. Exactly which British tea merchant sold the first Earl's Tea Blend is more or less an argument in the tea world. But one thing is certain: while Gray's second government abolished slavery in England and reformed child labor laws, he became famous for introducing his beloved tea to the world.
How to make Earl's Tea
Usually after the tea leaves have dried, the tea is flavored or flavored near the end of the processing during the manufacturing process. One way to flavor tea is to mix the finished tea with flowers, herbs, and spices to give the mixed ingredients a visual appeal and gently infuse the tea leaves with its aroma and flavor. Another way to flavor tea is to spray or coat the finished tea with extracts, essential oils or flavoring agents during or after drying. This adds a strong flavor to the tea and uses fewer ingredients. The ratio of tea to flavor depends entirely on the tea manufacturer, and the flavor produced by brewing a cup of flavored tea will vary from brand to brand.
Earl's tea is widely defined as a black tea flavored with bergamot oil. However, there is no one way to make Earl's Tea, which is why every Earl's Tea you've tried can be slightly different.
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