Earl Grey Tea

Earl Grey is a hugely popular tea. We use only 100% natural Bergamot Oil and an equally high quality Chinese base tea, which results in a significantly superior Earl Grey Tea. Over the years we have heard several stories relating to the origin of this popular tea, one being that Bergamot Oil was originally used to hide the flavour of rotten tea which arrived in England after its long sea journey. The more romantic story of this tea’s origin involves the former Prime Minister Lord Grey who, when he was Foreign Secretary was visiting China. Legend has it that during one of these visits he had arranged to meet a certain Chinese nobleman on a bridge over the fast flowing Yangtse River. The sight of Earl Grey and his military entourage approaching the bridge at full gallop scared one of the Chinese horses and it reared it up and threw its rider into the torrent below. Earl Grey (or more likely a member of his entourage) plunged into the river to rescue the stricken nobleman. As a reward for this Earl Grey was presented with the recipe for the Bergamot-flavoured tea. On his return to England, he took the recipe to a London Tea Merchant and they named it in his honour. Earl Grey Tea has today become a quintessentially English drink.

Romantic as this story is, it appears to be untrue, according to his family, who still live in Falloden Hall in Northumberland. They say that Earl Grey never went to China, and that the recipe for this tea was given them by a visiting Chinese potentate, who found that the poor quality water at Falloden Hall made his tea unpalatable! Our Earl Grey uses only 100% natural Bergamot Oil and the teas used are authentic from the time at which it would have first been commercially produced (Circa 1830).

Ingredients: Black Tea, Bergamot Oil.