March 13: Earl Grey Tea

Born on this date in 1764 was Charles Earl Grey, the British Prime Minister after whom Earl Grey tea is named. 10 things you might not know about Earl Grey Tea:

1. What is Earl Grey tea? How is it different from ordinary builders' Tea? It's a Black tea which has been flavoured with oil of bergamot. Bergamot is a kind of Orange grown in Italy and France.
2. According to a survey in 2010, many people in the UK associate drinking Earl Grey tea with being "posh".
3. The Earl Grey blend, was named after Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, Prime Minister of the UK in the 1830s and author of the Reform Bill of 1832. He allegedly received a diplomatic gift of tea flavoured with bergamot oil.
4. There's a legend which says that that gift was given to him by a Chinese mandarin whose son was saved from drowning by one of Grey's men. However, it is just a legend, since Earl Grey never actually went to China, and while bergamot was added to tea to make it taste like expensive Chinese tea, the Chinese didn't, at that time, flavour their tea with it.
5. Earl Grey's family tell a different story. According them, the blend was specially made for Lord Grey by a Chinese person who added the bergamot to offset the high levels of lime in the water at his home, Howick Hall. Lady Grey used to serve the tea when she was entertaining, both at Howick and in London, and her friends liked it.
6. Lord Grey is said to have given the recipe to Jacksons of Piccadilly, who say they still have that original recipe.
7. Earl Grey tea can be used as a flavouring in chocolates and savoury sauces.
8. Brits have always been precious about their tea. In 1837, there was a court case against a tea company which supplied tea "artificially scented, and, drugged with bergamot in this country." More recently, in 2011, there was an outcry on social media and in the press when Twinings changed their recipe for Earl Grey.
9. It's actually quite good for you. It contains fluoride, so it helps protect your teeth; it's good for the digestive system and the antitoxidants in it can promote healthy skin and even help prevent cancer. Bergamot is an oil used in aromatherapy, so Earl Grey can have a calming effect on people, while at the same time providing a small caffeine boost. The citrus in it can help people lose weight; and it's good for the immune system and for the Heart.
10. Over the year different variations of Early Grey tea have evolved. 'Lady Grey' adds cornflowers and Seville oranges to the traditional Earl Grey blend. 'Earl Green' uses Green teas as a base rather than black teas, and by the same token, 'Earl White' uses White teas. 'Russian Earl Grey' adds citrus peel and lemongrass and 'French Earl Grey' adds Rose petals.

See also
Tea
Cocoa 
Coffee 

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