I had a cup of Earl Grey tea this morning. I am usually a green tea drinker and have only recently started appreciating Earl Grey. Was always fascinated by the name...and finally picked up some tea bags to try out.
Named after the second Earl, Charles Grey, way back in the 1830's.
It has a peculiar flavor... but it grows on you. I am now quite fond of it.
The flavor is due to something known as "bergamot".
Did some research and found out that Bergamot is a plant indigenous to North America..which puzzled me no end. How did the Earl stumble upon it?
Googled some more...and it turns out, I was wrong. The bergamot that flavors Earl Grey tea is the Bergamot Orange. So, it's plain, black tea infused with Bergamot Orange. I found out that it is also used to mask the flavor of poor quality black tea!
Pity though...I always hoped the tea would be grey... I don't suppose Orange Pekoe is orange either...
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1 comments:
Orange Pekoe was actually a brillant marketing device created by Lipton. It is actually the name of the part of the tea leaf that is used to make all teas. Lipton tossed the name onto the packages, and everyone thought that is was some kind of special tea only Lipton Had.
Still Earl Grey is yummy
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