Earl Grey and Lady Grey are teas we need to get to know

Earl Grey, the famous blend of English tea, is named after Charles Grey (2nd Earl Grey), who was born in 1764. He served as England’s Prime Minister from 1830-34.

 

His family inhabited the coastal village of Howick in Northumberland, England, located in the extreme northeast section of the country, bordering Scotland and the North Sea. 

The tea “covered the taste of well water, which was described as very alkaline, or hard. (Black tea and bergamot oil are both acidic and dramatically improved the taste by neutralizing the water.) 

The tea recipe was gifted to Charles Grey, and its origin remains a mystery. The addition of bergamot oil is the key. 

Bergamot oil is extracted from the rinds of a citrus fruit that grows on bergamot orange trees. About the size of a common orange, the fruit has a yellow or green color similar to a lime, depending on ripeness. Trees blossom during the winter.

 

One source described bergamot juice “as tasting less sour than lemon, but more bitter than grapefruit.”

 

The bergamot orange is native to southern Italy. Production is mostly limited to the province of Reggio di Calabria, located at the toe of Italy’s boot between the Ionian and the Tyrrhenian seas and separated from Sicily by the Strait of Messina. 

The earliest reference to bergamot-flavored tea dates back to 1824. Charles Grey and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Ponsonby Grey, served black tea with bergamot oil when hosting diplomatic events. It was quite popular with their guests and soon all of England wanted the tea.

 

Try one of the Earl Grey shortbread recipes.

In 1831, Charles Grey approached Twinings (founded in London in 1706 by Thomas Twining) to produce the tea and sell it for others to enjoy. The blend became known as Earl Grey, named after the Prime Minister. 

Other teamakers have claimed the honor of inventing Earl Grey, but in 2013, Philip Kent Grey, 7th Earl Grey, officially endorsed Twinings as the original blend. He said: 

“Twinings has been blending my family tea for years. My ancestor, the 2nd Earl Grey, liked it so much he asked Richard Twining II (great grandson of Thomas) to recreate it. Generations of my family have enjoyed Earl Grey tea and today, I am proud to continue the tradition with the tea celebrated throughout the world known as Twinings Earl Grey.” 

In 1994, Twinings rolled out a “more delicate, milder alternative to regular Earl Grey, containing less bergamot with hints of lemon and orange.” The company named the new product “Lady Grey,” a tribute to Mary Elizabeth Grey, who actually was a Countess.

Mary Elizabeth Ponsonby Grey 

There is another Lady Grey in British history. She was Lady Jane Grey, who inherited the Crown in 1553 and is remembered as “the nine-day queen.” It didn’t end well for her. 

From the Twinings’ archives, we learn that after Twinings’ founder Thomas Twining died in 1741, he was succeeded by his son, Daniel Twining. He began exporting Twinings’ teas to the colonies in America in 1749. 

“History was made when Mary Twining, Daniel’s widow, took over the business in 1762. It was very unusual at the time for a woman to be CEO. However, her tenacious character and business expertise enabled her to run Twinings for the next 21 years.” 

“In 1773, the Governor of Massachusetts (Thomas Hutchinson) was a loyal Twinings customer. When the Boston Tea Party dumped English tea in the Boston Harbor to protest “taxation without representation,” a British journalist reported: Hear ye…‘it was not Twinings tea the Boston rebels tossed into the sea.’”