Earl Grey has grown into a whole family: Lady Grey adds more citrus, French Earl Grey adds rose, lavender Earl Grey adds lavender, Earl Grey cream adds vanilla, and green, white and rooibos versions change the base. Our blog counted “about 50-odd versions” in 2015, “from the classic to the outrageous,” the outrageous end being an Earl Grey matcha. It is a blend that has moved with the times, with the bergamot as the counterpoint to whatever is added.
What are the main types of Earl Grey?
Most Earl Greys change one of two things: what goes in beside the bergamot, such as rose, lavender, vanilla or extra citrus, or the tea underneath it.Read more
| Type | What is added or changed | How it tastes |
|---|---|---|
| Classic Earl Grey | Black tea and bergamot | Bright citrus over brisk black tea |
| Double bergamot | About twice the usual bergamot | More perfumed and citrusy |
| Lady Grey | Extra citrus, such as Seville orange; some versions add lavender | Softer, fruitier, more floral |
| French Earl Grey | Rose petals | Sweet aroma, fruity and floral |
| Earl Grey cream | Vanilla flavor | Rounder, creamier, sweet-scented |
| Lavender Earl Grey | Lavender flowers | Floral, herbal, gently sweet |
| Russian Earl Grey | Citrus peel and lemongrass | Zesty and fresh |
| Smoky Earl Grey | Smoked Lapsang Souchong in the base | Citrus with a pinewood-smoke edge |
| Green or white Earl Grey | Green or white tea base | Lighter; often softened with cornflower, vanilla or lavender |
| Rooibos Earl Grey | Rooibos instead of tea | Caffeine-free, sweet and earthy |
Double bergamot is the simplest change: Tea 101 describes it as Earl Grey with double the normal amount of bergamot oil, for a more aromatic, citrusy cup, and suggests it with scones and buttered toast at afternoon tea. We have never made one. When a reader asked in 2016, our blog team replied that we did not have a double bergamot, but had 10 other variants to choose from.
Names can run wild. Keen listed Chocolate Earl Grey among the “exotic examples” that sellers use to set their tea apart, and he noted that every serious seller of whole-leaf tea now makes its own small-batch Earl Grey.
What is Lady Grey tea?
Lady Grey is a softer Earl Grey: it keeps the bergamot and adds more citrus, such as Seville orange, and sometimes lavender, for a lighter, fruitier, more floral cup.Read more
Lady Grey takes its name from Lady Mary Elizabeth Grey, the Earl’s wife, and is flavored with Seville orange or lavender as well as bergamot; Tea 101 calls these Citrus Lady Grey and Lavender Lady Grey.
The name fits the history. Our 2015 story credits Lady Grey with making her husband’s tea fashionable, by serving it to guests at the many parties she hosted. The story of those parties is in The history of Earl Grey tea.
What are Russian, smoky and French Earl Grey?
Russian Earl Grey adds lemony lemongrass and orange peel, smoky Earl Grey uses a smoked or high-fired base tea, and French Earl Grey adds rose petals.Read more
Russian Earl Grey
Russian Earl Grey owes its lemon to the Russian habit of a slice of lemon in tea, the same tradition behind Russian Caravan tea. Tea 101 describes it as the base tea with naturally dried Thai lemongrass and sun-ripened, dried orange peel, for a smooth, sweet and refreshing cup.
It is now a mass-market blend. Keen noted that two of the world’s top five tea brands sell Russian Earl Grey in bags, one of them promising springtime in St. Petersburg from a tea that comes from Central Europe. His history of the samovar is on our blog: The Samovar: Kettle, Stove, Teapot and History.
Smoky Earl Grey
Smoky versions use Lapsang Souchong, a black tea from the Wuyi region of Fujian whose leaves are smoked over pinewood fires. Ours took a different route to the smoke. Our Cannon Earl Grey used a high-fired tea, whose firing gave it hints of firewood and a slight hint of tobacco. The cup was robust, smooth, tangy and strong, with an undertone of wood smoke. It was the blend Shruti Tripuraneni had in mind for “those with an especially adventurous palate.”
French Earl Grey
French Earl Grey adds rose petals, for a sweet aroma with a fruity and floral taste. It fits the French style as Keen described it: “French tea is designer tea,” made with good but not outstanding leaf and plenty of added sweetness and aroma. If you like rose with your black tea, our Mountain Rose Black is a rose-scented black tea without the bergamot.
What about green, white, oolong and rooibos Earl Grey?
Changing the base makes a lighter Earl Grey, but green and white teas are delicate, so blenders usually soften the bergamot with flowers or vanilla; rooibos makes a caffeine-free version.Read more
Keen put it plainly: green and white Earl Greys “don’t stand up well to bergamot and many use cornflowers, vanilla, chocolate, and lavender to add a softer flavoring.” Two of our own versions on these bases did the same, adding jasmine, marigold, cornflower, lavender, white rose and gardenia.
The base also sets the caffeine. Shruti Tripuraneni suggested that “someone who prefers a low-caffeine tea is sure to enjoy our oolong and green tea Earl Grey blends.” Our 2016 sheets rated the Darjeeling green and white Earl Greys low for caffeine and the Assam ones high.
Rooibos Earl Grey replaces the tea altogether. Rooibos is a plant native to South Africa, traditionally used for tisanes, that turns reddish brown as it dries and is brewed as “red bush tea.” With no tea leaf, it has no caffeine. We have not made a rooibos Earl Grey.
Which Earl Greys has Teabox made?
We have made about ten Earl Greys since 2015, on Assam, Nilgiri and Darjeeling teas; today the range centers on Classic Earl Grey Citrus Black.
We have made several of these ourselves. In 2015 our tasters sampled 80-odd versions while developing an Earl Grey range. Our 2016 range sheets show how each one was built.
On black tea
- Classic Earl Grey: Assam black tea with pure bergamot extract, made for one steep and, in the 2016 sheet, to be enjoyed without any additives. It is the one still on sale.
- Breakfast Earl Grey: long, wiry, golden-tipped Assam leaf that released a sunset orange color and a strong, malty flavor, with a bright coppery infusion. Tea 101 called it one of the most popular of our range.
- Cannon Earl Grey: our smoky one, on a high-fired tea with hints of firewood and tobacco, described above.
- Royale Earl Grey: a Nilgiri black tea with bergamot, the fragrance of jasmine blossoms and muted hints of eucalyptus, good for two steeps.
- Muscat Earl Grey: Darjeeling muscatel tea with a lemon twist, the muscatel being the grape-like note of Darjeeling’s summer teas.
On green and white tea, and in chai
- Jasmine Earl Grey: a Nilgiri green tea with bergamot, jasmine, a little marigold and a few cornflower petals, brewed cooler, at 80–85°C.
- Blossom Earl Grey: Darjeeling white tea with bergamot, lavender, white rose and gardenia, which brewed a pollen-yellow cup and gave two steeps.
- Green Earl Grey: Darjeeling green tea whose citrus flavor was reminiscent of lime zest. A musician we profiled in 2017 kept it on his short list of favorite teas.
- Earl Grey Chai: CTC black tea with bergamot, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and dry ginger, the one Earl Grey we designed to take milk like a classic chai. Tea 101 called it “an Anglo-Indian blend.”
Lavender Earl Grey
Our Lavender Earl Grey pack describes “a classic Earl Grey’s citrusy bergamot flavor infused with the delicate softness of lavender.” It went into our 2019 Christmas gift box alongside Classic Earl Grey.
It was black tea with cornflower, bergamot oil and lavender. Our tasters found top notes of orange candy and galangal with the lavender at the back, a medium-bodied yet vibrant cup that the lavender made rounder, and notes of oak wood. They suggested it for the evening, at 80–85°C for 4 minutes, good for two steeps.
Over the years Teabox has also blended a Green Earl Grey, an Earl Grey Chai and a Muscat Earl Grey on a Darjeeling muscatel base. Today the range centers on Classic Earl Grey Citrus Black.
Keep reading
Sources
- Teabox Tea 101: The Earl Grey tea; How to prepare Earl Grey tea; Earl Grey: For flavors and for health; English breakfast; Russian Caravan
- Teabox blog: Tea: A Blended History (2016), Tea in France: Not What You Might Expect (2016), English Breakfast: The Baseline Black Tea (2016), The Beginner’s Guide to Choosing a Darjeeling (2017), From history, a long and complicated relationship with tea (2017), At a fast clip: Shipping tea from China (2017), The Samovar: Kettle, Stove, Teapot and History (2016), The Tea Navigation Paths: Artisan and Agribusiness (2017), Jasmine Teas: A Scent of Perfection (2016), Cooking With Mom! (2016), The musician and his tea (2017), A Blender of Teas (2015)
- Teabox blog (Still Steeping, not currently published): How to Choose Your Earl Grey, Peter GW Keen, 2016, with reader comments; Earl Grey ft. Teabox, Meeta Sharma, 2015
- Teabox product descriptions and product data (tasting notes, grade, ingredients, caffeine rating, brewing card, cups per pack), 2026: Classic Earl Grey Citrus Black, English Breakfast Black, Classic Assam Black, Mountain Rose Black, Lavender Earl Grey (unlisted)
- Teabox Drive: Earl Grey range sheets, 2016: Teabox internal document, Teabox internal document, Teabox internal document, Teabox internal document, Teabox internal document, Teabox internal document, Teabox internal document, Teabox internal document; Teabox internal document, 2015; Teabox internal document, 2023; photos as credited
- Teabox on Instagram (@teabox.tea): Caribou Sky gift box, Dec 2019, Vivant gift box, Dec 2020, three most aromatic teas, Sep 2021, Earl Grey plum cake, Nov 2021, our most popular gift, Mar 2022, eleven chais, Jan 2018
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