Earl Grey
Earl Grey is a bergamot-scented blended tea with no fixed recipe, no single origin and no processing style of its own; it is defined entirely by the bergamot applied to the base. The quality range is enormous because both the base tea and the bergamot source vary widely, and the single most important fact about any given Earl Grey is whether the bergamot is cold-pressed natural oil or synthetic flavoring.
Natural bergamot oil, cold-pressed from the bergamot orange, smells round, complex and citrus-floral; synthetic bergamot flavoring smells sharp, single-dimensional and sometimes slightly medicinal. This is the primary quality differentiator and is usually detectable on the dry leaf before any brewing. The base tea matters: a well-sourced Chinese keemun or Ceylon base with natural character produces a more complex cup than a flavorless commodity grade, which many cheaper Earl Greys use precisely because the bergamot covers it. Fine-cut orthodox leaf holds the scent better across multiple brews than fannings or dust.
Most Earl Grey uses a black tea base: 90-95°C, 3 g per 200 ml, 2.5-3 minutes. Green-base or oolong-base Earl Grey exists and requires lower temperature (75-85°C) to avoid bitterness from the base tea. Do not oversteep; bergamot amplifies bitterness from over-extracted black tea.
English Breakfast
The benchmark blended black without flavoring; comparing the two reveals exactly what the bergamot adds and what the base tea contributes.
Keemun
One of the traditional base teas for premium Earl Grey; drinking it unflavored alongside the Earl Grey version makes the bergamot-base relationship concrete.
Lapsang Souchong
The other famous heavily modified black tea (by smoke rather than bergamot); together they frame how far a black tea base can be transformed by a scenting agent.
Bergamot oil in commercial Earl Grey is frequently natural-identical synthetic compound (primarily linalyl acetate plus linalool) rather than cold-pressed bergamot rind. The terms natural bergamot flavor and natural flavors on an ingredient list permit this substitution. Producers using actual bergamot oil and paying the agricultural premium typically say so explicitly, and the difference in the cup is noticeable.