England - Who the heck was Earl Grey?

Who the heck was Earl Grey?

You´ve heard his name many times and you may even be calling his name out loud on a daily basis! (Like I do when I´m ordering tea at my local café.) But have you ever wondered who the heck the actual Earl Grey was?

Yes, I´m talking about the man who gave name to the tea!

Earl Grey the tea

Earl Grey is my number one favorite tea! It is a black tea with a taste of bergamot (Citrus bergamia), a type of citrus fruit from Italy that is a mix between lemon and bitter orange. The tea became popular among England’s high societies in the 1800s and the bergamot may originally have been a way to disguise bad quality tea or water!

Painting of women gathering around a cup of tea by the french/german/peruvian painter Albert Lynch

The tea has been around since at least the year 1824, if not longer, so it´s natural that we today have different variants of the popular tea. Like for example the Earl Grey Green tea, Lady Grey and Russian Earl Grey. There is even one with a lavender flavor and also a oolong based Earl Grey exists. But the original blend of Earl Grey was based on a black tea like Chinese keemun.

So who was Earl Grey the guy?

There has actually been several Earl Greys. The first Earl Grey was a military man who fought many wars and in 1777 his men started calling him No-flint Grey after he ordered them to extract the flints from their muskets and fight with bayonets only.
Whether or not the first Earl liked tea or not remains unknown, but we know for a fact that the second Earl Gray did!

Stamps depicting Earl Grey the 2nd and his fellow prime ministers

Earl Grey the 2nd was the son of No-flint Grey. He was born in 1764 in Howick Hall, the ancestral home of the Greys. He grew up to be a politician, had 16 children with his wife and in 1830 he eventually became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The 2nd Earl was part of abolishing Slavery in the British Empire. In addition to that he very much liked the black tea with the bergamot flavor.

Is Earl Grey tea named after Earl Grey the guy?

So IS Earl Grey, the tea, named after Earl Grey 2nd,, the guy?
According to Oxford English Dictionary the earliest reference of a black tea with bergamot flavor is from 1824 and although Earl Grey 2nd was alive and kicking at that point, there is no actual proof that links the tea to him.

In fact there are several theories on WHY the tea is called Earl Grey and many are the parties who want to take credit for inventing the famous tea blend in the first place. The most famous versions of the story are:

– And that Earl Grey the 2nd him self traveled to China, found the tea blend there and liked it so much that he decided to bring it with him to England.

– That the blend was made by William Grey & co, a tea dealer who later added the title Earl to the tea, to make the tea sound more posh.

– Or that the tea was created by Sir Joseph Banks, a botanist at Kew Gardens, who was closely linked to the East India Company.

– In addition to these theories both Twinings and Jackson’s of Piccadilly have claimed the tea as their own inventions.

“If your pockets and palates you both want to please,
Buy William Grey’s finest of Teas,
His, at Four Shillings, is unequale’d they say,
Then come with your money, and purchase of Grey.”

Conclusion

Whether or not the tea was named after the famous 2nd Earl Grey remains a mystery, but I think it´s fair to suspect that the tea blend probably originally was created in China!
But where ever it came from, I´m happy it has lived on so I can continue enjoying my favorite tea!

Here I´m enjoying afternoon tea at the Royal Drury Lane in London

Drink tea in Earl Greys home

The Greys family home, the Howick Hall, is located in Alnwick in northern England and is now open for visitors. For a 12 euros entrance fee you can peak around the Greys gardens and the ground floor of the Howick Hall, learning more about the family and the plants in their garden.

Howick Hall the family home of Earl Grey is open for the public

And if you ever wished you could sit down with the actual Earl Grey 2nd and enjoy a cup – you can almost do that here. The 2nd Earl is unfortunately no longer with us, but in “The Earl Grey tea house” hosted on the premise, you at least can treat your self to some tea, knowing that the Earl might as well have enjoyed his brew in the same room!

Xoxo/ Salla V

Read also my blog post on the Origins of the British tea tradition!

England – Who the heck was Earl Grey?