The Chinese origins of the Earl Grey Tea

Most people who like tea are familiar with the famous British Earl Grey Tea, but few know about its Chinese origins.

Yair Amir writes a cute column in the last page of the Jerusalem City Mouse city guide (Achbar Ha-ir) where he looks up answers to questions mailed to him by readers. Here’s a quick translation of the one from last week on Earl Grey:

Question: One of the small pleasures in my life is drinking tea right after I get up in the morning. In one of the recent mornings my eyes rested upon the title of the tea-box where it said "Earl Grey". Although I’ve known this tea my whole life, I really have no clue who "Earl Grey" is. Will you kindly introduce him to spice up my mornings? (Eitan Nasimov)

Answer: Eitan, good morning. [...]

Charles Grey, son to a noble well-known family, better known as Earl Grey the 2nd, was the British prime minister between 1830-1834. Earl Grey… was a very active prime minister that left a mark on many issues, and to who’s credit is the abolishment of slavery in the British Empire. He’s also responsible for one of the most important reforms in the British election system, and he has promoted laws for worker rights in the empire’s factories.

Even before he became famous as a prime minister, and from a very young age, Earl has already been politically active. At the age of 22 he was elected to parliament, and after dozens of years serving as the opposition, a minister and other roles, he finally became prime minister. He was also active in his personal life. He was father to 17 children, 16 of who came from his wife, and one daughter from his mistress.

  The years he served as prime minister were the peak of trade with the Qing dynasty of China. The British empire imported tea in big quantities. Tons of different types of tea arrived from China, a phenomena which will later give cause to the Opium wars. [...] At the time, a Chinese diplomat arrived at the royal British court introducing a new tea blend to British officials. It was a combination of simple Chinese tea blended with Bergamot oil. Presumably, the prime minister was overwhelmed with the new aroma and so he imported it regularly for the entire empire in general and to his private chambers in specific. Some even say he had something to do with the flavor through his visit to China (that either happened, or didn’t happen) or his good relations with the Chinese business men. [...]

I had no idea… :) 

Yeah, it’s a cute story but Wikipedia is a bit skeptical :

The legend usually involves a grateful Chinese mandarin whose son was rescued from drowning by one of Lord Grey’s men, although this blend of tea was first made from fermented black Indian and Ceylon teas. As green tea is much more popular in China than black tea, it seems somewhat unlikely that they would have had a recipe for what we now call Earl Grey to bestow on visitors, though over the years many other varieties of tea have been used. In addition, Lord Grey never set foot in China. Another version of the legend has the son of an Indian raja being rescued from a tiger by one of Grey’s servants.

The tea proved so popular in the Prime Minister’s drawing room that his tea merchants, Twinings in the Strand, were given a sample and asked to come up with a close match. Twinings sold the first "Earl Grey’s tea" in the British market. Twinings Earl Grey blend includes China tea, Indian Darjeeling, Ceylon, and a hint of Lapsang souchong, a strong, "smoky" black tea. Although it is often served black (without milk), it can be taken with a little milk (which lightens the colour of the drink to a greyish tone).

Either way, the subject of the China-British relations in the 19th century is absolutely fascinating, especially when it’s about something in our everyday lives.