Earl Grey

A classic red tea bergamot blend known far and wide throughout the west. The origin story of Earl Grey is actually split somewhere between two tales:

1. Charles Grey, second of his name, was served this tea by a Chinese Mandarin after either a formal visit during his term as Prime Minister or alternatively one of his men saved the Mandarin’s son and he was gifted this tea in gratitude. It should be noted that certain large companies also lay claim to the origins of this tea.  

2. Tea merchants in the United Kingdom circulated a tea named “Grey’s Tea”, and later added “Earl” in an effort to make it seem more posh. 

There are, however, holes in these stories. Aside from the fact that Lord Grey allegedly never visited The Middle Kingdom; bergamot was also not known or circulated in China then, much less popularized. So we have a third theory: that an over-eager British tea merchant shipped over several tons more fresh green tea than he could reasonably keep from spoiling and unintentionally ruined his entire ship's cargo in his voyage across the seas. After shipping a large batch of fresh green tea leaves over a long distance in poor, salty, hot, and humid conditions the end-result would have been an overcooked and semi-fermented batch of half-rotten leaves with an axe to grind and a funky taste to match. After arriving home with a batch of horrid, mutant, nearly-oolong/red/black tea and no recourse this merchant might have then thought "Why not double down?". 

Adding Bergamot to mask the smell and taste might have been the perfect solution for a desperate merchant under those circumstances-- and what philistine would dare turn their nose up at a tea named after the Earl?

Regardless of the origin, we've since managed to refine the process to something quite a ways more intentional and have learned to produce a varietal that is equal parts floral, tasty, and soothing in both aroma and taste. This is that tea.