Is Earl Grey Tea natural or synthetic?

A fantasy or concept note, not a single material.

Earl Grey Tea

AccordGREENS, HERBS & FOUGEREScitrus · fresh · warm

TopPyramid

—Strength

—Tenacity

4Origins

Editorial noteWe own no rights to this material, its name or its trademark. This entry is independent editorial journalism, published under freedom of expression.

Specimen

Camellia sinensis (tea) flavored with Citrus bergamia (bergamot)

Fantasy/Concept

Definition

Earl Grey tea is black tea flavoured with bergamot oil.

CITRUS FRESH FRUITY FLORAL BALSAMIC

Type: Accord
Olfactive family: Citrus
Subfamily: Citrus fruits
Cluster: Classic citrus
Source: Black tea flavoured with bergamot oil

Instruments

Pyramid

TTop

HHeart

BBase

Producing countries

China India Kenya (tea) Italy (bergamot)

Scent

Bergamot oil, the flavouring of Earl Grey, is described as fresh, zesty and lavender-like. It has an extremely rich, sweet and fruity top note, followed by floral and balsamic undertones. Earl Grey is sometimes blended with lapsang souchong tea, which lends a smoky character.

In PREMIEREPEAU

DISCOVERY SET7 × 2 ml →EXTRAIT DE PARFUMThe seven extraits →

The Full Story

What it is

Earl Grey tea is a blend of black China teas flavoured with bergamot oil. Traditionally it was made from black teas such as Chinese keemun and was therefore meant to be served without milk. Occasionally, green or oolong leaves replace the black tea leaves. Many, if not most, Earl Greys use other natural or artificial flavours or synthetic oils instead, which is cheaper and gives a longer shelf-life.

The name Earl Grey, as applied to tea, is not a registered trademark. Numerous tea companies produce their own versions, using a wide variety of tea leaves and additives.

Tea leaves

Tea is made from the leaves of Camellia sinensis, an evergreen shrub of the family Theaceae. Like other black teas, the tea leaves used in Earl Grey are green when harvested and undergo oxidation during processing. This changes their chemical composition and gives a darker colour and a stronger flavour. Green tea usually loses its flavour within a year, while black tea retains its flavour for several years.

Bergamot

Bergamot orange (Citrus bergamia) is a small citrus tree that blossoms during the winter. It is a probable hybrid of the lemon and bitter orange. The fruit is the size of an orange, with a yellow or green colour similar to a lime, depending on ripeness. It is grown extensively in Calabria, Italy, which accounts for 90% of the world's bergamot oil production.

Bergamot oil

Bergamot essential oil is a complex mixture of many classes of organic substances, including terpenes, esters, alcohols and aldehydes. Its volatile fraction includes limonene (25-53%), linalool (2-20%) and linalyl acetate (15-40%). Linalyl acetate is the acetate ester of linalool and one of the principal components of the essential oils of bergamot. The characteristic flavor of citrus oils is mainly provided by linalool, citral and linalyl acetate. Bergamot essential oil contains a significant amount of bergapten, a phototoxic substance that gets its name from the bergamot orange.

—

Related: 4 Methylanisole · Almaciga · Arnica · Assam Tea · Calycanthus · Camphor · Canvas · Carvone

History

The earliest reference to tea flavoured with bergamot dates to 1824, but the article in question makes no mention of Earl Grey. Bergamot seems to have been used to enhance the taste of low-quality teas. The use of bergamot as a flavouring and scent long predates any connection with Earl Grey; it was added to snuff early in the eighteenth century. In 1837, charges were laid against a company accused of secretly adding bergamot to misrepresent its tea as a superior product and sell it at a higher price.

It has been suggested that the blend was named after Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, British Prime Minister in the 1830s. The Grey family says that a Chinese mandarin blended the tea specially for Lord Grey to suit the water at Howick Hall. Jacksons of Piccadilly say that Lord Grey gave the recipe to George Charlton, partner at Robert Jackson & Co., in 1830.

Old advertisements of the 1850s and 1860s refer to Grey's Tea or Grey's mixture, the earliest being attributed to a tea merchant named William Grey in 1852. The first example of the term Earl Grey tea in the records of the Oxford English Dictionary was dated 1929, though Earl Grey's mixture was known from 1891.

Did You Know?

The rinds of 100 bergamot oranges yield about 3 ounces (85 g) of bergamot oil. The leftover peels were traditionally made into small souvenir boxes or snuff containers. The first record of bergamot oil used in a perfume dates from 1714. Bergamot essential oil has a higher concentration of bergapten than any other citrus-based essential oil.

Extraction & Chemistry

Extraction method

The oil is obtained by rasping and cold pressing the fruit peel. Modern methods use machines called peelers, which scrape the outside of the fruit under running water; the emulsion is channeled into centrifuges that separate the essence from the water.

Formula: Complex natural mixture (key constituents: linalyl acetate C₁₂H₂₀O₂; linalool)
Botanical: Camellia sinensis (tea) flavored with Citrus bergamia (bergamot)
Appearance: Blend of tea leaves and bergamot orange rinds

IFRA status

See note

No IFRA Standard for the material itself (51st Amendment)

Physical properties

Note: Bergamot oil component: relative density 0.875–0.883 and refractive index 1.4640–1.4690, both at 20 °C

In Perfumery

Bergamot oil, the flavouring of Earl Grey, is particularly used in floral top notes to accompany tea and citrus accords. It is also used in the heart of woody or ambery compositions to add freshness. Bergamot is the mainstay of the first modern perfume accord: cologne. From the beginning of the 18th century to the present day, bergamot has been used in all types of perfume to bring freshness and naturalness to the fragrance. Bergamot essential oil has also been used in cosmetics, aromatherapy, and as a flavoring in food and beverages.

Role in the formula

01modifier

02signature note

03lifting agent

04blender

05volume builder

06freshness

Available as

synthetic accord fantasy note