A good Earl Grey recipe is actually flavoured with Earl Grey. If you’ve tried a bunch of recipes before, you’ll know that it’s a tricky endeavour. Earl Grey teas tend to have quite light black tea bases and the bergamot oils disappear into thin air when you apply too much heat.
So, with a little (okay, a lot) of experimenting, I’ve found 5 earl grey tea recipes that genuinely work. I’ve linked to some of these recipes below and you can find my recommendations for which brand of Earl Grey tea you should use.
Earl Grey Biscuits
The numerous cookie and biscuit recipes I’ve tried have nearly always failed. From infusing the leaves overnight and adding it as liquid, to even infusing melted butter with the tea. Apparently, the fats in the butter hold onto the Earl Grey flavour better.
Rubbish. It just didn’t work.
The best Earl Grey biscuit recipe I’ve tried is from kitchn – but it needs a little tweaking. First, it’s an American cookie recipe so you will need to measure things in cups. Second, the proportions are so wrong. They nearly always spread. To prevent spreading and get nice biscuits that snap, add 2 tbsp of flour on top of what the recipe recommends, and ignore ½ cup of butter – use 100g of butter instead. Bake at 180°C (fan) for 8-10 minutes.
The reason this recipe works so well is because you actually put the entire tea into the biscuits. Very finely chopped tea leaves work well in this recipe – they give the biscuits flavour but don’t add a gritty texture. Look for bergamot flavouring instead of natural oils too. This enhances the citrusy flavour.
Some tea brands that work well with this recipe:
- Twinings Earl Grey
- Ahmad Tea London Earl Grey
- Any own-brand supermarket Earl Grey
London Fog
This is a fun recipe to do at home. It can be sweet and full of syrup like the Starbucks version, or you can make it healthier. An Earl Grey latte is simply hot Earl Grey tea topped with foamy milk, flavoured with extra vanilla if desired.
I recommend starting with a high-quality loose leaf Earl Grey base that you can brew precisely. Try:
You don’t need to add vanilla at this point, although a few drops of vanilla extract tastes great. I recommended the smoky Earl Grey from Whittard because the Lapsang Souchong is brilliant in a London Fog too. You could add other flavours as well – a few drops of almond extract, lavender water, or even a small amount of hot chocolate powder.
Once your tea is brewed, heat your milk and froth it up. Pour on top of your tea and you’re ready to go.
Sweet Iced Tea Earl Grey Recipe
When it comes to iced teas, there’s just so much room for variety. My all-time favourite is Earl Grey cold brewed in the fridge, then served over ice with honey, rosemary and lemon. It’s sweet, refreshing and doesn’t overpower the natural bergamot of the tea.
Some other recipes I’ve found include Twinings’ Earl Grey Ginger Fizz Iced Tea and Alpha Foodie’s Blackberry Earl Grey Iced Tea.
You could add any flavour you like to your Earl Grey iced tea, however. I find that citrus flavours play nicely with the bergamot flavouring. So, brew two tablespoons of Earl Grey loose leaf (or roughly 4 teabags) in a litre of water until quite dark. Then add your sweeteners that need to dissolve while it’s still hot, like honey and sugar. Once completely chilled in the fridge, pour it into glasses with ice and a splash of fruit squash or cordial. Lime, elderflower, blood orange, and lavender are all top choices.
In my experience these Earl Grey teas work best when served cold (it cuts the bitterness a little):
Tea-Infused Fruitcake
This recipe is the hardest to get right because fruitcakes tend to be very dense with fruit and malty in flavour. The bergamot is overpowered so easily that you need to be wise. Avoid sultanas and those packets of mixed berries designed for fruitcakes – their flavour is so strong that only a malty Assam can really break through and add tea flavour.
My greatest success used fresh figs and almonds (pictured above).
Sneaky Veg has an Earl Grey Tea and Rhubarb Loaf Cake that I am yet to try, but very excited about. If you wanted to start smaller, then simple fruity muffins infused with Earl Grey are nice. Raspberries and blueberries are great in muffins, as they melt down when baked. You could also try a classic lemon poppyseed muffin with Earl Grey. Lemon and Earl Grey is a classic combo.
Very strong Earl Grey teas are the key here:
Gin and Earl Grey Recipe
G and Tea is a thing! Personally, I dislike gin and tonic and any other gin-containing drink. But I know quite a few people who are mad about them, so I want to offer a G&Tea option with Earl Grey on my list.
I’ve been told that delicate, citrus and floral flavours work quite well with a gin and tonic. A slice of lemon or lime or even orange is nice. Elderflower tonic is popular too.
Whittard have some cocktail recipes that include Mango & Bergamot G&T, and an Earl Grey Martini! I recommend you use these recipes as a base to get your proportions/method right, but experiment with the tea types you use. Some Earl Greys I think would work nice in cocktails:
That concludes my list! If you want to find more Earl Grey teas to try, browse my blog for full tea reviews. And don’t forget to subscribe to our mailing list for new reviews, articles and recipes sent straight to your inbox.