# The Earl Grey Horror **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2010, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earl-grey-horror/551207 "2010-08-23T21:13:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gulo\_gulo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bcef8e/32.png) [@Gulo\_gulo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gulo_gulo)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earl-grey-horror/551207/41 "2010-08-24T14:40:54Z")
I will do unholy things for Murchie’s Earl Grey tea. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earl-grey-horror/551207/42 "2010-08-24T15:35:23Z")
I love Earl Grey, especially in the afternoons. Actually, I like Twinings Lady Grey even better. Licorice? It’s oil of bergamot. (My wife hates the scent. She says it smells like beetles.) ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earl-grey-horror/551207/43 "2010-08-24T16:21:21Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > I love Earl Grey, especially in the afternoons. Actually, I like Twinings Lady Grey even better. > > Licorice? It’s oil of bergamot. (My wife hates the scent. She says it smells like beetles.) 😕:dubious: Does she go around smelling insects? How does she know what beetles smell like? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earl-grey-horror/551207/44 "2010-08-24T16:24:35Z")
I think we have another cilantro here - I am stunned by how some people are perceiving bergamot. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earl-grey-horror/551207/45 "2010-08-24T16:25:09Z")
Apparently where she grew up, there are some very strong-smelling insects. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earl-grey-horror/551207/46 "2010-08-24T16:55:03Z")
I am one of the Cilantro haters, but I love, love, love bergamot. In fact, I carry a bottle of bergamot extract (“bergaptene free!”) so that I can have Earl Grey any time I want it. Still, I can see how rancid bergamot might taste as the OP describes. I’m betting we’re discusing a bad batch here. I go for the Gevalia Earl Grey, which has enough bergamot to be used as a sachet. But then I eat lemons like apples, so YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![JohnM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/848f3c/32.png) [@JohnM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnM)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earl-grey-horror/551207/47 "2010-08-24T17:28:27Z")
I used to enjoy Earl Grey, usually Twinings or something similar. Then a friend gave me a can of Fortnum & Mason Earl Grey, and the taste put me off it forever. The bergamot taste was so strong it tasted “chemical”, for lack of a better adjective, and I don’t think I’ve drunk a cup of Earl Grey since. And, as a data point, cilantro lover. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earl-grey-horror/551207/48 "2010-08-24T18:26:35Z")
Earl grey, half and half, and honey. Nothing else can compare. ---
**Author:** ![Lagavulin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ea5d25/32.png) [@Lagavulin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lagavulin)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earl-grey-horror/551207/49 "2010-08-24T18:43:16Z")
Milky black tea (preferably Tetley) = nothin’ finer Earl Grey = blech blech blech If I can’t put milk in it I don’t want it ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earl-grey-horror/551207/50 "2010-08-24T18:45:21Z")
I always drink Earl Grey with milk and sugar. ---
**Author:** ![Elysian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c77e96/32.png) [@Elysian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elysian)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earl-grey-horror/551207/51 "2010-08-24T19:00:51Z")
Earl Grey should have a very delicate scent and flavour, and should have a jot of milk, but no sugar (sugar overwhelms the flavour). If you are finding it too strong you probably oversteeped it - just pop it in boiling water for a minute, perhaps two. I also enjoy Lady Grey, and I agree with several posters that Twinings have a very good version of both teas. Just make sure the water is boiling and don’t allow it to steep for too long. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earl-grey-horror/551207/52 "2010-08-24T19:01:01Z")
Earl Grey’s ok, but the best is Darjeeling or a good green jasmine. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earl-grey-horror/551207/53 "2010-08-24T19:05:31Z")
> [@Elysian](#): > > Earl Grey should have a very delicate scent and flavour, and should have a jot of milk, but no sugar (sugar overwhelms the flavour). I get the flavor just fine with sugar. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earl-grey-horror/551207/54 "2010-08-24T19:06:22Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > If you just order “tea”, you’ll get black tea - usually English breakfast, Assam or similar. You’ll only get Earl Grey if you specifically ask for Earl Grey - it can in no way be described as “the most popular variety” of black tea. You could well be right, as I’m just going by my memory or what teas are sold in the grocery stores I go to. Based on my recollection of the shelves, it certainly looks like Earl Grey is the most popular. (Although perhaps the preponderance of E.G. on the shelves is because everyone else is buying those namby-pamby teas!) I just find it incomprehensible that people would like other black teas but not Earl Grey. The suggestion that people’s taste for bergamot may be like people’s taste toward cilantro seems like a solid theory. (I drink Earl Grey every day and love it.) ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earl-grey-horror/551207/55 "2010-08-24T19:28:15Z")
Although intellectually I know it won’t, Bergamot tastes enough like lemon that I always feel like it’s going to curdle the milk. I’m not a milk and suagr type anyway, but I especially don’t want them anywhere near my Earl Grey. JohnM was it an ammonia note, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earl-grey-horror/551207/56 "2010-08-24T19:57:09Z")
A long time ago I enjoyed Earl Grey (Twining), lightly steeped, plain. Then I discovered Oolong tea and I tranferred my loyalties. But those are both lightweights. My favourite tea when I mean business is Lapsang Souchong. That’s a solid cup of tea. But then I like Laphroaig and Lagavulin Single Malts best and the tea and whiskies feel somewhat related. ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earl-grey-horror/551207/57 "2010-08-25T01:46:00Z")
Damn, another thread I killed. Any other Earl Grey lovers/haters out there? Any drink in literature that you expected to love, but hated instead? I remember reading about mead in some fairy tales when I was a child. When I first tasted the stuff, blech! ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earl-grey-horror/551207/58 "2010-08-25T02:08:00Z")
> [@Canadjun](#): > > It’s my favourite kind of tea and I’m not even a Brit! “Pickled salted licorice”??!! Are you sure someone didn’t tamper with your package and substitute Lapsang Souchong tea for the Earl Grey tea? Now that stuff will rot your socks! This agression against my beloved Lapsang will not stand! I can get behind the Earl Grey hatred, but Lapsang reigns supreme. It’s smoked so hard, it tastes like you’re drinking wood smoke out of a wood burning stove. Puts hair on your chest! That’s a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earl-grey-horror/551207/59 "2010-08-25T02:21:50Z")
I thought it was more like drinking strained gun powder…I didn’t dislike it. Because I like Scotch, too. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earl-grey-horror/551207/60 "2010-08-25T02:35:27Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > I thought it was more like drinking strained gun powder…I didn’t dislike it. Because I like Scotch, too. Tell me you don’t smoke. The Beatles were only kidding about filling The Royal Albert Hall with holes… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earl-grey-horror/551207.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-earl-grey-horror/551207.md?page=4)