3 Of The Best Earl Grey Tea Blends: Add A Little Extra Flavor To The Classic

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Welcome to our look at some of the best Earl Grey tea Blends that you can try right now. If Earl Grey doesn’t do it for you in its natural classic form then maybe adding a little bit of extra flavor to it is what’s going to make it one of your favorite teas to drink.

You can add just about anything to Earl Grey tea and create your own blends but here are some of the most popular and easy to make Earl Grey tea blends for your consideration.

Be sure to experiment with these Blends and with the ones that you create yourself to find the perfect cup of Earl Grey tea so that you can enjoy the wonderful flavor of this classic black tea.

You can check out my Earl Grey tea flavor profile to get an idea of how Earl Grey tea should taste before you jump into these Earl Grey tea blends.


twinnings earl grey tea tins
Earl Grey Tea Makes For A Wonderful Tea Blend

Earl Grey And Ginger Tea

Earl Grey and ginger tea is a fantastic place to start our look at these earl grey tea blends. It combines one of the most popular and beneficial herbal teas with the venerable old favorite.

How Does Earl Grey And Ginger Tea Taste?

I love ginger tea. I think it’s a great drink to have on its own. But ginger tea really shines when you start adding it to other teas to create these wonderful tea Blends.

I like to add Ginger to just about any tea and see if it works out and that’s how I came to Earl Grey ginger tea.

I think it worked well but it’s probably going to be a very acquired taste for most people out there.  So let’s dive into the flavor profile of the ginger tea and Earl Grey tea blend and see what it looks like under the hood.

ginger root
Ginger Root Adds A Spicy Kick To Your Earl Grey Tea

Smooth and Citrusy

The ginger does nothing to diminish the citrusy and smooth flavor of the Earl Grey tea. The classic flavor notes are still present and still very much dominant in this wonderful Earl Grey tea blend.

That’s not to say that the ginger doesn’t bring a whole lot to this blend but it doesn’t take away from the flavors that are already there.

Spicey And Peppery

So what exactly does the ginger bring to this tea blend? Well, it brings its incredibly unique spicy flavor that you know instantly comes from ginger root.

It’s such a potent and Powerful flavor that really needs no introduction. The spicy and peppery flavor of the ginger brings a level of crispness and refreshment to the malty strong Earl Grey tea.

A Little Earthy

Ginger tea has a bit of an earthy flavor, a common theme for root herbal teas, to it when you drink it alone and it does bring a bit of that hurricane is over to the Earl Grey tea blend.

It’s not overwhelming and in a lot of cases, it may not be detectable by many people unless they’re actually kind of looking for the earthy flavor. But I thought that it was enough of a flavor note to mention it in the flavor profile here.

Making A Cup Of Earl Grey Ginger Tea

Making a cup of the wonderful ginger Earl Grey tea blend is simple and you can do it any time with just a couple slices of fresh ginger.

  • A couple of slices of fresh ginger to boiling water and let them steep for about 5-10 minutes
  • Let the water cool to around 205°F/96°C
  • Steep 2 teaspoons of loose-leaf Earl Grey tea or 1 Earl Grey tea bag in the ginger-infused water.
  • A 5 minute steep should work well
  • Cover while steeping and enjoy.

The Earl Grey And Ginger Tea Finish

While this might not be the most popular or mainstream Earl Grey tea blend I find it be a very satisfying crisp and refreshing cup of tea. The ginger is a perfect counterpart to the Citrus of the Earl Grey tea adding some incredibly complex flavor to this already wonderful black tea.

Ginger  Earl Grey tea really shines on a chilly morning during the holiday season. The snappiness and spiciness of the ginger mixed with v caffeine from the Earl Grey tea can really perk you up in the morning and the aromas from the citrusy Bergamot and the peppery Ginger can really open up your airways and wake you up like few other beverages.


lavender fields
Lavender Brings A Wonderful Floral Note To Your Earl Grey Tea

Earl Grey And Lavender Tea

Earl Grey lavender tea is probably one of the more popular Earl Grey tea Blends that you’re going to find. It’s pretty easy to make on your own but there are plenty of tea companies out there that make their own pre-packaged brand of lavender Earl Grey tea.

One of the reasons that this blend is so popular is because the lavender flavor compliments the Earl Grey tea very well.  I think the lavender helps to smooth out the earl grey a little bit and make it even more drinkable. Which is saying a lot because Earl Grey is a smooth and very drinkable black tea, to begin with.

What Does Earl Grey And Lavender Tea Taste Like?

Lavender Earl Grey tea has a pretty complex flavor profile.  you have the base flavors of the Earl Grey tea mixed with the herbal flower infusion of the lavender tea which creates this wonderful blend of classic black tea taste with and herbal Floral flavor.

Let’s break down each little flavor note and find out exactly what you can expect from this wonderful Earl Grey tea blend.

A Citrusy And Malty Black Tea

Make no mistake about it this is still an Earl Grey tea. So you get all the wonderful flavors of the Earl Grey tea with the added benefit of the lavender.

What that means is you’re going to get that wonderful Bergamot Citrus flavor from the Bergamot oils that are infused with the black tea leaves.

You’re also going to get that wonderful malty flavor of a good black tea.  it really is in Earl Grey tea at its Essence and you will undoubtedly notice the base flavor of the tea is that wonderful classic Earl Grey flavor.

A Lovely Floral Note

I feel like Earl Grey tea has a tiny bit of floral flavor in it, to begin with.  But when you add the lavender to the Earl Grey tea this is where you get a wonderful floral flavor that really changes the complexion of the Earl Grey tea.

The floral flavor from the lavender is probably the biggest addition to the Earl Grey tea and the one that you’re going to notice right off the bat. Even before you steep your tea you’re going to smell that wonderful lavender Aroma coming out of the tea bags or the loose leaf tea blend that you’re going to make.

It is a delightful taste that really makes a great cup of Earl tea even that much better because it adds to the flavor complexity of the Earl Grey tea.

Little Bit Of Mint

Sometimes you just get it in your head that there is a flavor in the tea and no one can tell you otherwise. That is exactly how I feel with the tiniest bit of mint flavor in lavender Earl Grey tea.

Lavender is a part of the mint family and lavender tea by itself has a little bit of a mint flavor. It’s reasonable to think that the strong Earl Grey flavor would just cover up that minting is but I always seem to detect it, especially when using loose-leaf lavender and loose-leaf Earl Grey.

I think the minty flavor is even more noticeable when you blend the two loose leaves together and then let them sit in a tea tin for a little while to really mingle and combine their flavors.

I always say that the taste of tea is very subjective based on who’s drinking it. So you may drink lavender Earl Grey tea and not taste a bit of the mintiness in it.  so it might just be my imagination but I thought I’d add it into the flavor profile just in case someone else tastes a little bit of mint as well.

How To Make Earl Grey And Lavender Tea

The steeping instructions for Earl Grey Lavender tea are going to be pretty similar to making a cup of lavender tea or earl grey tea by itself. Earl Grey is not a delicate tea so you don’t have to be overly cautious with the water temperature or steep time.

You can mix the loose leaf lavender with the Earl Grey tea on a per cup basis, but for the best flavor, I like to mix them ahead of time and store them as you would any other loose leaf tea.

I like to use the excellent loose-leaf Earl Grey Tea From Art Of Tea(*affiliate link) and Starwest Botanicals Organic Lavender Flowers(*affiliate link) when I make my own Lavender Earl Grey Tea.

DIY Earl Grey Lavender Tea Recipe
  • 1 teaspoon of Lavender flowers or 1 lavender tea bag*
  • 1 teaspoon of loose-leaf earl grey tea leaves or 1 Earl Grey teabag*
  • A water temperature of around 200°F/93°C Should work well for this blend. Use this handy conversion table to find the right temperature in your metric.
  • I like to steep mine around 4 minutes, but adjust the time for personal taste
  • Use good quality water and always steep your tea covered for best results
  • Enjoy.

*If you use teabags you will want to double the amount of water or you will get a very strong cup of tea. Use 2 teaspoons of loose leaf if you have premixed your lavender and Earl Grey teas

Maybe you don’t want to craft this tea yourself? Don’t worry there are plenty of options to buy it premade. I really enjoy Twinings Lavender Earl Grey Tea Bags(*affiliate link), available on Amazon. They are a convenient way to get a taste of this wonderful tea blend.

The Lavender Earl Grey Tea Finish

I’m a big fan of Earl Grey tea and I am a big fan of lavender tea so when you put the two together you get something that is tailor-made for my taste. This wonderful Earl Grey tea blend is not going to be for everyone. If you’re not a fan of floral herbal teas then this will probably be a hard pass for you.

But if you’re open to trying new things and aren’t ready to make the jump to full lavender tea this is a good way to get a decent Taste of lavender tea while still having that classic Earl Grey flavor to back everything up.

Give it a try and see what you think of it.


vanilla beans
Vanilla Adds A New Level Of Smooth To Earl Grey Tea

Earl Grey Tea With Vanilla

Our last blend combines the smooth creamy flavor of vanilla with the citrusy earl grey. The combination is a delight to drink anytime but makes a great desert tea in particular.

The Taste Of Vanilla Earl Grey Tea

Vanilla is another are you popular blend for Earl Grey tea.  Vanilla is an ingredient that is alternator too strong beverages like coffee or black tea because it adds a bit of creamy smoothness to the overall beverage.

It works the same with the Earl Grey tea with the added benefit of having that Citrus flavor infused in the black tea leaves. Let’s Have a look at the individual flavor notes of the wonderful vanilla Earl Grey tea.

Classic Earl Grey Flavor

If you think that adding the vanilla to the earl grey is going to kill off the classic malty black tea Taste of the Earl Grey tea then you are going to be surprised.

The classic flavor of the wonderful Earl Grey tea is still front and center. The added flavor of the vanilla simply Acts as a supporting character to the Earl Grey teas’ main flavor notes.

Citrus Is Still There

A great thing about this Earl  Gray tea blend is that it is still very much a cup of Earl Grey tea. The Bergamot oil and the Citrus flavor that it brings to the tea is still front and center and not diminished it all by adding some vanilla into the mix.

You get that wonderful citrusy flavor of the bergamot that really makes the Earl Grey tea special and unique.

A Smooth Vanilla Finish

The vanilla brings an incredible creamy smoothness to the flavor profile of the Earl Grey tea.  It might not seem like a natural match to bring vanilla and the Citrus flavor of the Bergamot together but it works incredibly well.

I think the vanilla adds a level of preeminence that makes adding milk to your Earl Grey tea redundant. Although I don’t like adding anything to my Earl Grey tea, you might enjoy adding a little bit of milk to yours.

But with the vanilla flavor, I think you might be surprised by how drinkable it is without anything else added to it. Give it a try with nothing I was at it and see if it might just work for you.

How To Make Vanilla Earl Grey Tea

There are a few places where you can get vanilla Earl Grey tea pre-made. You have to be careful because there are often a lot of other ingredients that are thrown in there with it. 

At the end of the section, I’ll give you an option that has vanilla Earl Grey tea bags but I recommend crafting this Blended to yourself and storing it so you have it whenever you want to come.

Just to be clear this is just an Earl Grey vanilla tea. This is not a latte or anything like that that has cream or milk added to it. This is simply Earl Grey tea infused with a vanilla flavor from vanilla beans.

My Vanilla Earl Grey Tea Recipe

What I like to do is take fresh vanilla beans and slice them into tiny little pieces. I’d say maybe a quarter of an inch to 1/2 an inch thick. Then I like to take those vanilla beans put them in the container with my Earl Grey tea. 

Let them sit there for about a week or so before using it and that way the vanilla flavor really infuses with the tea leaves and sounds. You’re still going to get the chunks of vanilla in the tea that you’re going to steep but the leaves themselves will already have that wonderful vanilla flavor permeating through them.

  • 2 Teaspoons of Our Loose Leaf Vanilla Earl Grey tea mix
  • 200°F/93°C Water Should Do The Trick
  • I like to steep for about 5 minutes but the steep duration is a personal choice
  • Steep covered and enjoy. I like mine plain but if you want to add honey or milk it works wonderfully with this blend.

You can also try the Republic of Tea Earl Greyer Vanilla Tea(*affiliate link), available on Amazon, for a convenient bagged option for Earl Grey Vanilla Tea.

The Earl Grey Vanilla Tea Finish

If you want to talk about one smooth cup of Earl Grey tea then Earl Grey vanilla tea might just be the smoothest of all.

The vanilla flavor really has a nice almost creamy texture to the tea.  It certainly adds that you need vanilla Aroma to the overall tea-drinking experience.

If you don’t find Earl Grey tea smooth enough for drinkable enough for you in its original form then adding a little bit of vanilla to it might just make it  Just right for you.


Common Flavor Related Questions About Earl Grey Tea

Here are a few of the most frequently asked questions about what to add to your Earl Grey tea to change the taste or improve the flavor or make it more palatable for you to drink.  Keep in mind that any of these additions can be used for regular Earl Grey tea as well as any of the Earl Grey tea Blends on this list.

However, all of these attitudes will change the flavor of the Earl Grey tea so be sparing in your use of these ingredients or you could drown out the wonderful flavor of the Earl Grey tea and the other Earl Grey tea blends.

Do You Put Milk In Earl Grey Tea?

Milk or cream is one of the most common additions people make to their Earl Grey tea.  Milk will help smooth out the tea and give it a much creamier texture.

However milk or cream will add calories and carbohydrates to the tea.  it’s something you need to be aware of if you are on a calorie-restricted diet or I want to watch the number of carbohydrates that you take in through your beverages.

Can You Add Sugar To Earl Grey Tea?

Plain table sugar is another great way to take any of the lingering bitterness out of your Earl Grey tea.  It is probably the most common thing people put in their Earl Grey tea and in their tea in general.

A lot of times people find tea to be a little bit bitter and adding some sugar to it takes that bitterness away almost completely. Like milk, adding sugar will add calories and carbohydrates to your tea.

If you are watching your sugar intake then you need to be aware that this will be an added source of added sugar that may not be the best option if you are trying to cut back on your sugar.

Can You Put Honey In Earl Grey Tea?

A substitute that many people use for sugar is natural honey.  honey seems to have its own health benefits and will do the same job as sugar. Is probably a better option than sugar although it will still add calories in carbohydrates to your beverage.

It’s a great way to get rid of the bitterness but you have to be aware that it will add calories to your overall diet.

Is Lemon Good For Earl Grey Tea?

Earl Grey tea is already a fairly citrusy beverage due to the bergamot oil.  However many people like to add a little bit of lemon to it too boost the Citrus flavor and cut into any of the strong maltiness that they may not be the biggest fan of in Earl Grey tea.

It is easy to overdo it with lemon. It is very potent when you add it to your Earl Grey tea. If you add too much then you basically have lemon water with a little bit Earl Grey flavor.

The good news about lemon is that you can cut through any bitterness of the Earl Grey tea and not add calories as long as you’re using just natural lemon juice preferably from a slice of lemon.

So this might be a great option if you want to keep the calorie-free essence of the Earl Grey tea but add a little bit of citrus flavor to make it more palatable if you have a problem with the taste in the first place.

Is Earl Grey Tea Good For Fasting?

While not directly related to flavor this question gets brought up constantly not only for Earl Grey tea but just about every type of tea out there.

Is Earl Grey tea going to break your fast?  The answer is no. there are not enough calories in Earl Grey to really break your fast or interrupt your fasting window if you practice intermittent fasting.

There is a school of thought that says you should only drink water during a fast but most people in the intermittent fasting Community agree that tea is not going to drag you out of your fasted state.

 The one caveat is that most of the flavor options in the related questions section do I add calories to your Earl Grey tea.

Sugar, honey, milk, cream, or anything else is going to add sugar carbohydrates and calories to your tea will break your fast if you add it to your Earl Grey tea.

If you’re worried about the overall flavor and bitterness of Earl Grey tea while your ass at fasting that is where the blend on this list comes in handy.

You can blend in lavender or Ginger and help improve the taste of the Earl Grey tea and make it more palatable for you personally without adding any additional calories to your diet and without risking breaking your fast by adding a whole lot of carbohydrates and sugar.


The Last Drop Of Earl Grey

That brings us to the end of our look at some of the best Earl Grey tea blends that you can find in stores and that you can craft for yourself.

I’d raised wonderful tea all by itself.  It’s one of my favorites because of the wonderful citrusy flavor of the Bergamot oil.  It’s smooth and strong and frankly one of the best Cups of Tea you’re ever going to have.

But it’s not for everybody and some people may find it to Bitter or too strong or to whatever to drink it straight up.

And that’s the beauty of Blended teas.  You can find the combination that works for you that makes the Earl Grey tea palatable and taste just like you want it.

So I hope you try out some of these  Earl Grey tea Blends and don’t be afraid to experiment with your own flavors and ingredients to see if you can’t find other blends that are outstanding Cups of Tea in their own right.

That’s all I have for you today. Thank you for visiting and, as always, have a wonderful day.

 steaming earl grey tea in a clear glass mug