Earl Grey tea is blended with oil extracted from what fruit?

Earl Grey tea is traditionally flavored with oil extracted from the bergamot orange.

Bergamot is a small, strongly aromatic citrus fruit known scientifically as Citrus bergamia. Tea makers mainly use the essential oil pressed or extracted from the fruit’s peel, rather than its juice or pulp. The oil gives Earl Grey its distinctive floral, lemony, and slightly bitter-citrus aroma.

Most of the world’s bergamot supply comes from Calabria in southern Italy, where the fruit thrives in the region’s climate. Traditional Earl Grey is generally a black-tea blend scented with bergamot oil, although modern versions may use green tea, oolong, natural flavorings, or synthetic flavor compounds. That is why two Earl Grey teas can taste noticeably different.

A common mix-up is confusing the bergamot orange with “wild bergamot,” a North American flowering plant in the mint family. The plant used for the tea flavor is the citrus fruit, not the herb. Lady Grey tea usually adds other citrus notes, such as orange and lemon.