Earl Grey
Creamy bergamot, hint of vanilla
Here is something that surprises people: Earl Grey is not a fixed recipe, it is a style. The one thing every Earl Grey shares is bergamot, a fragrant citrus fruit from southern Italy, used as an oil to scent the tea. Everything else, the base tea, the balance, any extra flavours, is left to the blender. So no two are quite the same.
Mine is a loose-leaf Earl Grey made to be rich and creamy. I use a good Ceylon black tea as the base, traditional bergamot, and a hint of vanilla, which gives it a rounded, almost velvety quality that I find genuinely moreish. It takes milk well, being on the creamier side, but it is equally lovely without; I would try a sip without first, since it is always easier to add milk than to take it away. And yes, it is a black tea, so there is caffeine in it.
As for how Earl Grey came to exist, there are several competing stories, and we will honestly never know for certain. A few years ago I met a descendant of Earl Grey, who told me the family version: a cook in the Grey household, fond of experimenting, one day added bergamot to the tea. The Earl was so taken with it that when he later moved to London for parliamentary business, he had the recipe sent to Twinings to blend for him. Twinings went on to sell it more widely, always calling it Earl Grey's blend, and the name stuck. True or not, I rather love it.
One last detail, in case you wondered: the little blue petals are cornflower. They are pretty but essentially flavourless; they have traditionally been added to Earl Grey so you can spot the flavoured tea at a glance.
Brew at 100°C for 3 minutes, with or without milk.
14g makes about 6 cups
"Love all the tea from Team Tea. The owner really knows her stuff." MARGARET
Black Tea, Cornflower petals, Natural flavour
1 teaspoon per cup, 100ºC, brew for 3 minutes.
All orders are shipped from the UK. Orders being sent outside of the UK may be subject to additional charges (duties, tariffs, taxes etc). The customer (receiver) will be responsible for being these charges.
We aim to dispatch orders within 2 working days, and we will notify you when your order has been dispatched.
Delivery charges are included in the price of the Club subscription boxes, and no additional delivery charges will apply. For all other orders are delivery charges are outlined below.
Delivery within the UK
| Delivery option | Timeframe* | Price |
| Taster Tins (Up to 5) |
|
£1.85 |
| Standard economy | 3 days delivery aim | £3.45 |
| Royal Mail 1st class | 1 day delivery aim |
£4.30 |
| Royal Mail Special Delivery (1pm) | Next working day |
£10.35 |
Delivery within the EU & Europe
As of August 2026, new EU packaging regulations (the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation) require businesses based outside the EU to register, and to appoint a local representative, in every individual EU country they ship to. For a small speciality tea business run by one person, meeting that in each country separately isn't workable, so we've paused shipping to the EU for now.
If you're one of our EU customers, we're sorry; this wasn't a change we wanted to make. We'll keep an eye on how the rules settle, and we hope to resume EU shipping if the requirements are adapted to leave room for small businesses. We'll update this page if anything changes.
Following Brexit, we are still exporting to Non-EU European countries, but please note that all orders are dispatched from the UK and consequently packages are likely to be subject to additional customs and duty charges. The receiver is liable for these charges. The rules are super complicated and vary country to country, so we cannot predict what those charges will be, nor are we liable for any additional charges. Please note that legally we are obliged to fill out customs declarations including the value of the parcel, and we cannot mark the items as a ‘gift’.
| Delivery option | Timeframe* | Price |
| Taster Tins (Up to 5) |
|
£5.05 |
| Royal Mail Standard | 3-5 Working Days | £12.85 |
| Royal Mail Tracked & Signed | 3-5 Working Days | £15.65 |
Delivery to the Rest of the World
Good news for our US customers! We have resumed shipping to the US. Customs fees now need to be prepaid, so we’ll calculate them manually after you place your order and send you a separate invoice. You’ll always have the option to cancel for a full refund if the fees are more than expected.
| Delivery option | Timeframe* | Price |
| Taster Tins (Up to 5) |
|
£7.20 |
| Royal Mail Standard | 5-7 Working Days | £14.95 |
| Royal Mail Tracked | 5-7 Working Days | £20.20 |
*Timeframes are taken from Royal Mail's recommendations, but at busy periods, deliveries may take a little longer.
Returns
At Team Tea we work very hard, and take care to ensure that all goods are supplied to our customers in perfect condition and that every possible precaution is taken to protect the integrity of the product that is sold. For hygiene reasons, it is our policy that we do not exchange or refund tea, except where the item is faulty.
Your statutory rights will not be affected.
Items Damaged in Transit
If you take delivery of a package from us and the contents have been damaged in transit, we will exchange the damaged items without charge to you provided you return the damaged item(s) to us within 30 days of taking delivery
Defective Items
You have the right to return a faulty item within 28 days along with proof of purchase.
Incorrect Items
If we have sent you an incorrect item, please contact us as soon as possible or within 28 days and return the incorrect item to us and specify the correct details in writing. If you would like us to replace the incorrect item with the item you ordered we will send you the correct item as soon as possible or alternatively we will refund the item once it has been returned. We will not charge you for the incorrect item and we must have the incorrect item returned before investigating.
Terms & Conditions
For a full list of Terms & Conditions, please click here.
Better everyday tea in 4 simple steps
01. Measure the leaf
Start with 2.5g to 3g per 200ml, then adjust to taste.
02. Add the water
Use fresh, filtered water at the temperature for this tea.
03. Steep, then lift out
Steep for the suggested time, then remove the leaf.
04. Pour and enjoy
That's it. Tea as it should taste.
Why choose Team Tea?
| Us vs. them | LOOSE-LEAF VS. TEA BAGS | Flavour | Brew it your way | Plastic-free |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Team Tea loose leaf
| NATURAL & LOOSE | Full & layered | Yes | Yes |
Supermarket teabag
| Dust & Plastic | Flat | No | No |
| Us vs. them |
Team Tea loose leaf
|
Supermarket teabag
|
|---|---|---|
| LOOSE-LEAF VS. TEA BAGS | NATURAL & LOOSE | Dust & Plastic |
| Flavour | Full & layered | Flat |
| Brew it your way | Yes | No |
| Plastic-free | Yes | No |
Because good tea should be for everyone
Helping you find the best tea for you
We are all part of one community, one team, of tea.
The teas are grown all over the world, and I bring them in through specialist importers I’ve come to know well.
Around 40% of the range is organic-certified, and every importer I work with is a member of the Ethical Tea Partnership, which works to improve life and conditions for the people who grow and pick our tea.
Treading lightly, from leaf to letterbox
☕︎ Loose-leaf only, no teabags
☕︎ Reusable tins, compostable refills
☕︎ Plastic-free post
☕︎ Ethically sourced, through Ethical Tea Partnership members
☕︎ Solar and ground-source heat behind the scenes
FAQS
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It's a deliberate choice. Everything here is whole-leaf loose tea, because it simply makes a better cup: more flavour, more character, and none of the dust. If you'd like to know why we're loose-leaf only, we've explained it here
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In a word, quality. We choose our teas for flavour, not year-round availability, which means we can buy from small producers as well as big-name estates.
It helps to remember that a name on a supermarket box often just describes a style: “Assam,” for instance, is a region in India with hundreds of large estates and tens of thousands of smallholders, producing hundreds of millions of kilos of tea a year.
So not all Assam is created equal. We choose the ones that fit our values and taste as they should, and we price them fairly, which sometimes means paying a little more than the supermarket for a much better cup.
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It's simpler than it looks. Pop your leaf in a pot, strainer or infuser, pour over water at the right temperature, let it steep for the time on the tin, then strain and enjoy.
Every tea comes with its own brewing guide on the label, because the ideal amount, temperature and time vary from tea to tea. For a proper step-by-step, see our brewing guide:
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A good rule of thumb is 1 to 1.5g of leaf per 100ml of water, so it depends on the size of your cup or pot and how strong you like it.
Start around there and adjust to taste, it's very forgiving. (This is also why our tins list a weight rather than a number of cups.)
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Yes, as much of it as possible, and we've chosen everything with its end of life in mind:
• Slide tins and caddies are metal, and widely recycled.
• Refill pouches are made from NatureFlex, which is compostable.
• Shipping boxes and tape are recycled cardboard and paper, and widely recyclable.
• The packing “peanuts” are Eco Flo: compostable and water-soluble, so you can simply dissolve them under the tap.
• All our printed bits (brewing notes, leaflets, postcards) are printed on recycled paper and can be recycled.
Better still, the tins are made to be reused: refill your caddy at home, and keep a slide tin for tea on the go. There's more on the choices we make on our Sustainability page
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We ship across the UK, and to non-EU European countries and the rest of the world.
We've currently paused shipping to the EU: as of August 2026 new EU packaging rules require non-EU businesses to register and appoint a representative in every individual country they ship to, which isn't workable for a one-person business.
We're sorry, and we hope to resume if the rules are adapted for small businesses. International orders may attract customs or duty charges, which are outside our control.
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SELECTED BY A TEA SOMMELIER
Hand-picked for quality and taste