Earl Grey Tea substitute

Best substitute

Black tea plus lemon and orange zest

Per cup of strong black tea, the finely grated zest of ½ lemon and ¼ orange, steeped together; use 1:1

Best for London fog and tea lattes

Close match

Earl Grey assembled from its two components, using citrus peel oil to stand in for bergamot oil.

Other earl grey tea substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Black tea plus a drop of bergamot or orange extract
Different taste
Use ⅛ tsp orange extract plus a scraping of lemon zest for every cup's worth of tea; use the tea 1:1
The dry-recipe version, adding aroma from an extract so you add no liquid at all.
What changes
Best for
Earl Grey shortbread and cookies, buttercream and frostings, custards and panna cotta, scones
The right choice whenever there is no room in the recipe for extra liquid, which covers most Earl Grey baking. Extracts are louder and less rounded than real peel oil, tasting a little candied and one-dimensional, and they overshoot dramatically: an eighth of a teaspoon is a real measurement, not a suggestion, and a quarter teaspoon in a batch of shortbread tastes like air freshener. If you can find true bergamot extract or food-grade bergamot oil, one or two drops is better than any orange extract.
3Lady Grey or any citrus-scented black tea
Close match
Use the same amount by leaf or by bag
The same category of scented black tea, blended with lemon and orange peel alongside a lighter hand of bergamot.
What changes
Best for
London fog, shortbread and cookies, ice cream, iced tea
The easiest swap and the most forgiving, since it is built for the same purpose. Lady Grey is deliberately gentler: less bergamot, more straightforward lemon and orange, and a lighter tea base, so Earl Grey shortbread made with it tastes pleasant and citrusy but noticeably less perfumed and less distinctive. In a milky London fog that difference narrows a lot. In a plain shortbread where the tea is the only flavour, it is clear.
4Plain black tea
Different taste
Use the same amount by leaf or by bag
The Earl Grey base without the scenting, giving the tannin, the colour and the caffeine and nothing else.
What changes
Best for
cake soaks and poaching liquids, cooking liquid for rice or dried fruit, iced tea, recipes where tea is a background note
Structurally identical, because Earl Grey is just black tea with a scent sprayed on, so nothing in the recipe changes. What you lose is the entire reason the recipe specified it: a London fog made with plain black tea is a milky sweet tea and nothing more, and Earl Grey ice cream becomes tea ice cream. Genuinely fine where the tea is mainly a liquid or a brown colour, such as soaking dried fruit for a tea loaf.
5Jasmine green tea
Different taste
Use the same amount by leaf or by bag, brewed at 175F rather than boiling
Another scented tea, where the perfume comes from jasmine blossom rather than citrus peel.
What changes
Best for
ice cream and panna cotta, shortbread and cookies, syrups, tea lattes
Worth considering because it keeps the idea of a perfumed tea, which is really what Earl Grey desserts are about, and jasmine is every bit as recognisable. The differences are all significant: it is floral rather than citrus, it brews pale yellow-green instead of amber, it has less tannin and less caffeine, and it turns bitter fast in boiling water and goes cloudy against milk. Excellent as a deliberate choice, poor as a stealth swap.
6Chai or another spiced black tea
Different taste
Use the same amount by leaf or by bag
A black tea scented with warm spices instead of citrus, sharing the same base and the same tolerance for milk and sugar.
What changes
Best for
tea lattes, ice cream and custards, cakes and cookies, poached fruit
A completely different aroma, warm and spiced instead of bright and floral, but functionally it behaves the way Earl Grey does. Both are strongly scented black teas that hold their character against milk, sugar and butter, which is exactly why Earl Grey works in a latte and in shortbread. So a chai version of an Earl Grey recipe usually succeeds as its own thing rather than failing as an imitation. Be aware chai is often noticeably sweeter-tasting from the cinnamon.

What is Earl Grey Tea?

Earl Grey Tea is Earl Grey is black tea scented with oil of bergamot, a bitter Mediterranean citrus, usually over a Ceylon or Chinese black base, and Lady Grey is the same idea with extra lemon and orange peel blended in.

Cooking tips

Grind the loose leaf in a spice grinder before it goes into shortbread or cookie dough. Whole Earl Grey leaf stays chewy and papery in the finished bake and catches unpleasantly between the teeth, while ground leaf disperses as fragrant dark specks. One tea bag holds about 2 grams, which is roughly a teaspoon.
To get the aroma into a dessert without adding liquid, steep the leaf directly in warm cream or melted butter, or rub it into the sugar with your fingertips and leave it an hour. Bergamot oil is fat-soluble, so it moves into butter and cream far more willingly than into water, and you avoid slackening the batter.
Earl Grey's base is black tea, so it takes properly boiling water and a three to four minute steep. Push past five minutes and the tannins build to the point where they bury the bergamot completely, which is why over-steeped Earl Grey tastes like generic strong tea.
Bergamot oil is volatile and it fades. An opened tin is noticeably duller after about six months, and a tin that has been sitting in a warm cupboard for two years is essentially plain black tea. If your Earl Grey barely smells of anything, use half again as much leaf.
If you are adding citrus zest to build a substitute, add it at the end of the steep rather than the beginning, and keep it off a rolling boil. The fragrant oils in zest drive off quickly with heat, leaving only the bitter compounds behind, which is how a zest-based tea substitute ends up smelling of nothing and tasting harsh.

Frequently asked questions

What makes Earl Grey taste different from plain black tea?

Only one thing: oil of bergamot, a small bitter Mediterranean citrus whose peel oil is sprayed onto or blended with the leaf. The tea underneath is an ordinary Ceylon or Chinese black tea. That means any substitution is really a question of replacing an aroma, not a tea, which is why plain black tea plus lemon and orange zest gets you most of the way and plain black tea alone gets you nowhere.

Can I use lemon juice instead of bergamot?

No, and this is the most common mistake. Bergamot contributes aroma from the peel oil, not acidity, so lemon juice adds sourness without adding any of the perfume. Worse, in a London fog or an ice cream base the acid will curdle the milk or cream on contact. Use lemon zest instead, which is where the aromatic oil lives, and use only the coloured outer layer, not the bitter white pith beneath it.

Can I leave the Earl Grey out of a recipe?

It depends on whether it is the flavour or the liquid. In Earl Grey shortbread, ice cream or a London fog, the tea is the whole point and omitting it gives you plain shortbread, plain ice cream and a cup of hot milk. In a tea loaf where the tea soaks the dried fruit, or where it is simply a brown cooking liquid, you can substitute plain black tea or even hot water with very little loss.

Is Lady Grey the same as Earl Grey?

Not quite, though they substitute 1:1 without any other changes. Lady Grey is a lighter blend with less bergamot and added lemon and orange peel, usually over a milder tea base, so it tastes gentler and more simply citrusy where Earl Grey is more perfumed and more assertive. In a milky drink the difference narrows considerably; in a plain butter cookie where the tea is the only flavour, it is easy to notice.

What can I use for a London fog if I have no Earl Grey?

Brew a very strong cup of black tea with the finely grated zest of half a lemon and a quarter of an orange, steeping the zest for the last minute only, then strain and combine with steamed milk and a little vanilla syrup. Lady Grey or any citrus black tea is an easier route and works 1:1. Plain black tea with vanilla is still a good drink, but it is a vanilla tea latte rather than a London fog.

Related substitutes

More beverages substitutes

Earl Grey Tea substitute

Other earl grey tea substitutes

2Black tea plus a drop of bergamot or orange extract

3Lady Grey or any citrus-scented black tea

4Plain black tea

5Jasmine green tea

6Chai or another spiced black tea