A tea named for a fruit almost nobody eats. Bergamot is too sour and too bitter to be worth eating, so it is grown for its rind — and almost all of the world's supply comes from one narrow strip of coast in Calabria, where the trees will grow properly and, elsewhere, largely will not. The fruit exists, commercially, for its skin.
Ours comes from that strip: a family-run farm in Calabria that does nothing but bergamot. We use both the rind and its essential oil, blended in Melbourne through a black tea sourced from a single mid-altitude garden in Sri Lanka, set against rainforest and part of a working ecosystem rather than a monoculture. Cornflowers are folded through for colour.
Most Earl Grey is not made this way. Synthetic bergamot flavouring is cheaper, more consistent and considerably louder, and it is what sits behind the majority of the category. Real rind behaves differently in the cup — it lifts and then recedes, rather than arriving at full volume and staying there.
Straight, it is bright at the front and clean through the finish, with the citrus lingering in the aroma after the cup has gone. With milk it holds its shape instead of flattening, which is the harder test and the reason the black tea base matters as much as the bergamot does.
To brew — 100°C. Two minutes straight, three plus with milk. One steep.
Organic. Whole leaf. Real bergamot, no synthetic flavouring.
This tea is available in a refill pouch. The pouch is re-sealable to maintain freshness and perfect to refill your Impala & Peacock canister or jar. Pouch size:
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