The Queen Elizabeth favorite tea was Twinings Earl Grey, at least based on what has been reported for decades. The royal household kept Twinings stocked as the go-to brand for tea service. This one fact ties the British crown to bergamot in a way that most gardeners don't see coming. If you grow bergamot at home, you might wonder if your plant makes the same tea. It doesn't, but the story behind why is worth knowing.
I got curious about this topic while growing bergamot in my garden. A neighbor asked me if my Monarda plants made the same tea the Queen drank. That question sent me looking for answers. What I found is that the Queen Elizabeth Earl Grey link runs through a citrus fruit, not a garden flower. The bergamot in Earl Grey is a citrus orange, not the herb in your yard. I had to share this with my neighbor over a cup of Monarda tea, and she was just as surprised as I was.
Earl Grey tea gets its citrusy, floral taste from oil pressed out of bergamot orange rinds. These oranges grow on Citrus bergamia trees along the coast of Calabria in Italy. Workers harvest the fruit by hand and press the rinds to get the oil out. That oil goes into tea blends to give them that distinct Earl Grey flavor you'd know anywhere. Your garden bergamot plant, Monarda, has nothing to do with this process at all. The two plants don't share a family, a continent, or even a similar flavor.
The royal tea bergamot link comes down to Twinings and its long history with the crown. Twinings has held a Royal Warrant as tea supplier to the royal family for generations. Their Earl Grey blend uses bergamot orange oil to create that citrusy floral taste people love. When the Queen sipped her cup, she was tasting Italian citrus oil. No prairie wildflower was part of the brew. You can buy the same Twinings blend at your local grocery store for a few dollars a box.
If you want to brew tea from your garden bergamot, you'll get a very different cup than what the Queen drank. Monarda tea tastes warm and spicy with oregano and thyme notes. It's closer to a savory broth than a floral drink. Colonists called it Oswego tea and brewed it as a protest against British tea imports. In my experience, it's a great drink on its own once you stop expecting it to taste like Earl Grey. I brew a cup most evenings in the summer using leaves I picked fresh that same day.
You can enjoy both types of bergamot tea for different reasons. Keep a box of Twinings in your cupboard for that classic Earl Grey feel. Then grow Monarda in your garden for a fresh herbal tea you can pick from June through September. One gives you a royal sip and the other gives you a taste of American history from your own yard.
Don't let the name confusion trip you up. The Queen drank citrus bergamot in her Earl Grey. Your garden bergamot gives you a savory herbal tea that is just as worth your time. Both drinks have a place in your cup. Now you know how they connect to the same word but very different plants. Try them side by side sometime and you'll taste the gap between a citrus fruit and a prairie herb in your first sip.
Read the full article: Bergamot Plant: Native Perennial Guide
