Finding The Best Earl Grey Tea: A Comparison Between 12 Brands

Earl Grey tea is one of my all time favourite go-to teas, it’s a simple black tea blend with bergamot flavour.

Because of the blends popularity, every tea brand has their own take on this classic black tea blend. It actually shocked me how different each one of these Earl grey teas tasted! There’s no standard for making Earl grey tea, so which one is the best?

It’s not about finding the best Earl grey tea but rather finding the best Earl grey tea FOR YOU! I compared 12 different Earl grey teas from grocery store brands to loose leaf teas, based on six different factors so you can decide which one is the best for you.

Psst! This blog post contains affiliate links in it which sends me a bit of extra money if you use them… at no extra cost to you!

How I Rated Each Earl Grey Tea

Everyone has a different standard for what makes the best Earl Grey tea.

Do you prefer a light, floral, or strong Earl grey tea? To make it as unbiased as possible, I came up with a rating scale to review the most popular earl grey tea bags I could find in Canada on my search to find the best earl grey tea.

I tasted each earl grey tea bag twice. First, I followed the steeping instructions provided by each brand – adding the recommended amount of water and steeping for the recommended amount of time.

I did a second taste test to see how it holds up without following any steeping instructions, which is how I normally enjoy my tea. I leave the tea bag in and fill my mug up with water throughout the morning.

I rated each tea on seven factors:

• price,
• smell,
• look,
• taste,
• bergamot flavour,
• refill-ability,
• amount of caffeine.

Understanding My Earl Grey Tea Rating Scale!

Price: How expensive is this tea compared to the others on this list. The most expensive tea will get the least points (1) and the cheapest will get the most (12).

Smell: how is the smell of the tea once steeped. Does it smell nice, does it actually remind me of Earl Grey tea… etc.

Look: how dark is the tea is once steeped, does it have a nice brewed colour?

Taste: how good does it the tea taste? For me, when I’m drinking Earl Grey, I’m looking for a well-balanced flavour of black tea with bergamot that isn’t too bitter or too sweet.

Bergamot flavour: What is bergamot? Well it’s what makes Earl Grey tea Earl Grey! I’m rating the flavour of the bergamot, and how strong the bergamot flavours comes through in each Earl grey tea.

Refill-ability: The refill-ability rating was based on my second taste test. I wanted to see how many times I could refill my mug using the same teabag, and how long the flavours held up because let’s be real, who just steeps a teabag once. The number represents how many cups I was able to get out of one tea bag. Of course, this is correlated with the strength of the tea as well. The more refills, typically, the stronger the tea. To do this, I followed the rules for Grandpa style tea, where I drink 3/4 of the cup and then refill it with water. My mug holds about a cup and a half of water.

Amount of Caffeine: This is based on the information provided by each company on how much caffeine they say is in one bag.

P.S. Do Your Own Earl Grey Tasting!

You can do you’re own Earl grey tea tasting with my printable tea tasting guide and journal. It’s a digital file you can print out, or have handy on your phone providing common flavours and aromas to look for in each tea. Then fill in the prompts in your own tea tasting journal!

Check it out on Etsy!

TL:DR: What’s The Best Earl Grey Tea Bag For You?

From my ratings, the best Earl grey tea is Tim Horton’s Earl grey tea bag: it’s a reasonable price, the most balanced with bergamot flavour and lot of refill-ability. It is the sweetest Earl grey tea on the list with hardly any bitter notes. So if you’re looking for a more bitter Earl grey tea, Tim’s isn’t for you.

There are a few runner ups that came in close like Bigalow, Tazo, Tetley, and Harney & Sons.

If you’re interested in an Earl grey tea with less bergamot you’ll want to try Tetley. Overall it had a good taste profile but it was lighter on the bergamot flavour.

The Earl grey tea with the most caffeine is Bigalow (65 mg), Tazo (61 mg), and Harney & Sons (40-69 mg – not really sure why there’s such a large discrepancy…?).

In terms of strength of the flavour, Tazo was by far the strongest. If you’re looking for a nice morning Earl grey tea, Tazo Earl grey tea bag would be my go-to. It contains the most tea in each bag.

I was most surprised by the low results of my loose leaf Earl grey tea sample. Of course, not all loose leaf tea Earl greys will be the same, this was just the sample that I had to compare the tea bags to.

Update: I recently added Ahmad Tea London to my list searching for the best Earl grey tea. It surpassed all expectations that it’s now the best Earl grey tea. It’s very well balanced and not too overpowering in any regard. It makes a great cup of tea to enjoy any time of day.

Continue reading for more details about each Earl grey tea below...

Best Overall: Ahmad Earl Grey

Ahmad tea was a recommendation to try and I absolutely loved it that it might just be my new favourite Earl grey tea!

I don’t know how Ahmad Tea London does it, they produce a phenomenal Earl grey tea at the lowest price on this list.

I did see varying price ranges for a box of 100 tea bags, and $5.99CAD was on the cheaper end from Amazon. Even at the higher price points though, it was still one of the cheaper Earl grey teas and very much still worth it.

If I didn’t know the price I would have thought it was a much more expensive tea bag. I was shocked by the well balanced aromas and flavours.

The bergamot notes weren’t too overpowering but you were still able to taste a good amount of it that you knew you were drinking Earl grey tea.

It sits right in the middle for me in terms of strength, not too strong or too weak.

The bags aren’t individually wrapped, so they recommend putting them in an airtight container to seal in the freshness of the tea.

Best Budget Friendly: Our Finest Earl Grey

Our Finest, or Notre Excellence in French, was the cheapest Early Grey tea I found on the market (before I found Ahmad Tea Earl Grey). At only .11𝇍 a tea bag, it’s the cheapest Earl grey tea bag on this list!

Honestly, if you’re looking for a more budget-friendly Earl grey that you can drink every day without worrying about the higher cost compared to a simple breakfast tea, Our Finest Earl Grey is a great choice.

Brewing Our Finest Earl Grey was interesting because it calls to only steep your tea bag in 3/4 cup of water… not even one full cup!

The most shocking part about Our Finest Earl Grey tea was the smell vs. the taste.  I was less than pleased with the smell, and I wasn’t the only one who smelled this. My first reaction was that I was walking on a farm, and horse manure was blowing in the wind, with a hint of some black tea notes… YUM! Sounds really appetizing…right! 

But the taste was not manure-like at all! It had a subtle but strong black tea taste that was actually very smooth and balanced with a hint of bergamot. The aftertaste was slightly more bitter, but the overall mouthfeel of the tea was very nice. 

The look was actually one of the darkest of the teas, looking quite coffee-esque after steeping. So I was quite surprised when I only had 3 good quality refills, I was expecting a lot more.

Another alarming aspect of Our Finest Earl Grey tea, along with the horrid smell, was also the colour of the tea bag. It had a greenish hue to it… I assume it’s from the essential oil, but still, most other Earl Greys are able to avoid the tea bag turning green (this was also the case with Tazo Earl Grey tea).

Lightest Bergamot Flavour: Tetley Earl Grey

Tetley is a well known English tea brand, founded in 1837, so I had some higher expectations. But Teltey Earl grey was a full of surprises! 

The ingredients for Tetley Earl grey were concerning: black tea with natural flavour… not even necessarily bergamot? And this showed…

The smell was nothing special, reminding me of a sweeter Red Rose/ Orange Pekoe tea. It didn’t out right remind me of Earl Grey, but overall, it wasn’t bad.

The taste though had a few mixed reviews. The first time my partner tried it, he didn’t believe that he was drinking an Earl grey.

But it’s important to note that although Tetley Earl grey doesn’t have a strong bergamot flavour, the taste isn’t bad. It’s almost a refreshing alternative to orange pekoe tea (like Red Rose), just a less bitter version.

It has a nice smooth and velvety mouthfeel, so it’s all around very enjoyable to drink. In fact, it was one of the better Earl Greys we tried.

Out of all of them, it was the only one I went back to drink… consistently. Honestly, I couldn’t stop drinking it! And the aftertaste did have some lingering bergamot notes. 

So if you’re looking for an Earl grey that’s lighter on the bergamot flavour, or a sweeter orange pekoe, Tetley is a great option!

Tea Love It Or Hate It: Twinings Earl Grey

I’ll admit, I went into this tea tasting with a bit of a negative bias towards Twinings Earl grey tea. I know it’s one of the leading English tea brands (from the 1700s!), but I’ve never been a huge fan of Twinings Earl grey tea. 

Both the smell and taste of Twinings Earl grey tea are identical, it’s actually uncanny how similar they are!

But it not the smell and taste of bergamot… to me anyway. It tasted more like metal, or copper-ish, not something I want to drink.

The liquor is also super pale when steeped, so it isn’t good for grandpa style tea drinking with only two good refills.  

Ultimately, I think Twinings Earl Grey Tea has a very particular taste that you either love or absolutely hate! And it’s clearly just not for me!

Most Caffeine: Bigelow Earl Grey

Did you know that Bigelow tea is an American tea company from 1945 that’s still family run! 

Despite Bigelow Earl grey tea having the shortest steeping time I’ve seen (only 2 minutes), AND the least amount of tea per tea bag, it somehow has the most caffeine!

At first sniff, I was less than impressed with Bigelow Earl Grey Tea. Reminding me of water-down manure (not as strong as Our Finest). But after the tea settled and steeped, I noticed some lovely black tea with lemon aromas.  

When it cooled down enough to sip, it tasted exactly like that: black tea with lemon! Although, the after taste was a bit metallic (nowhere near Twinings though!).

All around, this is a very average and balanced Earl Grey. It wasn’t too strong in any regard, not too bitter or sweet, to sway me in any direction. 

A Sweet Treat Close To Home: Tim Hortons Earl Grey

I will admit, I’m a tad biased towards Tim Horton’s Earl Grey tea. It takes me back to my College and University days, when Tim Horton’s Earl Grey was the only tea I drank and I LOVED every sip of it!

So trying it now was quite hard to stay objective. Immediately when I opened up a Tim’s Earl Grey teabag, it smelled like home. Although my friend pointed out that when it’s steeped, it smells like Fruit Loops. And now I can’t un-smell that! 

It is a lot sweeter than most of the Earl Grey’s I tried, making it stand out. There was hardly any black tea bitterness and it was mostly just comforting goodness! It tasted more like water with an aftertaste of bergamot, and even a hint of vanilla. 

Overall, Tim Horton’s Earl Grey tea is a very well balanced Earl Grey tea.

Floral Earl Grey Tea: Four O’Clock Tea

Four O’Clock is a Canadian tea company, so you might not be able to find it at your local grocery store, but they do sell on Amazon.

Their Earl grey tea is organic and fair trade, so it will be on the pricier side compared to others on this list.

Having had Four O’Clock’s Earl Grey in the past, and liking it, this did not live up to my expectations… 

The smell was not of bergamot, but very floral (like jasmine – which I’m personally not a fan of).

The taste was quite flat, almost one note. It was very good black tea but not Earl Grey. Then the aftertaste hits you and you’re left with an unpleasant lemon flavour in your mouth. To me, it was like artificially sweetened lemon.

I thought I’d also get more refills out of it but after the second cup, the flavours went even more downhill.

On the box it says that it’s perfect in a latte, and I think that might be the only way you can enjoy this tea.

The Strongest Earl Grey Tea Bag: Tazo Tea

Tazo Tea is an American tea brand also from the 90s. 

Tazo’s Earl grey is black tea that blended with the essence of bergamot. I’m not entirely sure I understand what the essence of bergamot is…? It also contains the most tea per bag… and the it shows!

The first sniff reminded me of sitting by a wood burning fireplace with my mug of tea, it had a woody lemony black tea smell.

The taste was a punch in the face though. It’s SO strong and bitter with only a hint of bergamot aftertaste. If you need a good wake up call in the morning to get your day started, Tazo Earl Grey is your tea.

I actually recommend not following the steeping instructions and using the largest mug you have to add the most water possible. It became a lot more palatable the more watered down it was.

Tazo Earl grey tea is also a unique tea to taste test with multiple steeps (use my tea tasting journal and tasting guide!). The flavours change with each steep, the bergamot becomes much stronger and the bitterness in the tea becomes weaker.

Most Expensive: Harney & Sons Earl Grey Supreme

Coming in at THE most expensive Earl Grey tea on the market: Harney and Sons Earl Grey Surpreme!

P.S. I was actually shocked to find out that this is not an English company but American from the 80s (shoutout to their branding department… I guess!). 

They recommend using two cups of water to steep their Earl Grey Supreme, which is quite unique. A tea bag usually steeps in one cup of water, and they didn’t add more tea to each bag…

The ingredients were also the most extravagant with three different types of tea: black, oolong, and white.

This is also the only Earl grey tea that came in a beautiful (and reusable) tin, and in pyramid tea bags, which could also explain the higher price tag.

I think I was expecting to be completely blow away by Harney and Sons Earl Grey Supreme (I mean it is supreme after all).

I was also upset with the length of the string on the tea bag. It’s something so simple, the string was just a bit too short and kept falling in to my tea. 

The smell of the dry tea was extremely strong bergamot, but it almost all but disappeared once it was steeped. It then just smelled like black tea with a side of lemon.

The taste wasn’t too sweet or bitter, and was very smooth and enjoyable to drink. It had a rich thick mouthfeel. But, unfortunately, nothing jumped out at me.  

Once it cooled down I was hoping to taste some more bergamot, but it ended up getting more bitter.

Similar to Tazo Earl Grey tea though, it got better after more refills, possibly being too strong for its own good.

Bonus: Loose Leaf Earl Grey Premium (Tealyra)

I included a loose leaf tea in my search to find the best Earl Grey tea because I thought it would be a good comparison. Loose leaf tea has an expectation of being higher quality tea, so I was interested to see it compared to grocery store Earl grey tea bags.  

I used Tealyra Premium Earl Grey tea, and was ultimately shocked by the results.

The ingredients list was much longer with black tea, cornflowers, oil of bergamot, and natural flavour. And when I dug a bit deeper, I found out the tea is actually Ceylon tea (from Sri Lanka) and the natural flavouring is vanilla and cream.

The main benefit of using loose leaf tea is that I can adjust the strength of the tea to as strong or weak as I want it to be.

But based on their recommended amounts, there was a lack of an aroma and taste. It had zero smelliness to it!

The taste was mostly water with a very sweet aftertaste. I think the vanilla and cream overpowered the flavour profiles of the bergamot just a bit too much. I would have like some more bergamot in my Earl Grey! 

That being said, I do think it will make a wonderful afternoon tea with some milk. It is a nicely balanced tea.  

Decaf Option: Friendship Organics Decaf Earl Grey Tea

This was my first time trying decaf Earl Grey tea, and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. Friendship Organics, a local Montreal brand, reached out and sent me their decaf Earl Grey to try. 

They use the carbon dioxide decaffeination method (yes, this is the same method that’s used to make our favourite sodas bubbly!). This method removes 97 to 98% of the caffeine, which means you can now enjoy your favourite tea blend all night long! 

The tea also comes in a beautiful (and reusable) tin! 

If you’re looking to find an Earl Grey to drink after hours, this is the tea for! You wouldn’t be able to tell based on the flavour that it’s a decaf tea. It tastes, and smells exactly like any other Earl Grey tea would.

Decaf aside, this was a very enjoyable tea to drink. The flavour was very well balanced between the black tea and bergamot, making it a very good option if you’re just getting into tea, or don’t want an overpowering tea to enjoy at night. 

I did find that when I brewed it based on their recommendations (with one cup water per tea bag), it was a bit too strong and did in fact have a slightly bitter aftertaste. I preferred it with more water (about one and a half cups) and then it was perfect. I also found it almost got better when I refilled it for a second cup. 

The tea bags sometimes have a greenish hue, but they mentioned that this is because of the bergamot oil they use (now I know why some of the other brands were green as well!).

P.S. Can’t let go of the caffeine? They also have a non decaf Earl Grey tea that tastes basically the same but now with the added bonus of caffeine! 

Real Bergamot Earl Grey Tea: Firebelly Tea

Definitely the most expensive Earl grey tea on the list, Shades of Earl Grey from Firebelly Tea is also possibly the most worthwhile to try at least once if you’re an Earl grey fan!

This is the first company I’ve ever seen to actually use real bergamot in their Earl grey! My only disappointment was that the other ingredients took away from the bergamot (like lemon myrtle, lemon thyme, and even juniper berry).

But, it’s always nice knowing exactly what you’re drinking – no essential oils or (my favourite) flavouring.

Perhaps Shade of Earl grey isn’t for every morning, but it’s definitely the ultimate tea to serve at an afternoon tea party or to save for some weekend tea drinking! See more Firebelly teas.

Did I miss your favourite Earl Grey tea? Let me know in the comments below and I’ll try to find it and add it to the list!

What Is Earl Grey Tea Exactly?

Earl grey tea is a classic black tea blend with black tea and bergamot.

Bergamot is a citrus that’s native to southern Italy. It’s kind of like if a lemon mixed with a bitter orange. It’s the size of an orange but the colour of a lemon or a lime (depending on the ripeness).

The flavour of Earl grey tea is all about the bergamot. Most tea brands today don’t actually use fresh bergamot. They’ll either use bergamot essential oil, or sometimes even natural flavouring, to make Earl grey tea.

Does Earl Grey Tea Have Caffeine?

Yes! Unless you’re buying decaf Earl grey tea, assume that it’s caffeinated. As I mentioned, Earl grey tea is a black tea blend. Black tea comes from the Camelia sinensis plant, which is a caffeinated tea plant.

There are ways to remove the caffeine from black tea to get a decaf earl grey, like Friendship Organics decaf Earl grey.

Buy The Best Earl Grey Tea On Amazon

Shopping in Canada? Shop the best Earl grey tea Canada on Amazon.ca

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• 11 Popular Types Of Black Tea You Should Try (&Why!)

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Last update on 2024-12-21 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API