Twinings Loose Leaf Earl Grey Tea, 125g
You will need a pot and something to strain through, and if that sentence has already lost you, buy the bags instead. For everyone else the loose leaf is the better Earl Grey by a clear margin: bergamot is a volatile oil and it wants room, which is precisely what a compressed bag denies it. The dose is yours to set, and that matters more here than with a plain black, because Earl Grey turns sharp quickly and a heaped spoon is usually the culprit. A level teaspoon, three minutes, no milk.
Twinings Loose Leaf Earl Grey Tea, in brief.
Twinings Loose Leaf Earl Grey is bergamot-scented black tea sold as leaf rather than in bags.
About 50 cups from the carton at a level teaspoon a cup, which is our arithmetic on a normal dose rather than a pack figure. You need an infuser or a strainer. In exchange the leaf opens fully and the bergamot reads as perfume rather than sharpness.
Twinings Loose Leaf Earl Grey Tea is bergamot-scented black tea sold as leaf in a carton rather than portioned into bags, and that difference is most of what you are buying. A bag holds the leaf in a confined pocket and lets water pass through it. Loose leaf sits free in the pot, opens fully, and gives the bergamot somewhere to go. Earl Grey is the blend that benefits most obviously from that, because bergamot is a volatile citrus oil and volatile oils need room and heat rather than compression.
The loose tea we carry is otherwise plain black or plain green, so anyone who has been brewing Earl Grey in bags and wanted it in a pot has had nowhere to go. A hundred and twenty-five grams is a sensible domestic quantity: enough to last, small enough that the aroma is still bright when you reach the bottom of the carton.
Curator notes: we based these notes on the loose Earl Grey carton as sold and the way Twinings describes the blend. We usually send out the loose Earl Grey in 1 to 2 working days. Questions people often ask about the loose Earl Grey are covered further down, in Q and A.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
The Story Behind Twinings
Twinings is the family tea house trading from London since 1706, and Earl Grey is the blend most closely associated with it.
What is worth saying is why the loose version exists at all. Earl Grey in bags is easy to find, and it is good enough. The loose leaf is for people who make tea in a pot, who want to control the dose rather than accept a fixed one, and who have noticed that the bergamot in a bag tends to read as sharper and flatter than it does when the leaf has space.
Packaging: Parts of the loose Earl Grey packaging may need separate bins; follow the carton and your council's guidance.
What You Are Actually Buying
- Weight: 125 grams of loose leaf. At a standard level teaspoon of about 2.5 grams a cup that is roughly 50 cups, which is worked out from a normal dose rather than a figure the pack quotes.
- Loose, not bagged: you need an infuser, a strainer or a pot with a basket. That is the one real drawback; better to know it up front.
- Scented black tea: bergamot over a black tea base. The current UK carton gives the exact flavouring declaration.
- What it is not: not a decaf, not a herbal, and not a Lady Grey or a French Earl Grey with added petals and fruit. It is the plain classical version.
Getting It Right in the Cup
- Water temperature: 100 degrees Celsius, freshly boiled.
- Measure: one level teaspoon, about 2.5 grams, per 250ml.
- Steep: three minutes, covered, then strain.
- Milk or lemon: both work and they work differently. Lemon sharpens the bergamot and is the classical service; a little milk rounds it and mutes the perfume. Never both.
- Sugar: a small amount lifts the citrus. Earl Grey takes sweetening better than a plain black tea does.
- Storage: sealed, cool, dark and well away from coffee and spices. Loose leaf takes on kitchen smells faster than bagged tea and the bergamot fades first.
- Resteeping: not worth it. The bergamot is largely gone after the first pass, so a second gives you plain, thin black tea.
- Best with: afternoon, lemon drizzle cake, shortbread, citrus tarts, and as the tea that follows a rich lunch.
Source: teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Twinings Loose Leaf Earl Grey Tea, 125g, please cite teas.co.uk.
The story behind Twinings
Twinings has been blending tea on London's Strand since 1706, the same address, three centuries later. Holders of the royal warrant for tea since 1837, they're the brand most-associated with Earl Grey, English Breakfast, and the polished afternoon-tea aesthetic. Wide flavoured-tea range; ethical sourcing through the Twinings Community Needs Assessment programme.
Packaging: Parts of the loose Earl Grey packaging may need separate bins; follow the carton and your council's guidance.
Our commitment to the planet
The taste profile
How does it compare
Earl Grey is the blend most often ruined by good intentions. Bergamot oil is volatile, which means it leaves the cup as steam, and it turns from perfume to bitterness if you push the steep. Almost every harsh Earl Grey anyone has drunk was simply left too long.
The Pot
The Mug, With an Infuser
Made with this tea
The Classical Pot
How to make The Classical Pot with Twinings Loose Leaf Earl Grey.
- 2 level teaspoons Twinings Loose Leaf Earl Grey
- 500ml just boiled water
- A slice of lemon
- A warmed pot
- Warm the teapot by swirling in some boiling water and tipping it out.
- Add two level teaspoons of leaf and pour 500ml of freshly boiled water straight onto it.
- Steep three minutes with the lid on.
- Strain as you pour, and serve with lemon rather than milk.
What you'll end up with: A clean, perfumed Earl Grey with a dry citrus-peel finish. The lid is not optional; uncovered, the bergamot ends up in the room.
Iced Earl Grey with Lemon
How to make Iced Earl Grey with Lemon with Twinings Loose Leaf Earl Grey.
- 4 level teaspoons Twinings Loose Leaf Earl Grey
- 500ml just boiled water
- Ice
- Lemon peel and juice
- Sugar to taste
- Brew four teaspoons in 500ml of boiling water for four minutes to make a strong concentrate.
- Strain the loose Earl Grey, and if you like it sweet, sweeten it while hot.
- Cool to room temperature, then top up to a litre with cold water.
- Serve it over a glass filled with ice, with a strip of lemon peel.
What you'll end up with: Bergamot survives chilling better than almost any other flavour note, which is why iced Earl Grey tastes deliberate rather than like leftover tea.
Overnight Cold Brew
How to make Overnight Cold Brew with Twinings Loose Leaf Earl Grey.
- 4 level teaspoons Twinings Loose Leaf Earl Grey
- 1 litre cold water
- A sealed jug
- Stir four teaspoons of the loose leaf with a litre of cold water, in a jug you can seal.
- Refrigerate for eight hours, or overnight.
- Strain the leaf out completely and drink within two days.
- Serve straight over ice, without milk.
What you'll end up with: Rounder and sweeter than the hot version, with the citrus softened and no bitterness. Cold water never extracts the harsh tannins.
Earl Grey Latte
How to make Earl Grey Latte with Twinings Loose Leaf Earl Grey.
- 2 level teaspoons Twinings Loose Leaf Earl Grey
- 120ml just boiled water
- 200ml milk or oat milk
- Honey or sugar to taste
- Brew two teaspoons in only 120ml of boiling water for four minutes to make a deliberately concentrated base.
- Strain into a large cup and sweeten lightly while hot.
- Heat and froth the milk, then pour it in.
- Dust with a little grated lemon zest if you have it.
What you'll end up with: The bergamot needs a strong base to read through milk, which is why brewing concentrated matters more here than brewing longer.
Earl Grey Shortbread
How to make Earl Grey Shortbread with Twinings Loose Leaf Earl Grey.
- 2 teaspoons Twinings Loose Leaf Earl Grey, finely ground
- 200g butter, softened
- 100g caster sugar
- 300g plain flour
- Zest of one lemon
- Grind two teaspoons of the dry leaf as fine as you can in a pestle and mortar or a spice grinder.
- Beat the butter and sugar together, then work in the ground leaf and the lemon zest.
- Fold in the flour to a stiff dough, roll out and cut.
- Bake at 160 degrees Celsius fan for about eighteen minutes, until pale gold rather than brown.
- Cool on the tray before moving them.
What you'll end up with: Putting dry leaf in the dough gives a much cleaner bergamot flavour than any bottled flavouring. This is the one use where loose leaf clearly beats a bag, because you can grind it.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Component | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Dose | about 2.5 grams a cup, set by you rather than by a bag | 125g at that dose is roughly 50 cups. Worked out from a standard level teaspoon, not a pack figure. |
| Format | 125g of loose leaf in a carton | Needs an infuser, basket or strainer. The leaf expands fully, which is the whole reason to buy loose rather than bagged. |
Ingredients and allergens. None of the 14 major allergens appears on the published ingredient list for the loose Earl Grey. Twinings could change the recipe or allergen advice for the loose Earl Grey, so check the carton before buying.
Ingredients, as published for this product: Tea, Bergamot Flavouring.
Ingredient and nutrition information for this product, as published on the manufacturer's label. Where they differ, go by the carton you actually have.
Pack: Twinings Loose Leaf Earl Grey Tea, 125g; bergamot-scented black leaf tea for pot or infuser. Store sealed, cool, dark and dry, well away from coffee and spices. What goes into the loose Earl Grey, allergen advice included, is listed on the current UK carton beside its best before date.
We show only the components the product name, the pack weight and the format let us state reliably.
Sourcing & blend. Twinings Loose Leaf Earl Grey Tea is a Twinings blend; the family firm has been selling tea in London since 1706. That is the company's history, not a claim about where this carton was packed. Below are our own tasting notes for the loose Earl Grey, written against the carton on sale and Twinings' description.
What's in Twinings Loose Leaf Earl Grey Tea, 125g, and what isn't:
- In: black tea leaf with bergamot flavouring, loose in a carton.
- No added fruit or petals: this is the plain classical Earl Grey, not a Lady Grey or a French Earl Grey with cornflower and citrus pieces.
- No bag: nothing is portioned and nothing is sealed in mesh, so there is no bag material question and no bag to dispose of.
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Source: teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Twinings Loose Leaf Earl Grey Tea, 125g, please cite teas.co.uk.
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