Guest Post: Adventures in Brewing - Earl Grey Bitter

Greetings! My name is Mark, and I love beer. This may seem odd given that we're on a Tea blog, but I recently brewed a batch of beer that made use of Earl Grey Tea as an ingredient and Padraic thought his readers would be interested. So at his request, I'm going to cross post my tedious recap of the brewing process below. Also, just to note the obvious deficiency in my recipe: Yes, I used prepackaged tea bags. I realize bag tea is usually very low quality tea-crumbs and fannings, but it's what I had and it was convenient. Plus, I was really hoping to get more bergamot than tea flavoring, though I do think the tea will impart a subtle complexity to the style of beer I chose (which can often be a little tea like to start with). Anyway, I hope all the beer talk doesn't bore you to tears:

So I've had this crazy idea for a while. I like beer. I like Earl Grey tea. Why not combine the two? The thing that makes Earl Grey tea distinctive is bergamot, which is a sorta orange-like citrus fruit. Very nice aroma and flavor, as evidenced by the famous Earl Grey tea. I love a little citrus in my beer, so my first thought was that I should just go out and buy some bergamot oil, and add a tsp or two to the wort towards the end of the boil. Unfortunately, food grade bergamot oil is not as common as I thought. Everything I found was for aromatherapy or skincare - for external use only. Now, I didn't exactly want to make tea beer, but it looks like that's what I'm going to end up doing. And in fact, I had some Stash Double Bergamot tea laying around, so I figured I could use that to impart some bergamotty character (with the tea hopefully being drowned out by all the malt and hops and whatnot).

The next question was what to use for the base beer. In looking around, I see that I'm not the first person to think of this idea, but other folks seemed to be doing this with something like a Belgian Wit beer. This would certainly highlight the bergamot and tea flavors in the finished product, but I didn't want a beer dominated by those flavors, so I looked around at some other options. Since I was making an Earl Grey beer, I thought I should try to use an English style as the base. This was also in keeping with my recent affinity for lower gravity beers (or, at least, non-face-melting beer), and I eventually settled on the English Bitter style. The name is a bit of a misnomer - these are not super-bitter beers, though perhaps there's more hop character than usual for low ABV styles. Still, it seems like a beer that would take on the nice flavors of the bergamot and tea without being overwhelmed either way. In searching around, I found this nice kit from Northern Brewer called The Innkeeper, which sounds rather awesome. I added in some of my tea and, for good measure, some Bitter Orange Peel that I had leftover from previous beers. Here's the final recipe:

Beer #8: Earl Grey Bitter
March 10, 2012

4 Bags Stash Double Bergamot Earl Grey Tea
0.25 lb. English Extra Dark Crystal (specialty grain)
0.25 lb. Belgian Biscuit Malt (specialty grain)
3.15 lb. Pilsen LME
1 lb. Pilsen DME
1 lb. Corn Sugar
1 oz. US Fuggle (Bittering @ 5.2% AA)
1 oz. UK Kent Goldings (Bittering/Flavor @ 5.8% AA)
1 oz. Styrian Goldings (Aroma)
1 tsp. Bitter Orange peel
Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire Ale

It's a mildly unusual recipe to start with and I'm adding my own unusual elements too. Here's to hoping it turns out well. I started by bringing 2.5 gallons of water to around 150°F - 155°F, then I began steeping both the specialty grains and 3 of the tea bags (I was reserving one for the end of the boil). My hope was that adding the tea this early in the process would yield an interesting, but not overpowering flavor to the beer (after all, I imagine a lot of the character will be lost in the boil). I only steeped the tea for about 5 minutes, leaving the grains to steep for another 15 or so minutes.

Brought the mixture to a boil, added all of the malt extract and corn sugar, waited (again) for it to return to boiling, then added the Fuggle hops. The strangest thing about this recipe is that the second hop addition comes a mere 15 minutes later. This seems like it would provide more bittering than flavor, but I assume both will be present in the finished product (normally flavor hops are added no less than 30 minutes into the boil, as the flavor compounds are lost after long boils). Finally, with about 5 minutes left, I added the Styrian Goldings. About a minute later, I added the last teabag (though I didn't keep it in the whole time - in retrospect, I should have probably just made a cup of tea separately, then poured it into the boil). And while I was at it, I threw in some bitter orange peel, just to amp up the citrus a bit (in case the tea didn't provide it).

Off to the ice bath for cooling, which is something I think I've got a better handle on these days. I think some of the issues with my early beers were partially due to poor temperature control. And I'd guess that part of the reason my last few batches have come out so much better is that I've gotten much better about cooling the wort in an ice bath (I use much more ice now, basically, and it helps that I'm doing this during late winter, when I can open my windows and drop the room temperature quickly). Anyways, got this stuff down to about 80°F - 90°F, strained it into the bucket, and topped off with some room temperature and cold water, bringing final volume up to 50 gallons.

Apparently one of the things that makes this recipe distinctive is the yeast, which seems to have relatively low attenuation (certainly lower than the American and Belgian yeast strains I've been using of late), but given the relatively low gravity nature of the recipe, and the sizeable simple sugar addition, I think the result will still be dry enough. The yeast was packaged on 1/16/12, so it's relatively fresh.

Original Gravity: 1.042 (around 10°Bx). I got sick of using my hydrometer, so I invested in a fancy new refractometer. Unfortunately, I got the variety that only displays measurements in Brix, but the conversion is somewhat straighforward and I have an easier time reading this than my hydrometer. The gravity came in a little below the target, but it should be fine. If all goes well, this should produce a beer at around 4% ABV (maybe even less). Given the alcohol and simple sugar addition, I'm looking at a light (in body, not color), quaffable beer. Fingers crossed.

I plan to bottle in about two weeks time (could probably do so earlier because of the low gravity, but I'll keep it at two weeks). Since the style isn't supposed to be heavily carbonated, I'll probably end up using less priming sugar than usual, maybe 2-3 oz (as opposed to 5).

(Cross posted on Kaedrin Weblog and Kaedrin Beer Blog)

a Review, in which we Discuss Baroness Grey Tea, and thereby conclude Earl Grey week

Blends such as Baroness Grey are almost as old as Earl Grey itself.  Lady Grey is a proprietary blend made by Twinings, an old school English tea company, featuring lemon and orange peel in addition to the usual bergamot.  Baroness Grey (note the strikingly similar, yet non-trademark-infringing name) is modeled rather closely after Lady Grey, featuring lemon and Seville orange peel, as well as oil of bergamot.

Even the name of Baroness Grey tea is girly.  It brings to mind ladies sitting in a garden in England, sipping citrusy tea from wee tiny little tea cups with flowers.  Well, we don't roll that way.  I drank this tea from my manly coffee cup, stained with motor oil and sawdust., while discussing cutting down trees and working construction.  Ok, not really; my mug is actually covered with mathematical equations, and I think I actually discussed baby clothes whilst drinking from it.  But I stand by my initial assessment, Baroness Grey is a somewhat frilly tea.  It's standard Earl Grey (a China black and/or Ceylon blend, scented with bergamot) with the addition of lemon and Seville orange peel.  (Seville orange, aka bitter orange, is a variant of the regular orange that is far less sweet, utilized mostly for it's flavorful peel...think quality marmalade.)  The flavor components are similar to the Russian Earl Grey, yet I find I far prefer the bolder, more complex profile of the Russian variant.  Whereas with the Russian Earl Grey, the flavors blend together and complement one another, in the Baroness Grey, the citrus flavors support the bergamot, rather than mingle in the forefront.

Perhaps the least attractive feature of Earl Grey variants is the tendency of bergamot oil to leave a cloying aftertaste.  In the better variants (Cream Earl Grey, Russian Earl Grey, Smoky Earl Grey) there are other notes in the profile that balance out the sticky, somewhat cloying aspect of bergamot.  Here, the citrus takes second fiddle to the bergamot, supporting rather than balancing, and the taste kind of sticks around for a while.  It's not unpleasant, but it's not my favorite.  Score:  78 (B-)

Earl Grey week continues with: What the heck is Rooibos?

Rooibos, sometimes found under the name "red tea," is not tea at all, but rather a wild plant found in Africa.  As with most herbal teas, it is completely caffeine free, a plus for those of us that suffer from insomnia.  Rooibos brews up almost the exact same color as tea, and tastes...similar, I guess, to actual tea.  With herbal teas, I find it's best not to think of them as teas, but as something all their own, so that I'm not disappointed when they don't actually taste like tea.  Rooibos on its own terms is actually quite good; it has a really pleasant natural sweetness, especially when paired with honeybush, a similar plant that grows in South Africa as well that has a natural honey taste.  Rooibos has become more common across the world in recent years, and can now be found in "green" unoxidized varieties as well, though I've yet to try one.

So, Earl Grey rooibos, then, is "red" oxidized rooibos, with the addition of cornflower petals, and mild bergamot.  Although I've already had enough bergamot this week to last me the next year or so, the use here is restrained and mild, which I must say, I appreciate.  The Earl Grey-ness, so to speak, blends really well with the natural sweetness and roast fruit flavor of the rooibos.  Earl Grey rooibos is a middleweight in body, comparable to regular Earl Grey, and unlike true tea, there is really no astringency here.  The finish is quite long, but mostly honey sweetness from the tea, and just a hint of the bergamot and cornflower.

I've tried three different varieties of rooibos (Earl Grey, Bourbon Vanilla, and Chai), and the Earl Grey is my favorite so far.  I really enjoy the blend of bergamot with the naturally sweet tea, and I also like that I can drink it right before bedtime.  In fact, there are claims that rooibos can actually help with sleep problems, but I'd probably file those under unsubstantiated.  Health claims aside, it's easily the best herbal tea I've tried yet, and something I'll likely keep on hand from now on.  Score:  85 (B)

чай. Эрл Грей. горячий. - Part Two of Earl Grey week

Earl Grey week continues!  So, first of all, if anybody who speaks or reads Russian ever comes by here, my apologies, all I did was type the words "Tea.  Earl Grey.  Hot." into Google translator, and I'm sure I butchered the job.

Apologies to the Russian speaking population aside, today's review picks up where Cream Earl Grey left off, with another variant on the Earl Grey blend:  Russian Earl Grey.  I first had what I thought was Russian Earl Grey at Mrs. Bridge's, our local tea house.  No offense to their fine establishment, but I think they mislabeled a tea, or perhaps their vendor sent them the wrong tea.  The cup I got was Earl Grey, but the tea was blended with a smoked variant, probably Lapsang.  I didn't question it, smoky Russian Caravan being the only other Russian blend I had actually tried, until I purchased a pouch to try on my own and found it a completely different tea.  After doing some research, I found that Russian Earl Grey is not made from a smoked tea, but there is a common (not Russian) variant called "Smoky Earl Grey" that is.  This must be what I had for that first cup.  It was excellent; I'll have to find that variant online, so I can post a review.

What, then, of Russian Earl Grey?  It turns out to be an Earl Grey blend, flavored with bergamot, Thai lemongrass, and orange peel.  Russia has a fine tea culture, dating back to the 17th century, and features almost exclusively Chinese teas, often flavored.  Tea is brewed in ornate vessels called samovars, and served in ornate glass and metal cups.  I love the look of those cups, and have always wanted one since first seeing them in The Hunt for Red October.  The tea itself is very often flavored; smoke is the key flavor in Russian Caravan, but not the predominate flavoring in other Russian teas, which are often flavored with citrus fruit.  Russian tea was once drank with a spoonful of jam, or whilst holding a lump of sugar between your teeth, though I don't know how widespread this once was, or how common it is today.

So, there isn't any smoke in Russian Earl Grey, but there is lots of citrus, and a nice tea backbone, a blend of Ceylon and China teas.  Russian Earl Grey is quite similar to Baroness Grey, yet another Earl Grey variant, but is sturdier, with bolder flavors.  The orange peel and lemongrass bring really nice citrus notes to the table, sweet, yet some complexity; the lemongrass is an interesting choice, bringing a slightly different flavor than lemon peel might have.  Lemongrass in tea seems strange at first blush, but a different Russian tea I found while researching is flavored with buffalo grass.  The orange and lemongrass mix really well with the bergamot, balancing out that piney taste, and while the texture isn't as velvety as the Cream Earl Grey, the tea has a clean finish, with only a mild pleasant aftertaste.

Russian Earl Grey is a nice cup of tea, but probably not quite a staple that I'll keep on hand.  I'm very curious to track down that Smoky Earl Grey and give that another whirl...I'll be sure to post my notes here when I do.  Score:  85 (B)

Tea. Earl Grey. Hot. -or- It's Earl Grey week here at Tempest!

Ok, sorry for the Jean-Luc Picard reference, it felt obligatory.  I have notes on several different Earl Grey teas, and I thought it would be fun to spread them across a week...thus, Earl Grey week is born.

Earl Grey is one of those ubiquitous teas that everyone seems to know.  It's probably the most well known flavored tea; the unmistakable citrus, pine aroma and taste come from the peel of the bergamot orange, a citrus plant native to southeast Asia, but also grown in Italy and France.  There are several different stories regarding how Earl Grey tea was introduced to England, all of them probably apocryphal...Prime Ministers saving Chinese emperor's lives and whatnot. What is fact is that Earl Grey tea was first given as a gift to the eponymous 2nd Earl Grey in the early 1800's, and spread throughout England's upper class from there.

Earl Grey was originally solely blended from Chinese black teas, but these days I find it's mostly Ceylon, which is probably less finicky and better suited for blending than Chinese black.  The bergamot aroma is unique, sort of like a cross between Seville orange and fresh white pine needles.  (As an aside, you can make an herbal tea by boiling white pine needles in water.  It's startlingly high in Vitamin C, and must taste horrible.)  A good Earl Grey will have mild floral notes from the tea, which should blend with the bergamot,  rather than simply get lost in the mix.  The tea should have a bite of astringency, and plays well with the addition of lemon, though to be honest, I usually add milk.  It's not as traditional, but it goes well enough.  Earl Grey is a traditionally an afternoon tea, and the bergamot aroma is pretty relaxing.  I find the tea a bit too "tangy" for a morning cup, but others' mileage may vary.

Truthfully, until my wife discovered Cream Earl Grey earlier this year, I hadn't had a cup of Earl Grey in a long time.  Earl Grey was one of my first favorites, along with Irish Breakfast, when I really started drinking tea, but I got burnt out on the citrusy/piney taste quickly.  Cream Earl Grey offers a slightly different take on the tea, with the cream offering more sweetness and that velvety texture to balance out the bergamot "tang."  Cream Earl Grey, as with several different Earl Grey variants, has cornflower petals blended in with the tea.  I cannot for the life of me figure out if this is simply ornamental, or if the cornflower actually adds to the taste of the tea.  They're a nice shade of blue, anyway.  The tea has a long, smooth finish, and leaves a sweet, creamy aftertaste.

Cream Earl Grey is a great cup of tea, and has become a fast favorite in our household.  Though traditional Earl Grey doesn't feel like a breakfast tea, we can drink the cream variant any time of day.  Score:  92 (A-)

Stay tuned for more Earl Grey variants: Russian Earl Grey, and Baroness Grey!