Okay, so I’ve been on this whole tea kick lately, trying to get a bit healthier and all that. I started messing around with different types of tea, and I got really curious about the whole black tea versus Earl Grey thing. They both look kind of similar, right? But I figured there’s gotta be a difference.

So I bought a box of regular black tea and a box of Earl Grey. First thing I did was just brew a cup of each, just plain, no sugar or anything. I poured some hot water over the tea bags and let them steep for a few minutes.

My First Try

• Black Tea: This one had a pretty strong, kind of earthy taste. It was definitely bold. I could see why people add milk and sugar to it.
• Earl Grey: This one surprised me! It had a lighter, kind of flowery taste to it. It also had this citrusy thing going on, which was really nice.

Then I got a little fancy. I started adding a little milk and a tiny bit of sugar to both teas. The milk definitely softened the black tea’s boldness, and the sugar brought out the sweetness. With the Earl Grey, the milk and sugar kind of blended with the citrusy flavor. It was like a whole different drink!

I spent a few days just switching between the two, trying them at different times of the day. I found that I really liked the black tea in the morning. It was a good kickstart. The Earl Grey was more of an afternoon thing for me. It was more relaxing, you know?

After a while, I did a little digging online and it turns out I wasn’t crazy for noticing the difference. Apparently, all Earl Grey tea is a kind of black tea, but it’s got this special oil added called bergamot. That’s where that citrusy flavor comes from! Black tea, on the other hand, is just plain tea leaves that have been processed to give them that strong, robust flavor.

So, yeah, that was my little tea experiment. I definitely learned a lot about the differences between black tea and Earl Grey. Now I feel like a tea pro when I’m in the tea aisle at the store. I can pick the right tea for the right mood! Hope my little tea journey can help some of you to choose your tea too!