On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 18:05:39 -0600, (Tom Koeppl)
cast caution to the wind and posted:

> earl grey tea has bergamot in it. what is it ? where does it come
>from.? why was it used?
>does it have other uses? history? a recent post stated that very hot
>water ruins the bergamot taste. Is this true.?

Here is a quote from
http://www.foodreference.com/html/fbergamotorange.html

"Oil of bergamot is extracted from the peel of the bergamot orange
(Citrus bergamia or Citrus aurantium bergamia), a small pear shaped
sour orange which is cultivated today mostly in southern Italy."

As for very hot water ruining the taste, I have not experienced that
myself but I will do some experimentation with lower temps. I have
traditionally always use boiling water with what I thought were good
results.

Here are some history links.
http://www.secretkingdom.com/folklore.asp?ID=5
http://www.barrys-tea.com/articles/e...y_history.html
http://www.twinings.com/en_int/histo...on/moretea.asp

This site has information, reviews, and ratings of most of the
commercially available blends. http://www.concentric.net/~Dusted/ Its
a great place to start organizing an Earl Grey Taste Test. I am
partial towards the Eastern Shore brand myself.



Mike Petro
http://www.pu-erh.net
remove the "filter" in my email address to reply