Organic Earl Grey

Tasting Notes: Rich caramel & clean citrus

Ingredients: Organic Kumaon Black, Organic Bergamot Oil

Infusion Suggestions:

Steep 1 0.5 Tbsp/2.5 g | 8 oz | 210° F | 3.5 min

Steep 2 8 oz | 210° F | 5 min

Contains Caffeine

Our rendition of the world’s most popular blend is made with a light black tea that has sweet notes of caramel, enhanced by the citrus zip of bergamot oil.

Tasting Notes: The base tea in this classic black blend is our single-origin Organic Kumaon Black, a wonderfully balanced black with natural notes of rich caramel and bittersweet cocoa. The bergamot oil, made from the rinds of a small orange-like fruit native to the Mediterranean, builds on the black tea foundation by adding a clean and slightly sour citrus twist. The result is a divinely fresh cuppa that’s great hot or cold. 

Recipe Formulation: The key to a good Earl Grey loose-leaf blend is a solid black tea and pure bergamot oil. Bergamot oil can be intensely aromatic, sometimes bordering on sharp, so it took us a few trials to determine the exact amount of essential oil that would lift the rich notes of the black tea without dominating the blend. After several rounds, we landed on this deeply satisfying recipe. 

Impact: In Kumaon, our relationship runs deepest. For more than a decade, we’ve worked side-by-side with Himalayan farmers to build a new model of tea, rooted in shared ownership, regenerative agriculture, and community leadership.

Together, Young Mountain Tea and local farmers co-own India’s first farmer-led specialty tea factory, launched in 2025. It’s the result of years of joint capacity building including training in organic cultivation, small-batch processing, and leadership development. Today, ~500 farmers in the Champawat region produce 30,000 lb of certified organic tea each year, and 90% of them are women earning their first-ever independent income through tea.

Farmers earn in two ways: first, by selling their harvest to the factory at 5x commodity rate; and second, by sharing in the factory’s future profits as co-owners. Alongside this economic transformation, we’re also restoring the land, running regenerative agriculture trials that compare biochar, home compost, and cow-dung fertilizers to revive once-abandoned hillsides with thriving organic tea bushes.

Our long-term goal is to develop the Kumaon Model as a blueprint for how tea can uplift Himalayan communities, beginning with 6,000 farmers across Kumaon and ultimately inspiring change throughout the global tea industry.

1% of all Young Mountain Tea sales directly support the factory’s launch and the farmers who will own it. Learn more.

Packaging: Our commitment to sustainability means we offer our teas in several types of packaging:

• Tins: Durable and reusable, made from 100% recyclable steel. Labels are not recyclable but made from 50% hemp and 50% post-consumer waste.
• 1 lb Bags: Tough, resealable stand-up pouches with storing moisture and oxygen barriers. Not recyclable due to a 3-layer structure that serves as a food-safe barrier to keep your tea fresh as long as possible.
• Packs of 100 Tea Bags: Recyclable stand-up pouches with tea bags, strings, and tags made from 100% sugarcane PLA, commercially compostable and degrades into organic matter. For best results, use a commercial compost facility.