A different type of bergamot tea: Bee balm herbal and homegrown, too!

Bergamot tea, aka bee balm, is said to have a similar fragrance to Earl Grey. 

If you've had tea with me or read my blog from time to time, you probably know one of my favorite teas is Earl Grey. It's a delightful black tea flavored with oils from the rind of the bergamot orange, a Mediterranean  citrus fruit. Earl Grey is my go-to drink for Afternoon Tea, but I've recently discovered that's not the only bergamot tea and it's literally in my own backyard.

Bergamot tea, also known as bee balm, is a perennial herb with bright red or deep purple flowers and a proud member of the mint family.  It grows best in plant hardiness zones 3 - 9 which explains how one such plant found its "happy place" in the wild flower garden of our northern Michigan home.

Harvesting some fresh bergamot leaves in our northern Michigan wild flower garden for herbal tea.

The lavender bee balm, which is the variety growing in our yard, has been described as having the taste and fragrance of  the bergamot orange.  According to "Growing Your Own Tea Garden" by Jodi Helmer (featured in BTS' Tuesday Tea and Tome, June 19, 2019), because bee balm smells like Earl Grey, it was actually used as a replacement for black tea after the Boston Tea Party.

In Helmer's book, she also provides instructions for the best brew of bergamot tea which is simply adding two tablespoons of fresh bee balm leaves (or one tablespoon of dried leaves) to one cup of boiling water, then steeping  for ten minutes. In other recipes I've found on-line, you can add some of the plant's flowers for a little extra sweetness and color. (Helmer also notes, like other mint plants, bee balm can be very invasive, so she recommends dividing it in half in the fall to keep its growth at bay.)

Steep leaves for ten minutes

Add flowers for color 

I tested out the herbal tea, fresh from my garden, with some hand-picked bee balm leaves and a few of its tiny flowers. It's refreshing and minty, but not terribly sweet or overpowering.  I will be sure to enjoy it during summer afternoons in my up north tea garden.

But, unlike the Bostonians of the late 18th century, when out for Afternoon Tea, I will not be replacing my cherished Earl Grey with a bee balm tisane.

Bee balm plant, like most in the mint family, is invasive. We'll be cutting this back in the fall.