London Fog Clears Away Morning's Haze

Like many people in the world, I groan when my phone’s alarm goes off at 5:30am. The process of dragging myself into being a functional member of society usually involves caffeine in varying doses. Since starting work at The Tea Spot, I've been exploring alternatives to my coffee and milk staple that used to lead to peaks and valleys of energy throughout the day. Luckily, we have mountains of tea at our fingertips here to explore.

This has led me to a beverage with an interesting backstory. The London Fog, a tea made with Earl Grey and choice of milk, was created by Mary Loria in Vancouver in the 90’s. She was looking for an alternative to coffee to help with her morning sickness, and the drink caught on.

Now I can’t say what this tea does for morning sickness, but it sure chases away my morning malaise. The recipe for this amazing drink is as follows.

London Fog

Yields: 2 generous mugs of tea

Ingredients:

• 2 cups water
• 2 tsp quality loose leaf Earl of Grey tea
• 2 cups milk (or alternatives such as Soy and Oat)

Instructions:

1) Begin by boiling water as you would for a normal cup of tea. An electric kettle makes this morning chore so much easier.

2) Steep the tea in the hot water for 5 minutes. Set a timer for this. (Under steeping will not give enough of that precious caffeine and too long will leave the tea with a bitter taste.)

3) Next, bring the milk to a simmer in a pan. Be careful not to let the milk boil or you could run the risk of scorching it. Rest assured, this is the hardest part of this whole recipe.

4) As soon as the milk is hot enough to froth, do just that until it is doubled in volume. A handheld milk frother makes this part easy. Alternatively, to froth the milk manually, pour it into a large mason jar, screw the lid on tightly, and shake the jar vigorously for ~30 seconds until the milk is nice and foamy.

5) To serve, fill a tea cup halfway with the tea and a pinch of sugar or sweetener of choice, then top with the frothed milk and enjoy!