How to Make Mead From Earl Grey Tea

[@barrytdrake]

"Earl Grey Hot" is the name of one of the teas we sell in the shop! I love the references. Shiny!

[@Raymond.Butler]

You are some of the best teachers I have had in 60 years. So much fun to watch and learn from.

[@smoochysmoochy7267]

THEY R MY Drinkin Team Too😂

[@therbstewart]

I actually had the exact opposite childhood grapefruit experience. I grew up in Deep South Texas, and my family had a grapefruit orchard. Grapefruit are picked before they are fully ripe so they can be shipped. We would go in after they were picked and find the ones that were missed and pick them when they were perfectly ripe. To this day, I will only eat grapefruit around the middle of December because of those memories.

[@JaxsonXV]

I'm making a tea wine from Lady Grey and butterfly pea flower. I had it cold brew and tasted good before the brewing. It's name for when it is finished its name is Signora Grigi Clitoride.

[@ajtrcbecg]

Hey guys. Wanted to thank you for all I've learned through your work. I just finished my first brew, which was a metheglin (about 2 months). I did primary with just Champagne yeast, yeast hulls and my own wildflower honey. Added tea, raisins, orange peel, spices (cinnamon, clove, allspice) and yellow hibiscus infusion during conditioning. Also back-sweetened it to 1.008 final gravity. Turned out amazing, including clarity. Citrus flavor very strong but wonderful. Bottled it for my 52nd birthday, feeling happy ; ). Thanks, your videos are outstanding.

[@eddavanleemputten9232]

Welcome to the wonderfully addictive world of making your own wines, meads and ciders. You’ll never run out of recipes and ideas to try. From now on you will start thinking “how will that ferment?” with just about any fruit source or sugar source you encounter. The sound of an airlock softly blub-blub-blubbing away will be music to your ears and you will start collecting empty bottles to put your finished brews in. Chances are, friends and family are going to start looking forward to your creations and will start thinking up reasons to be given a bottle. You might start getting requests for your more popular creations as well. This is the kind of hobby that keeps on giving. Happy brewing!

[@ajtrcbecg]

@@eddavanleemputten9232 Thank you Edda!

[@mikemuzzell5167]

Happy belated birthday fella.

[@marquisdejd3562]

I make this all the time. I use 16 stash double bergamot earl grey tea bags when I'm doing 5 gallon batches. I also use lemon zest and I still back sweeten. Also, wildflower honey works better for me too.

[@tylerjames130]

I work in the medical field, I was a nurse tech or CNA for several years, so hearing you guys cracking up over what the color in the sample tube looked like was making me crack up too! Thank you for the laughs and awesome information! This is definitely going to be one of the brews that I try, Earl Grey tea is my absolute favorite. If you guys haven't tried it yet, the most interesting and tasty Earl Grey tea that I have found is a brand called Ahmad Earl Grey. It's a tea based out of London and it has such complex flavor and great floral notes mixed in with the citrus adjacent notes. =]

[@ghoppr71]

Make it so number One.

[@fadetoblack2888]

I recently made a blackberry Earl Grey mead that turned out absolutely fantastic and smooth. But it was very weird at first and took a couple months to age into quite a wonderful beverage that my friends love!

[@BadMoonRising777]

Since we started degassing our musk, we have seen below 1.000 fermentations. So….. we degas every day for the first four days, we feed nutrient every two days for six days. Works great!

[@mobilemomma3853]

A tip I learned when pouring from a spouted measuring cup is to pour it from the handle side and it will pour perfectly.

[@Frydaze1]

You two at the end, way off the path, buying grapefruit to make the other grateful... I just love you two. (I also love learning from you and making your stuff. I've got a pineapple habañero mead going right now.) Thank you for being you!

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Just at the end off the path? We're slipping!

[@lokimckay1901]

if you're on an incredibly tight budget, start the syphon with your turkey baster. several ft of food grade tubing is a few bucks at a hardware store, and you need a turkey baster anyway.

[@rrowe1961]

The funky dance of love, Derica is so friggin cute!

[@johnthompson3297]

Another great video guys! Oh, Brian, I figured out why the cups and pitchers make a mess on you; you're pouring too fast. After multiple changes in pitchers and cups because of the messes I was making, I happened to slow pour, one day, and it stopped the spills. Even the items that were making messes no longer do. I have no idea why. In my mind, the spout lip should direct liquid out and not down the side of the pitcher/cup. Truth be told; I don't have patience for the slow pour, but I do the best I can.

[@KlaySmith-mn6dj]

I made a 1 gallon tea mead about 2 years ago for a friend and I found that after primary the package instructions just weren’t strong enough and most of the flavor blew off. So at the start of secondary I added probably (guessing) 40 small bags while sitting the fermenter over a AC floor vent, trying to cold brew the tea. Long story short, after some lemon additions later, turned out amazing.

[@tomherold1685]

The list of the rating numbers for each brew will be very helpful. Thanks.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

It's on our website. The score card. city-steading.com

[@mattrice3991]

Ah man, now I gotta try this recipe. Been following you guys for a bit now and you never disappoint. I used Earl Grey in my first mead last year and that was just 1 bag for the tannin. My family loved it. Now with this recipe they should "request" it..... Thanks for the great work you are doing to educate.

[@Rubberduck-tx2bh]

Picard @6:00 mark! True story: every morning @ work I would go get tea. One day they were out of "regular" black tea, so being a Star Trek fan, I tried the Earl Grey. It's been 20+ years, and I've never gone back! Current favorite is Bigelow Earl Grey Green Tea.

[@donnybilbo8006]

Brian, Derica, I love that y’all can share each other’s opinions on stuff that y’all brew. My wife turns her nose up to everything that I brew, but in her defense, she doesn’t like the feel and taste of anything with alcohol. (Or coffee, but that’s a different story). Our closest friends have different tastes than mine as well. I would love to have a friend that I could have tastings with, that would give me honest feedback.

[@antoniomromo]

Not sure why this showed up on my feed, but these two are adorable!!!

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Aww, thanks!

[@k5edd128]

Smiling! I am with you on the grapefruit, everyone in my family would eat it just like you said, but I hated it. We even had a grapefruit tree in the yard. 73

[@darylbrander4851]

I don't know what was better brians face or derica's yeast speech!

[@nobody4248]

A little trick I learned while studying chem, is that you can prevent dripping by placing the edge of one container against the edge of the other.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

True!

[@christopherkarr1872]

As an Oregonian, I appreciate your advertising Stash, which is headquartered in Tigard, Oregon.

[@randomlife718]

I just shovel crystalized honey into the fermenter and don't worry about how well it mixes during the aeration shake.

[@AdamFranklin500]

43:55 finding the oars and i’ll be on my way 😄 It does sound rather good. How does it compare to your Rooibos Mead?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

lol. Its a bit better imo.

[@arclight545]

The Star Wars reference makes me love you guys even more😊

[@icefire001]

This is amazing, a few years ago when I was learning I watched your 'first mead' video. I made it with Orange Blossom Honey, Earl Grey tea for the 'black tea' , and oranges... It was and is amazing and I just made 5 more gallons of it. I'm so happy I saw this video now because I did this very same thing just adapted from your 'first mead' recipe. Earl Grey is a great flavor paired with oranges and orange blossom honey for this mead.

[@richlaue]

Mom had a set of grapfruit spoons which add a light serrated edge on one edge

[@kritter10]

You two got me into brewing and having a fun time with it. My wife loves my cranberry wine!! Making mistakes but getting better. Never quit wineing meading or brewing. 😂👍

[@angel4u2nv]

Earl grey tea is my favorite flavor of tea and that Stash is one of my favorite Earl greys. I also really love their Breakfast in Paris tea.

[@MichaelAnderson-df2hj]

May you 2 continue putting out vids for my enjoyment. I just need to shut my typing finger up and go to bed.

[@TwilightVash]

You used the word!!!!! Penultimate tasing!!!! This made me smile.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

We use it all the time now in upcoming videos!

[@johndoe9979]

I made wine with every teabag you can think of LOL . Herbal wildberry singer, blueberry raspberry tea, dandelion tea, ginger lemon tea, apple cinnamon tea bags. They all came out great just add nutrients

[@dawnteskey3259]

I grow Bergamot (Bee Balm), I'm going to give this mead a try. I've made a Lemon Balm mead that was lovely from fresh lemon balm leaf tea, the flavor transfers beautifully into the mead.

[@jscoatings1207]

Loving the longer videos

[@WindoLickinGood]

Gotta agree with the choice of stash double bergamot earl grey, it's so gooooood

[@seasickviking]

Strar Trek & Star Wars references in the same paragraph? WONDERFULLY BLASPHEMOUS!

[@Gamefreak8112]

A perfect explanation and I don't need to explain which it was.

[@JaredPitchford]

Your tasting glass is really cool looking.

[@wheezyshoe212]

You've mentioned about the questions of "what kind of tea should I use?" before, but I've got a couple of interesting questions for you (at least I hope they're interesting). I moved to China nearly 8 years ago, and right before I moved, my cousin was getting into making mead. It slipped my mind until I came across your channel recently. I've looked into doing it a little bit - mostly along the lines of how and where to get various supplies (heck, I don't even know if it's legal to make your own alcohol, but I'm nowhere near that point, yet). It's a bit difficult, though, since my Chinese, although better than the average foreigner, is still not amazing. On Taobao (the equivalent of Amazon in China), I found a nice wild honey from the province I live in (Shaanxi), which I want to use. However, they offer basic wild honey and two-year old honey from more mature hives. Does this make a difference? I just figured I'd go for the basic stuff, but if it's recommended to go for the other stuff, what's the difference? I also saw a black honey from Yunnan province for sale. It was more expensive, and supposedly had medicinal properties, but it is naturally black. I would never use that for my first mead, but have you ever used a honey like that before? I've tried to look into it a little bit, and there are black honeys from other countries as well. What's the most interesting/strange honey you've ever used, and would you be willing to do a video making (and tasting) mead(s) made from "odd" honeys? I know that you usually do wildflower or orange blossom honey (at least, based on the selection of videos I've watched so far), but it might be fun to experiment with some of the less common ones. Finally, would you be interested in making a "Chinese mead"? I was thinking about it, taking the whole spices that go into Chinese Five Spice (such as thick-bark cinnamon, star anise, cloves, fennel seeds, and Sichuan pepper corns), but I wouldn't know where to start. Again, I would never do such a thing for my first mead, anyways. I just thought that maybe you'd be intrigued enough to give it a try. I love the content, by the way, and I'm excited to do more research into making my own here in China!

[@jaredvance6611]

Made some Earl Gray mead about a year ago, turned out fantastic.

[@MichaelAnderson-df2hj]

Hey your grapefruit experience I know all too well. It wasnt until I was about 50 that I learned of pink grapefruit. A completely different beast. Your Kilju video got me too thinking. After it is done fermenting I want to add a pumpkin pie coffee flavoring to one and a peppermint to the other. Wish me luck. One is sugar free the pumpkin pie is not. Hopefully they will be ready for Christmas.

[@Cirkux]

Overcooked and dry liver was the bane of my childhood school meals.

[@Erowens98]

Before i could source an autosiphon, i used a 75ml broth syringe to start my siphon. It worked fine, a little fiddly but id say its good enough to be an autosiphon alternative.

[@hotlavatube]

Sounds good. I did a couple experimental tea wine batches with earl grey tea. One batch had generic red star bread yeast, and the other one had red star cuvée yeast. Both fermented to 1.0. The cuvée yeast wine turned into harsh rocket fuel, which I guess isn't surprising as that yeast isn't know for flavor development. However, the bread yeast wine was delightful with a sweetness that belied its dryness. My one complaint was the wine was too thin on the palette, which your mead should rectify as the honey will provide a better body. I bottled both and it's been over 1 yr, so I should check on the cuvée wine to see if age has mellow it out.

[@DZSabre]

I take SG readings of all of my favorite commercial meads and I found that I prefer them really sweet, like 1.04 to 1.088!!!. The 1.088 is a step-fed Polish Dwojniak while the lower one is a Polish Trojniak and may favorite cysers are 1.046. When I make meads for me alone, and they go dry, I always start with adding 1 pound of honey. But like you said, it's all about what you like.

[@qwosters]

Wow today you guys are out of control. Love it!

[@ginabernard3626]

funky dance of love! ;D Derica, you rock!

[@NFin]

You guys are very inspiring. I'm currently brainstorming flavors I want to try for my first mead and fruit wine and I keep coming back to. mango green tea mead, a blue berry lemon with lavender honey, and either a triple berry or triple melon wine with vanilla

[@CitySteadingBrews]

For your first, please stick to a recipe!

[@DustyChugs]

Honestly, I don't care how many times I have to see someone racking a jug of wine. It is kind of oddly satisfying to watch. I wouldn't mind seeing a sped up version of it every video.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

We usually leave it out but do have a full video explaining how to do it.

[@ericroberts101]

I’ve found one alternative to the autosiphon that is very helpful especially if you are a solo brewer. Northern Brewer has a plug in pump that works really well. I don’t think it will work with a bottling wand(I’ve yet to test it yet), but for racking it works very well.

[@siegel197866]

4 Days till our favorite Earl Grey drinker is back in his element.

[@VinceUK]

I was going to make a similar comment..... Counting the days

[@theastronomer5800]

Very, very, interesting!

[@xavierleath8078]

So much fun learning from you guys.😂

[@robertcopp2411]

one of my favorite meads I've ever made was an Apple Earl Grey Mead.

[@mmcgartland2095]

You explained in the terms that I understand whys

[@mmcgartland2095]

Rather than just doing recipes

[@CitySteadingBrews]

We aim to teach how to make your own, not just replicate ours 😊

[@DZSabre]

You beat me to this project. I am going to do this for my wife later this year.

[@reneesmith9424]

Best tea! My go-to on work days.

[@bgtuna03]

YES! Might be trying this one next. Currently have a batch of your tea wine in primary, but made with 'Bella Luna' Earl Grey. Earl grey with hints of coconut and cream.

[@Lrocket]

The “creaminess” could be the lactic acid from the secondary fermentation 😊

[@CitySteadingBrews]

You’re thinking f malolactic fermentation. That needs a malic acid source.

[@trentwalters]

Funky dance of love I absolutely love y’all’s energy and I ordered the tea btw we love tea

[@KrazyMitchAdventures]

Here in Canada: Tim Hortons has the BEST Earl Grey tea, get 24 oz for 1/2 the cost of S'Bucks 30 oz, black 1.5 tsp of sugar, then drink it while I work (or let it get cold, or add a cup of ice to it). I like cold tea, ok.. gimme a break.. I would rather drink cold tea, than hot/cold coffee..

[@CitySteadingBrews]

I have never had Earl Grey from Starbucks…. Interesting.

[@daigledj]

From gardening I know soaking green leaves for a few week will extract some of the nitrogen into the water. Not sure if the hot water would extract a significant amount from tea leaves in the time you have it in there but maybe it does speed up extraction.

[@stanleygrover1685]

I use that tea to!

[@alexandraengland3274]

Oh yeah, honey adds so much viscosity. Super fun. Might try to make an Oolong mead at some point.

[@Hillbilly_Papist]

I’m doing a similar using Chamomile and orange. A glass before bed would knock me right out.

[@NoahNobody]

Oh cool, I never used earl grey before because I heard the bergamot hindered the ferment. But good to see you guys vouch for it.

[@HoeLeeFAQ]

I am not into making alcohol but I enjoy watching you guys do your thing. But after watching a few of your video's now I am kind of curious in trying to make myself a batch.

[@DZSabre]

Hurray!!! The TURBOS theme is back!

[@aimeevanlandingham3844]

Plum Deluxe sells a tea tin for Early Grey with a Star Trek inspiration. It says "Earl Grey, Hot" on it lol; I have it.

[@jayradtke1466]

When my wife and I made our experimental earl Grey mead. We used no extra water. We brewed 1 gallon of tea. Zest of lemon and cream of coconut. It turned out amazing. Step fed slowly to our perfect sweetness.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

You used the same amount of water we did :)

[@JOCO1911]

Yes I love bergamot earl gray and honestly been using it in my mead

[@beep-beepwatermelon4203]

I’ve been brewing kombucha for a long time, and squeezing the bag is frowned upon. That being said!!… I squeeze mine 😃 I brew my tea exactly how I like to drink it, and when I drink my tea I squeeze the bag. Instead of steeping for 15 minutes, I steep for no more than five and squeeze those suckers out! Either way works, I just like getting all the good stuff out and I’ve tried it both ways. The flavour seems nicer overall when I don’t over extract the tea

[@smoochysmoochy7267]

DERICA!!! I Think U and I are Soul Mates. I use Movie Lines TOO😂😂😂❤

[@johnaldrich249]

You should make a mead with Celestial Seasonings Red Zinger tea (lots of rose hips)

[@johngore5127]

I find a lot of non-alcohol beers have a grapefruit taste to them. I wonder what they're using. Probably grapefruits? For me I eat grapefruits peeled like oranges. Yum.

[@Jen-iy7lq]

Stash is what started it all for me and I've been an avid tea drinker for nearly 30 years since then. You guys should check out Mei Leaf's post-fermented and aged lines of tea. Childhood food trauma! My babysitter used to frequently serve canned pea soup and it'd stink the whole house, and I wasn't authorized to leave the table for the rest of the afternoon until I made a concerted effort to eat it, sometimes not earning the final approval until my mother picked me up. I'd have to sit in the pea soup stench for 3 hours and now anytime I smell canned peas or pea soup I get nauseous. I was 4 so I didn't know the nose-plugging trick.

[@scottaustin5290]

I’m a fan of what you do watch everything I could find love what you do thanks guys great video

[@terrycuyler5659]

13% is fine. When I want a high ABV I either start off between 1.090-1.100 then step feed , or fortify with a splash of Everclear.

[@julietardos5044]

ST: TNG ST: VOY (Neelix once ordered a "bergamot tea") Star Wars Toy Story That rose odor/flavor might come from fermented citrus. I've noticed that spoiled lime peel smells/tastes like roses. I suspect you could have used 8 tea bags rather than 16 because one tea bag really makes 2 cups of tea. And then it would be less astringent. I love grapefruit. We used to do that half-grapefruit-with-sugar thing when I was a kid, but now, I just peel and eat.

[@tonydavies8683]

Bergamot is also known as bitter orange it is what was used to hybrid the oranges we have today.

[@TheExalaber]

No, Bergamot is a hybrid between Bitter Orange and Lemon. Bitter Orange and Sweet Orange are both hybrids of Pomelo and Mandarin Orange. Lemon is a hybrid of Bitter Orange and Citron. Mandarin Orange, Citron, and Pomelo are all ancestral citrus fruits.

[@ArchaicAnglist]

​@@TheExalaberThanks for this. Now I wonder how close one could get to a betgamot flavor by soaking a mix of dried bitter orange and lemon peels in neutral spirits.

[@nicholasaugustin3861]

I used clover Honey in mine beg gravity 1.080 and lalvin D47 yeast

[@johanstrieter-bh2wq]

First of all, I’d like to say, thank you for doing such a great job on your videos your explanation, and your processes are excellent. I myself am a Brewer of whiskey and sour mash. I was looking at doing some honey wine and after watching your videos, I discovered it’s quite easy. I do have one question and maybe you’ve answered it I just don’t remember so if you don’t mind telling me, I would really appreciate it. Is it truly and I mean truly necessary after you sweeten your brew is it truly necessary to pasteurize the brew. I guess what I’m trying to get it if you really don’t care, then why pasteurize I’ll just leave it in the fermenter for a couple more weeks after it sweetened to make sure that it’s completely finished. I’m just asking because I want to make sure that I do it correctly. Once again, thank you very much the two of you are hilarious.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

If you don’t want it to continue fermenting you pasteurize. If you want to keep feeding til it passes the alcohol tolerance of the yeast… you can do that too.

[@johanstrieter-bh2wq]

@@CitySteadingBrews thank you for the information once again, you’ll have to forgive my ignorance about this particular subject. Most of the alcohols that I do are between 40 and 50% alcohol. I’m heading into a new field and I am requiring just extra information. I do appreciate everything you do and I do enjoy your videos tremendously. Thanks again have a great day.

[@GaneshGuptaAssam]

Nice.. shall definitely try to make it at home.

[@queenofroses09]

We make our own joghurt, and if we have crystallized honey, we always put it in with the joghurt. 6 hours at 40°C and it is decrystallized.

[@jassonford7269]

I’m sure you done Jean-Luc Picard proud

[@stoatyboy]

City Steading!! I’d REALLY appreciate some advice. I saw your Rooibos vid after I’d bought some to make a mead. Coincidence. Then I saw yours stalled and I wanted to get to around 15%. To overcome the potential antibiotic of rooibos I did a mix of 6 rooibos and 6 black teabags. 3.5lb of Aldi honey. Came out to original gravity of 1.120. I used bulldog mead yeast that includes nutrients, and I added hulls for good measure. The fermentation was extremely successful. In just 10 days the gravity is 1.000 and it has a young, but complex semi-sec flavour. I’ve racked it off the raisins purely by chance because I discovered there was a hairline crack in the carboy. So it’s all by luck / unlucky chance that I’ve found out the taste is great and the ABV is %16. I don’t want it any higher. Should I let it calm down and give it a week after racking off the cracked fermenter? Or after only 10 days to prevent going lower than 1.000 would pasteurisation be a plan?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

I would rack off the broken fermenter.

[@8utterscotch]

I've heard of the Ryker maneuver, but is this what they call the Picard maneuver? ☕

[@cameronvanatti]

Can't wait for the 1 year tasting in a few months

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Came out already: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bmLJh5qqnpKioJIsi=TRfy5WL5-QQRuQju

[@CitySteadingBrews]

The original is from almost 2 years ago and the tasting came out 10 months ago.

[@keithmcauslan943]

I have a very legitimate reason to not use a auto siphon one of the one gallon "wine Bottles", the auto siphon I have doesn't in. I have to put under the star san fill it up, I use Binding clips at each end to clamp it shut. Dip one end in the source and the other in the destination temp bucket. start the siphon, move it to a true destination after the star san has flown out and now fully un-clamp the hose.

[@ArtsyImagination]

I also can't STAND grapefruit in any way, shape, or form, but I also LOVE Earl Grey. I wonder how Picard would feel...

[@ogm19881]

I'm new to your videos, love the plain concise instructions and explanations. I'm looking to take this up as a hobby. This has me wondering have you made a cinnamon tea based mead?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Nope. But we have made several with cinnamon as an ingredient.

[@ogm19881]

​@@CitySteadingBrews Another question here, just popped into my head while drinking green tea. How does a lemon zest, green tea mead sound? Do those ingredients seem like they would meld well together? Perhaps it may be a disaster or the next 9.5 😅.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

@ogm19881 sure, could work.

[@elumbra]

I've done a couple of Earl Grey hydromels and I feel like they need a bit of age to taste good.

[@nicholaskarako5701]

Saw an interview with Patrick Stewart a long time ago that in the original script for the pilot Jean luc Picard favorite tea was Lapsang Souchong a pine smoked black tea from China, but the producers changed it to earl grey so the tea that was more recognizable and easier to say.

[@julietardos5044]

CS made a lapsang souchong mead. Worf's mother ordered a lapsang souchong tea in Ten Forward, so they did keep the idea.

[@michaellowry1888]

This is fascinating. Wondering if during conditioning if there is some malic acid to lactic acid conversion giving the creamy milk flavors. Keep brewin!

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Doubtful. Normally has to be induced.

[@vanessalujano7869]

I would love to see you guys handle a pumpkin Mead, cuz I don't think putting it in a bag would help with getting it out.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Well… to be honest, I am not a huge fan of pumpkin…

[@jonfortner3919]

Where did you guys get the double walled glassware? Really like the look of thoes

[@CitySteadingBrews]

They were gifts.

[@eddiefleetwood2945]

Do you recommend adding yeast nutrient to water first before adding it to a batch at all times? I will be adding some to a batch tonight and my practice has been to just add it right into the mead. This is a 5 gallon batch of "Peach Pie Mead" that I am making, if that matters. There is only peaches in it right now and will be adding additional flavors in secondary.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

I just do it to help it dissolve.