London fog, the Earl Grey tea latte with vanilla

A London fog is a latte made with Earl Grey tea instead of espresso: a small amount of strong tea, a cup of hot frothed milk and a little vanilla and sugar. It is creamy and gentle, with the citrus perfume of bergamot over a soft vanilla sweetness, and it takes about eight minutes at home.

Despite the name, the drink is usually traced to Vancouver, Canada, in the 1990s, where it spread through local cafés before reaching coffee chains across North America. The name probably comes from its colour, the pale grey of a foggy morning, and from Earl Grey's long association with British tea. In Scotland, a similar drink is sometimes called an Edinburgh fog.

How to make it

1. Pour the hot water over the tea in a cup or small teapot and leave it to brew for 4 to 5 minutes. It should be stronger than you would drink it on its own.
2. While the tea brews, heat the milk in a small pan until it steams and small bubbles form at the edge, without boiling.
3. Froth the milk with a frother, a whisk or by shaking it in a tightly closed jar for 30 seconds.
4. Strain the tea into a wide mug and stir in the sugar or honey and the vanilla.
5. Pour in the hot milk, holding back the foam with a spoon, then spoon the foam on top.

Tips for the best flavour

• Brew it strong. Milk dilutes the tea a lot. Use twice the leaf you would for a normal cup, rather than brewing longer, which only adds bitterness.
• Watch the water temperature. Water just off the boil, around 95°C, suits black tea. A kettle with temperature settings, like those in our guide to electric kettles for tea, makes this easy.
• Use real vanilla. A quarter teaspoon of good vanilla extract is enough. Artificial vanilla can taste sharp next to bergamot.
• Choose your Earl Grey. Earl Grey is black tea flavoured with oil of bergamot, a citrus fruit grown mainly in Calabria in southern Italy. Strengths vary a lot between brands, so taste and adjust.
• Do not boil the milk. Boiled milk loses its sweetness and froths poorly. Steaming hot, around 65°C, is right.

Milk choices

Variations

• Lavender fog: add a small pinch of dried culinary lavender to the tea as it brews.
• Iced fog: brew the tea, cool it, add vanilla syrup and pour over ice with cold milk.
• Decaf: use decaffeinated Earl Grey for an evening cup that keeps the bergamot flavour.
• Honey and cinnamon: swap sugar for honey and dust the foam with a little ground cinnamon.
• Vanilla syrup: for café-style sweetness, simmer equal parts sugar and water with a split vanilla pod for 5 minutes and keep it in the fridge.

Make ahead and storage

Use the buttons beside the ingredients to make two or more cups. You can brew a larger batch of strong Earl Grey, cool it and keep it in a closed jar in the fridge for two days. Warm it with the milk when you want a cup. Homemade vanilla syrup keeps for about two weeks in the fridge.

Questions people ask

How much caffeine is in a London fog?

It contains the caffeine of the Earl Grey you use. A cup of black tea typically has less caffeine than a mug of filter coffee, and using two teaspoons of leaf puts this drink roughly in the range of a strong cup of tea. Our guide to how much caffeine is too much compares common drinks.

Do I need a milk frother?

No. A whisk, a cafetière plunged up and down, or a jar shaken hard all make decent foam. A frother just makes it faster and finer, and the models in our milk frother guide are a good place to start.

Why does my London fog taste bitter?

Usually because the tea brewed too long or with boiling water poured straight on. Five minutes is the limit; use more tea rather than more time.

For a spiced alternative from the same family of milky teas, try our masala chai made on the stove.

Photograph: AI-generated image

Filed under london fog, earl grey, tea latte, vanilla.