Made correctly, earl grey (really any black tea) needs some milk fat to neutralize the tannic acid or it could turn your stomach.

I've thought milk in tea was so silly for years, and you've changed my mind in one sentence. Thank you, did not realize there was a practical reason for making it... taste worse.

...now it occurs that maybe the GP comment meant shudder in a good way. In which case, well played. Quite cricket, my good man.

I had actually noticed that I didn't feel great after drinking earl grey without milk, but never realized why. Thanks for mentioning this!

True story: One day I was out of milk, but figured it wouldn't be too bad to go without and have my tea anyway. Dropped the kids off at school, lost my stomach in the parking lot. 8:00am, lookin' classy at the private school.

I googled this because I find it interesting, but black tea does not contain tannic acid. It contains tannins, but of a completely different type (antioxydants which actually seem to be healthy). I couldn't find anything definitive on whether adding milk is a good idea or not. Maybe it helps for some people.

That's interesting. I wasn't 100% when I posted, it was from memory. On a little checking, it seems we're both right -- tannic acid is a subset of tannins. In any case, milk seems to help, whatever the mechanism.

earl-mocha should be bad enough.

There's nothing wrong with milk tea.

From the replies, it's clear the "one should never put tea in Earl Grey" meme isn't as widespread as I thought.

I drink milk in my tea a lot so I'd be fine with it haha