London Fog Drink (Earl Grey Tea Latte)
on Oct 14, 2018, Updated Jan 08, 2021
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Made with Earl Grey tea and warm milk, a London Fog drink is a delicious tea latte with hints of vanilla and lavender. Make this London Fog drink at home with this simple 8-minute recipe.
London Fog Drink (Earl Grey Tea Latte)
A London fog drink, or an Earl Grey tea latte, is made with Earl Grey tea and frothed milk. It’s a popular drink in the Northwest and thought to have originated in Vancouver, Canada.
There are four parts to a London fog drink: Earl Grey (black tea flavored with bergamot, a citrus fruit from Italy), milk, vanilla extract, and sugar.
At Starbucks, the London Fog drink uses Earl Grey tea with a hint of lavender. This recipe recreates the drink by using dried lavender.
RELATED: Starbucks London Fog Tea Latte Copycat
Recipe Highlights
- Made with just 6 ingredients, this hot drink is soothing and delicious.
- This London Fog drink contains caffeine from the black tea, making it a tasty alternative to espresso-based lattes.
- Velvety, cafe-quality milk froth is made at home using my trick of using a French press.
RELATED: 17 Tasty Recipes with Earl Grey Tea
Ingredient Notes
- Earl Grey tea: Earl Grey is the star of this drink and it can’t be called a London Fog without it. Use loose tea or tea sachets instead of tea bags for a better quality cup of tea.
- Water: For the best flavor, use filtered water to make the tea.
- Brown sugar: White sugar also works, but brown sugar adds a richer sweetness due to the molasses.
- Vanilla extract: A flavor enhancer that makes tea lattes extra delicious.
- Dried lavender buds: The standard London Fog drink recipe is made without lavender so feel free to take this out.
- Milk: Use any kind of milk you prefer.
For full ingredients and detailed instructions, please see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Photo Credit: Harney.com
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Combine tea, lavender buds, and hot water in a teapot. Cover and steep.
Use an electric kettle with temperature setting to quickly and easily boil filtered water for tea or boil water on the stovetop. While tea is steeping, make the frothed milk.
Step 2: Heat milk and pour into a French press. Pump French press plunger until milk doubles in volume. If you don’t have a milk frother, a French press makes excellent frothy milk perfect for tea lattes.
Step 3: Strain tea leaves and pour tea into a cup. Stir in sugar and vanilla extract.
Step 4: Pour frothed milk from the French press into the cup.
Expert Tips
- To froth milk like a pro at home, another option is to use an electric milk frother which heats milk and froths at the same time.
- If you don’t have or love lavender, feel free to make it without. It’s still delicious!
- Be careful not to boil the milk since it can easily burn. Use low heat and let the milk come to a simmer then turn off the heat.
- To microwave the milk, heat 30 seconds at a time in a microwave-safe cup.
RELATED: Starbucks Iced London Fog Tea Latte Copycat
Questions You May Have
A Starbucks London Fog is made of black tea, bergamot essence (black tea and bergamot make up the Earl Grey flavor), lavender flowers, vanilla syrup, and steamed milk.
This drink is made of Earl Grey tea, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and dried lavender buds. What makes my London Fog so great is the perfect froth I create using a French press.
Yes, since there’s caffeine in Earl Grey since it’s made with black tea.
Victoria Fog is a variation on London Fog where the Earl Grey tea is taken out and replaced with lavender tea. A Cape Town Fog is where the Earl Grey is substituted with rooibos. Tokyo Fog is a tea latte made with matcha instead of Earl Grey and a Dublin Fog is made with Irish breakfast tea instead of Earl Grey.
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Easy London Fog Drink (Earl Grey Tea Latte)
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¾ cup water
- 2 teaspoons Earl Grey tea, (or 1 tea sachet or 1 tea bag)
- ¼ teaspoon dried lavender, + extra for garnish
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup milk, (any kind)
Instructions
- Boil water.Boil water on the stovetop or use an electric kettle with a temperature setting (water set to 208°F). Use filtered water for a better tasting tea.
- Combine tea, lavender buds, and hot water in a teapot. Cover teapot and steep for 5 minutes.While tea is steeping, make the frothed milk.
- Heat milk and pour into a French press. Pump French press plunger until milk doubles in volume.Heat milk on the stovetop by simmering on low then turning off the heat. Keep careful watch to make sure the milk doesn't come to a boil. Stir occasionally.Fill the French press halfway with milk. You want to leave room since the milk will double in volume.
- Strain tea leaves and pour tea into a cup. Stir in sugar and vanilla extract.
- Pour frothed milk from the French press into the cup.Garnish with dried lavender buds.
Notes
- You can take out the dried lavender if you wish since the drink is still delicious without it.
- To froth milk like a pro at home, another option is to use an electric milk frother which heats milk and froths at the same time.
- Be careful not to boil the milk since it can easily burn. Use low heat and let the milk come to a simmer then turn off the heat.
- To microwave the milk, heat 30 seconds at a time in a microwave-safe cup.
- You can use any milk you prefer. But know that not all milk will froth as well as whole or 2% milk.
- Make sure to hold down the lid of the French press so that you don’t make a mess when pumping.
- Always add vanilla extract last since you don’t want it to cook down and evaporate. The flavor will be weaker if it’s hot for too long.
- You can use white sugar if you don’t have any brown sugar, but the brown sugar adds a richer sweetness due to the molasses.
- Loose tea, tea sachets, or tea bags can be used to make this drink. I recommend using loose tea or tea sachets since the quality is a lot better. Tea bags contain the lowest quality tea.
- Victoria Fog is a variation on London Fog where the Earl Grey tea is taken out and replaced with lavender tea. A Cape Town Fog is where the Earl Grey is substituted with rooibos. Tokyo Fog is a tea latte made with matcha instead of Earl Grey and a Dublin Fog is made with Irish breakfast tea instead of Earl Grey.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Quick question: at first in the step-by-step it says 1 tablespoon for every 2 cups of water, but then the recipe calls for 1 tablespoon for 1 1/4 cups of water… confused as to how much it is!
Hi Moe, thanks for catching that! Will fixE It’s 1 tablespoon to make 2 cups of London Fog and you’ll need 1 1/4 cup of water total to make the 2 cups.
As usual, ☕ALL HAIL, THE TEA QUEEN, THE BEAUTIFUL, BRILLIANT JEE!!☕
This is, far and away my latte – and earl grey – fave!!
**Side note: Shortcut: tried the recipe w/ Harney & Sons “Victorian London Fog” tea (Black tea, lavender buds, vanilla); Brown sugar; Using the french press (milk). Voila! London Fog Latte! *HOWEVER, yours was the best. Harney (Amazing flavored teas!) used vanilla flavour – your natural vanilla makes your recipe the winner. ☕
Haha, thanks, Jess!
Have you ever tried frothing almond or coconut milk? I haven’t been able to make them foaming and I wonder if I’m just doing something wrong.
Hi R, I have and it definitely doesn’t foam as well as regular milk. Have you tried frothing it with a French press?
It’s the fat in the milk that creates the froth. Skim milk doesn’t froth that great either.
Thanks for the tip, Katie!
I love Earl Grey and stumbled across this recipe when looking for some new tea bags. Oh. My. God. Delicious. I don’t understand why this isn’t a thing in actual London, never seen it anywhere. Will be making this for everyone I know.
Just tried this and it’s great! I normally order a London Fog at any coffee shop I go to so it’s nice to be able to make it at home. I was only making one (for myself) and used the French press method to froth the milk. It was a bit tricky with less milk but did the job well enough. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Kelly, happy you tried making it! I use a smaller French press when froth milk for one cup.
So easy. I must try!!!
Just made this and it was delicious! I love your recipes.
I would appreciate it so much if you would give us the tea measurement in grams, instead of a TBL. It’s more accurate and I enjoy using my scale for my tea recipes – thanks!
Hi Beth, I agree that grams are much more accurate than tablespoons, but with most of my recipes, it doesn’t need to be so exact and not a lot of people have scales to work with which is why I opted to write out the recipes in tablespoons. But I’ll think about it for future recipes!
So I stumbled onto this, and made it on a whim, so good, I’m so excited I get one of these almost everyday, now I’m wondering what else I can do. Thanks so much.
Hi Amanda, so happy you made it and liked it!
Just so you know, I worked at Starbucks and Teavana for a long time and there’s zero lavender in the Teavana Earl Grey. The Starbucks London Fog is just Earl Grey Tea, hot water, steamed milk and vanilla syrup. No lavender at all
Hi Isaac, I didn’t think the Starbucks had lavender in their London Fog but according to their site, lavender flowers are listed as an ingredient as a part of the tea infusion that also includes black tea, water, and bergamot essence.