Decadent Earl Grey Hot Chocolate
on Feb 11, 2020, Updated Jan 13, 2021
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Rich, thick hot chocolate is made even more delicious with the addition of Earl Grey, giving it a lovely citrus twist. It’s surprisingly easy to make from scratch.
Earl Grey Hot Chocolate
Earl Grey hot chocolate is a decadent drink made of Earl Grey tea, dark chocolate, milk, heavy cream, sugar, and salt. Earl Grey is a black tea flavored with bergamot, a citrus fruit that gives the tea that signature pop of flavor.
The combination of Earl Grey tea and chocolate is so delicious. The citrus flavors complement the deep notes of chocolate.
Once you’ve Earl Grey hot chocolate, you won’t be able to go back to watery, powdered hot chocolates. This is the real deal.
RELATED: 5 Easy Steps to Make Earl Grey Properly
Recipe Highlights
- This Earl Grey hot chocolate is thick and rich, making it perfect for cooler days.
- It’s a very easy 6-ingredient recipe. All you need to do is heat and stir the ingredients.
- A homemade cream topping takes the drink to another level of goodness.
RELATED: 17 Tasty Recipes with Earl Grey Tea
Ingredient Notes
- Earl Grey tea sachets: You don’t need high-quality loose tea for this recipe.
- Dark chocolate bar: Finely chop the chocolate bar so it can easily melt in the milk.
- Milk: Use any milk you’d like. For the creamiest texture, use whole milk.
- Heavy cream: Adds richness to the drink.
- Sugar: To balance the bitterness of dark chocolate, use a bit of sugar.
- Salt: This is my secret ingredient. This salt is AMAZING.
My Earl Grey Pick:
Photo Credit: Harney.com
Step-by-Step Instructions
1. Make Earl Grey Hot Chocolate
In a saucepan, heat milk and heavy cream on low heat until small bubbles form along the sides of the pan. Take off heat.
Steep Earl Grey in hot milk. Discard tea sachets. Return to low heat and stir in chocolate, sugar, and salt until chocolate has completely melted.
Tea Sommelier’s Tip: For this recipe, I recommend using tea sachets since it’s easier to use than loose tea since there’s no need for a separate strainer and cleanup is a breeze.
2. Make whipped cream topping
Combine heavy cream and sugar in a tall cup. Whisk using a handheld milk frother until the cream thickens. It should take seconds. Don’t whisk until stiff peaks form.
3. Assemble drink
Divide hot chocolate into two cups and top each with cream topping. Garnish with grated chocolate.
Once you have your first sip, you’ll never go back to drinking plain old hot chocolate ever again.
Expert Tips
- Don’t boil the heavy cream and milk. Just bring it to a simmer to avoid burning the milk.
- The cream topping is best when it’s only slightly whipped and the heavy cream has thickened a bit. Whip until you get soft peaks.
- If you don’t have a handheld milk frother, you can whip the heavy cream using an immersion blender.
Questions You May Have
Yes! There’s caffeine in the black tea in Earl Grey and also in the chocolate itself.
Replace the 2 tea sachets in this recipe with 3 Earl Grey tea bags.
Replace the 2 tea sachets in this recipe with 1 tablespoon of loose Earl Grey.
Yes, you can replace the finely chopped chocolate bar with semi-sweet chocolate chips instead.
Related
- Easy Iced Earl Grey Tea Latte
- London Fog Drink (Earl Grey Latte)
- Earl Grey Chocolate Spread
- 5 Easy Steps to Make Earl Grey Properly
Earl Grey Hot Chocolate
INGREDIENTS
Earl Grey Hot Chocolate
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 5 oz. dark chocolate finely chopped + grated for garnish
- 2 Earl Grey tea sachets
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Cream Topping
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
INSTRUCTIONS
MAKE EARL GREY HOT CHOCOLATE
- Heat milk and heavy cream. In a saucepan, simmer milk and 1/2 cup heavy cream on low heat until small bubbles form along the sides of the pan. Take off heat.
- Steep Earl Grey in hot milk for 10 minutes. Discard tea sachets.
- Return to low heat and stir in chocolate, sugar, and salt.Stir until chocolate has completely melted.
MAKE WHIPPED CREAM TOPPING
- Whip together heavy cream and sugar.Combine 1/3 heavy cream and 1/2 teaspoon sugar in a tall cup. Whisk using a handheld milk frother until cream thickens. It should take seconds. Stop before stiff peaks form.
ASSEMBLE DRINK
- Divide hot chocolate into two cups and top each with cream topping. Garnish with grated chocolate.
EQUIPMENT
NOTES
- Don’t boil the heavy cream and milk. Just bring it to a simmer to avoid burning the milk.
- The cream topping is best when it’s only slightly whipped and the heavy cream has thickened a bit. Whip until you get soft peaks.
- If you don’t have a handheld milk frother, you can whip the heavy cream using an immersion blender.
My kids and I love Earl Grey, so tried this recipe today…YUM!! I will say, this is very rich, but would definitely be so good on a cold day with a good book!
amazing recipe. just made it. very simple and effective. all the flavors are there. delicious. excellent work and thank you for sharing.
cheers
Your recipe looks really good. I googled chocolate earl grey to see if there was such a thing b/c the other day my Starbucks earl gray tea wasn’t hot enough. I made a hot chocolate in the keurig at work and then I thought “well if I mix this with the tea…” and voila it worked and it was good.
Q: Other than Bigelow Earl Grey tea bags, the only loose leaf I have is Harney & Sons Victorian London Fog tea. The only difference would be the vanilla flavor (and if removed, the lavender) in the tea.
Your recommendation?
2: Without the funds for new kitchen tools/gadgets, I make due with what I have. So, I use either my French press, or (removing one beater) a handheld mixer to froth milk, cream, etc. Which, if either (unless you’d ditch both in this recipe) do you recommend?
Hi Jess, you can totally make the drink using Victorian London Fog tea. For the cream topping, go with the handheld mixer.
I generally really love this site and its recipes, but please note that some of the ingredients in the list aren’t mentioned in the actual recipe (the salt and sugar for the hot chocolate).
Also, half a teaspoon of salt seemed like a lot to me (and I really love salt!) so I cut it down in half, and even though it turned out delicious, my hubby noticed that it’s quite salty, asking me if I put this amount purposely.
So I think that a pinch and a little bit less sugar would be enough. Another thing was that even after the chocolate was technically completely melted, it wasn’t emulsified – so I used the immersion blender again to make it smooth.
Hi Meg, thanks so much for your comment! I updated the recipe to include the parts that were missing. I also changed it to 1/4 teaspoon salt to make it a little less salty since I agree with you that 1/2 teaspoon salt may have made it too salty.
Who knew Earl grey tea could be better! This is a keeper making this for sure for my daughter and myself will have to have with Earl grey macaroons another favorite thank you so much!
this sounds amazing and i cannot wait to give it a whirl this weekend!
Hi Brooke, make it! It’s delicious if I do say so myself. ha.
Wow! I never thought Earl Grey tea can be used as a based for hot chocolate. This is a must try!
Hi Nicky, do it! It’s so good!