Does Bergamot Tea Have Caffeine?

The short answer: usually, yes. A typical 250 ml cup(approx. 8.80 ounces) holds somewhere between about 40 and 60mg of caffeine. This is roughly less than half of what you'd get from coffee of the same size. A coffee cup of the same quantity typically contains around 70 g to sometimes even 160g of caffeine if it is a coffee type like Americano.

But "bergamot tea" can also mean something that's genuinely caffeine-free, which is why the real answer depends on what's actually in your cup. Let’s decode this by first diving into the most important question:

 

What is Bergamot Tea?

Bergamot tea is most often called Earl Grey, a type of black tea flavoured with bergamot oil. This oil is extracted by pressing the peel of a citrus fruit grown in Italy, called bergamot orange. It's famous for its aromatic compounds; chiefly limonene, linalyl acetate and linalool, and none of them is caffeine. 

Bergamot gives Earl Grey its fragrance and that unmistakable citrus-floral lift. It adds no stimulant.

Where the Caffeine Comes From (and Where It Doesn't)

Caffeine comes from the tea plant itself, Camellia sinensis. So the caffeine in any bergamot tea is simply the caffeine in the tea underneath it. A black tea base is caffeinated. A herbal base is not. That one idea explains almost everything below.

A flavour name tells you what has been added to a tea, not what's in the leaf. "Earl Grey" on its own says nothing about caffeine. Always look at the base.

What "Bergamot Tea" Can Actually Mean Can Decide Whether It Has Caffeine

If your bergamot tea is…	Does it contain caffeine?	Why
Classic Earl Grey (black tea + bergamot)	Yes — moderate	The black tea leaf is the source.
Bergamot-flavoured green or white tea	Yes	Still Camellia sinensis. Laboratory testing of commercial teas found no consistent pattern by tea type, so a green or white base isn't a guarantee of less caffeine.
Decaffeinated Earl Grey	A small residual amount	In one study of commercial teas, decaffeinated products contained under 12 mg per serving.
Bergamot with a rooibos or herbal base	No	Rooibos and herbs aren't tea plants, so they're naturally caffeine-free.
"Wild bergamot" (bee balm, Monarda) infusions	No	A different, unrelated herb that happens to share the name. It isn't Earl Grey.

How Much Caffeine Is in a Cup?

Tea isn't uniform, so the honest answer is a range. In a laboratory analysis of 20 commercial white, green, and black teas, caffeine ranged from 14 to 61mg per 6–8oz serving, and no caffeine was detected in the herbal teas tested. EFSA's safety assessment, the benchmark used across Europe, works from about 50mg for a 220ml cup of tea and about 90mg for a 200ml cup of filter coffee.

The cup-versus-mug problem. 

Most published figures are for a "cup" of 200–250ml. Plenty of us drink from mugs that hold considerably more. That's why NHS guidance, which is written around how people really drink, puts a mug of tea at around 75mg and a mug of filter coffee at around 140mg.

Here’s the summary of the findings:

Serving	Typical caffeine	Source
Cup of tea (≈220ml)	~50 mg	EFSA
Mug of tea	~75 mg	NHS guidance
Cup of filter coffee (≈200ml)	~90 mg	EFSA
Mug of filter coffee	~140 mg	NHS guidance
Range across 20 brewed teas (6–8oz)	14–61mg	Chin et al., 2008

Notice that in both cases tea comes out at roughly half the coffee. That's a useful rule of thumb: Earl Grey carries about half the caffeine of coffee served in the same vessel, with a large mug sitting at the top end of the range.
Our own Earl Grey is black tea in a 2g pyramid bag, so everything in this guide applies to it too. The product page lists its caffeine for a 200–250ml cup brewed for 3–5 minutes.

What Actually Changes the Caffeine in Your Cup

Bergamot isn't one of the dials. These are: 

Dial	Effect	If you want less
Steeping time	The biggest lever. More time, more caffeine.	Steep nearer 3 minutes than 5.
Amount of leaf	Two bags in one mug roughly doubles it.	Stick to one bag per cup.
Leaf size and grade	Smaller pieces tend to release caffeine faster than whole leaf.	Choose a larger-leaf grade or shorten the steep.
Water temperature	Hotter water extracts more. Cold water extracts far less.	Try cold brewing.

Steeping Time Changes

Steeping time deserves a closer look, because it's the dial most people never think about. Studies prove that a tenth of a tea's caffeine had been released after 30 seconds, roughly half after three minutes, and around seven-tenths after five. In practice, that means a five-minute steep brings in roughly 40% more caffeine than a three-minute one. Earl Grey is usually brewed for three to five minutes, and beyond five the bergamot's delicate top notes fade while bitterness builds, so there's little reason to stretch it further.

Leaf size matters for the same reason. Fine, cut leaf gives up its caffeine more quickly than whole leaf. If tea grades are new to you, our Ceylon tea grades guide explains what the letters mean.
Temperature has a surprising twist for iced Earl Grey. Research on cold-brewed tea has found that caffeine, along with the compounds that cause bitterness, extracts poorly in cold water. So a true cold brew is gentler and lower in caffeine. An iced tea made by brewing hot and pouring over ice keeps most of the caffeine of the hot brew.

Five Things That Don't Reduce Caffeine

Rinsing the leaf first. The popular "30-second rinse" removes only around a tenth of the caffeine, and washes away much of the aroma with it.
Re-steeping the same bag. Since only about half the caffeine is out after three minutes, a second cup isn't a decaf. It's lighter in flavour, not necessarily in caffeine.
Adding milk. Milk changes the taste, not the amount of caffeine in the cup.
Choosing a green or white base. As above, testing found no reliable link between tea type and caffeine level.
Assuming the bergamot adds some. It doesn't. Earl Grey has no more caffeine than the same black tea without bergamot. Any difference between two teas comes from the leaf, the amount, and the brew.

When to Drink It: Matching Caffeine to Your Day

Caffeine lingers. Its half-life is roughly four to six hours in healthy adults, and noticeably longer or shorter for some people, so a late-afternoon cup is still partly with you at bedtime. EFSA notes that single doses of around 100mg, taken close to bedtime, may delay sleep and shorten it in some adults.
One cup of Earl Grey usually sits below that. The catch is that afternoon caffeine adds up. Two mugs of tea at about 75mg each already reach 150mg, before any coffee, chocolate, or cola.

Time of day	What to expect
Morning	Plenty of time to clear. A full 4–5 minute steep is fine.
Midday to mid-afternoon	Comfortable for most people.
Classic afternoon tea slot (around 4 pm)	Fine for many. If you sleep lightly, steep nearer 3 minutes.
Evening	A common rule of thumb is to avoid caffeine within about six hours of bed. A caffeine-free infusion is the easy swap.

For ideas, see our guide to non-caffeinated teas for evenings and before sleep.

Who Should Count More Carefully

If you're pregnant or breastfeeding, NHS guidance is to keep total caffeine from all sources under 200mg a day. At roughly 75mg a mug, that's about two and a half mugs of tea, and it leaves no room for coffee, cola or chocolate. EFSA reaches the same figure. Follow NHS advice and ask your midwife or GP if you're unsure.
If you're sensitive to caffeine, or it affects your sleep or heart rate, a smaller serving, a shorter steep and an earlier cut-off all help.
For healthy adults generally, EFSA considers up to 400mg a day from all sources, and single doses up to 200mg, to raise no safety concerns. If tea were your only source, that's around five mugs, which is a useful perspective rather than a target.

If You Want the Flavour With Less (or No) Caffeine

In order of how much caffeine they save:
Shorten the steep to 2–3 minutes. You'll get a lighter body and less caffeine.
Cold brew it. The cup is softer and sweeter, with noticeably less caffeine, though the flavour is different from the hot version.
Choose decaffeinated Earl Grey. Expect a small residual amount (under 12mg per serving in the study above). Decaffeination can also soften the flavour.
Switch to a naturally caffeine-free infusion. No herbal tea reproduces bergamot exactly, but lemongrass brings a similarly bright, lemony lift. At Ceyara we don't decaffeinate our black tea. Our caffeine-free range is made from herbs and botanicals that never contained caffeine, including a Lemongrass & Ginger blend.

Reading the Label

Check the base tea. "Black tea" in the ingredients means caffeine. Rooibos or herbs means none.
"Bergamot oil" and "natural flavouring" add aroma only. Neither adds caffeine.
"Decaffeinated" is not "caffeine-free." Decaffeinated tea has caffeine removed and keeps a little. Caffeine-free never has any.
Most packs don't state milligrams, so brewing is your best guide: how many bags, and for how long.

Common Questions

Does Earl Grey have more caffeine than English Breakfast?

Not because of the bergamot. If both use the same type and grade of black tea, brewed the same way, the caffeine is essentially the same. Differences come from the leaf, the amount used and the steep.

Is there caffeine in iced Earl Grey?

Yes, if it's brewed hot and poured over ice. A true cold brew contains less.

Can I drink Earl Grey before bed?

Yes. It depends on you and on timing. One cup is usually under 100mg, but sensitive sleepers do better with an earlier cut-off or a caffeine-free infusion in the evening.

Is decaf Earl Grey completely caffeine-free?

No. It contains a small residual amount.

How much Earl Grey can I drink in a day?

For healthy adults, EFSA's guide is up to 400mg of caffeine a day from all sources. In practice, that's several mugs, but coffee, cola and chocolate count towards the same total.

 

If you'd like to see how all of this plays out in practice, explore our premium Earl Grey Black Tea, or browse our full Black Tea collection.

If you are further interested in Earl Grey Tea, read our blog about Key Benefits of Earl Grey Tea.