Tea Drink / Café Culture
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London Fog isn’t a tea blend — it’s a drink built on one. Earl Grey tea is steeped, then combined with steamed milk and a vanilla syrup, the same way a barista builds a latte.
The drink’s origins trace to Pacific Northwest coffee shops in the 1990s, generally credited to a Vancouver café looking for a non-coffee option that still felt substantial on an espresso menu. It caught on because it borrows a format everyone already knew from lattes — steamed, foamed milk over a concentrated base — and swaps espresso for strongly steeped Earl Grey.
The formula is flexible: some versions use vanilla syrup, others vanilla extract or bean, and some add a touch of lavender. What stays constant is the bergamot-forward Earl Grey base cut with steamed milk, which is also why it’s sometimes described as playing the same role in a tea drinker’s routine that a chai latte does — a flavored tea dressed up in milk-drink form, rather than a tea sipped plain.
How to Make One at Home
Steep Earl Grey strong — closer to 4–5 minutes than the usual 3, since it’ll be diluted by milk — then combine with steamed or frothed milk and a spoonful of vanilla syrup or a splash of vanilla extract. Hot or iced, the ratio is usually about equal parts strong tea and milk.
Café invention, Pacific Northwest, 1990s
Built like a latte, not steeped plain
