Not my cup of tea!

Tea drinkers in the UK are up in arms. Twinings, the tea company founded in London in 1706, have relaunched their Earl Grey blend of tea. Not only have the company renamed the ever-popular blend "The Earl Grey"; they have also altered the flavour.

On their website, Katherine Jeffery from Twinings explains what they did:

"Although our existing blend was liked by many, it would seem even 'The Earl' is not beyond a little makeover. So by getting lots of people to taste lots of different Earl Greys, we discovered that they simply wanted it to taste even more Earl Greyish. So we've made a few tweaks, adding a little more bergamot and a squeeze of lemon to make it taste even more refreshing."

But it seems not everyone agrees. Someone has set up a Facebook page called "Bring Back the Original Twinings Earl Grey Tea", and on the Twinings website, more than a hundred people have expressed their disappointment over the changes.

Louise Elford wrote: "Twinings' Earl Grey used to be my favourite tea, but I do not like the new blend at all. Please bring back the old blend with the same amount of bergamot in that it used to have. Thank you. Louise."

Another Earl Grey fan, Sarah Goss, wrote: "Twinings used to make the best Earl Grey tea. Now I will have to find another brand. Why do you have to mess with perfection? If I had wanted to put lemon in my tea, then I would put it in myself. The whole point of the original Earl Grey tea is the full bergamot flavour."

Before you get started with our vocabulary exercise on the next page, why not get in the mood by making yourself a cup of tea — maybe even a cup of Earl Grey?

Dagmar Taylor