Because you can't sound LEARNED drinking black pekoe tea. But adding a dash of bergamot oil and calling it Earl Grey sounds very English intellectual.Care for a cup my good man?

The same reason some people add lemon.(Full Disclosure: I happen to like Earl Grey.)

i'm probably the biggest high-end coffee and tea snob i know, being raised within shouting distance of the peet's-on-vine-st. nexus of the berkeley "gourmet ghetto" in the 1970's, and even i can see the value of something like earl grey, just as i can see the value of diner coffee: i simply compartmentalize it as "a completely different beverage", or to be more specific, a "tea-like" beverage, and then i'm fine.if they start serving french press arabian mocha sanani in diners, i will check the nearest trees immediately for flying pigs.

I used to be a tea snob until I found out I like orange pekoe to the point that I really don't need to be involved in any other kind of tea. But good black pekoe is fine.As it happens I was fiending for some caffeine and didn't feel like doing the whole coffee thing. The tea choices I had were Lipton and Earl Grey. The Earl Grey wound up tolerable.I used to be a coffee snob in a way that I never was with tea. Had the french press AND the fancy Krups machine with the timer, expresso maker and milk foamer. Buy three kinds of beans, mix and grind them according to my mood every morning.