As early in advance as possible, place the olive oil and earl grey tea leaves in a medium saucepan. Place it over the smallest heat source on a low heat, and allow for ten minutes, stirring intermittently. Turn the heat off, and allow the tea to steep in the oil for as long as time permits – at least 10-20 minutes.
Strain the oil into a bowl, and place the tea leaves back in the same saucepan. Add the 1/2 cup of milk, and heat just until hot. Don’t worry about the residual oil, it won’t make a difference to buttermilk. Turn the heat off, and allow the tea to steep in the milk for at least 10 minutes. Strain, and set the tea leaves aside.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius or 356 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a silicon loaf tin with oil or butter.
In a large bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon, if you’re using it. Mix well to combine.
Add the tablespoon of lemon juice to the strained milk mixture to make buttermilk. This will give the loaf a lovely bit of oomph.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the pumpkin puree with the brown sugar and vanilla bean paste. Stir until the mixture is well combined.
Add the remaining wet ingredients – buttermilk, eggs and steeped olive oi. Stir thoroughly to combine until a smooth batter forms. Finally, mix the dry ingredients into the wet.
As an option, you can add 1 tablespoon of the steeped tea leaves to the batter. It creates lovely little flecks in the loaf, and a nice texture. Totally optional.
Pour the batter into the well greased loaf tin, and place in the oven for 35-40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow the loaf to cool in the tin, before gently removing it. Allow the loaf to cool completely before icing.