Green tea and yogurt made in teapot heaven

I know what I like. And when I am ruled by my taste buds I like what I can put in my mouth.

I've been a green tea dinker for years. I've never taken to it as a hot beverage as I much prefer black leaf tea when drinking hot water.  But when steeped on cold water and chilled, it has become an addiction.

Of course when you get into teas per se and green teas especially you can spend a lot of money purchasing your tipples form specialty tea shops. The imported options in green  teas -- especially from Japan -- our pure gastronomy.

I used to indulge in a  few of the scented blends -- with apricot flowers or somesuch -- mainly because among these were leaves that took kindly to being steeped cold.

Chilled green tea

In normal everyday consumption I drank Madura Black teas.

That's my preferred tea ceremony relies on simple technology -- no teapot, just the convex tea strainer with handle.

but I soon gravitated to Madura Green Teas -- initially Green tea with Jasmine. The 'herbal addition' takes the edge of the tannins.

I was in for a surprize when I tried their Green Tea with Papaya leaf. Papaya leaf has this health benefit pedigree -- but don't let that fool you. Steeped cold this is an extraordinary tea to suck on.There are some exciting flavour to be explored the palette.

The trick is to use green tea teabags, remove the ticket and string from each bag and throw a number of bags them into a jug of cold water before chilling in the refrigerator . Steeping takes a few hours. Do not use hot water!

But as so often happens, Madura , despite the fact that it is an Australian based tea plantation, is not always readily available at the local supermarket and in frustration this week I had to purchase an option -- Nerada Green Tea with lemon myrtle.

Lemon myrtle is a flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae, genus Backhousia. It is endemic to subtropical rainforests of central and south-eastern Queensland, Australia, with a natural distribution from Mackay to Brisbane.

This is a very plain and uninteresting tea.  The Nerada plantation is in the Cairns hinterland and their teas don't have the Nerada kick. Their green tea is very weak and has a lacklustre  flavour which is not sparked up by the Lemon Myrtle.

I was very disappointed.

Lassi and Lemon Myrtle and green tea

But since I'm on a yogurt craze at the moment -- now making my own Greek style yogurt -- I thought I'd make up some lassi. I really love lassi and since I make my own yogurt I can afford to make more lassi as lassi is volume dense in yogurt. Water and yogurt can be  a bit boring in itself -- so I've often used green tea to give the drink some body: 2 parts yogurt to approx 1 part green tea, give or take. The Indians often add lemon juice (and salt) to make savory lassis, and the lemon juice is a great addition.

But what really came to the fore in the green tea/yogurt blend was the lemon myrtle.

Lemon myrtle with  green tea and yogurt is a match made in a magical storm in a teapot .

I am delighted to now learn that Madura also makes a  green tea with lemon myrtle (although finding it on the supermarket shelves seems unlikely). Failing that I could always add my own lemon myrtle to my own lassi blend ... or stick with Nerada.