When I was little I thought since I liked tea with milk and tea with lemon, I could make a tea that would be creamy tart with milk AND lemon. Of course we know how that turned out. But I’ve been thinking that an Early Grey, Chia or green tea would make a great lemon curd or lime cheesecake sort of dealie if only I could get the citrus and the dairy to agree.
Is there a way to do this? Preferably in a hot tea but any other suggestions on getting these tastes together, like a pre-mixed or already bottled, would be fine. Also, please reassure me that I don’t have crazy taste buds and this is a thing.
The acid in citrus juice curdles the casein in milk.
There’s no acid in lemon oil, oil of bergmont (used to make Earl Grey) or lemongrass. There could be no milk in the purest cream – I think in British nations that’s clotted cream, or maybe butter. Still, it may still curdle.
Lemon curd is a pudding made of emulsifiers and citrus and dairy. Plenty of people like that. Or maybe a lemon meringue pie? Just drop a scoup of that into your tea.
Someone mentioned lemongrass upthread. I wonder if you could get the effect you want if you added a bag of lemongrass tea to your usual tea? The flavor isn’t quite like lemon, but it might be worth investigating.
ETA: It’s not a stupid question. Tea must be perfect! I spent way too much time searching for a specific tea I liked that had all but disappeared. I found it and still have 13 boxes left, LOL.
Try using lemon zest instead of lemon juice for the flavoring. The zest has the oil that gives it the lemon flavor but it doesn’t have the citric acid that’s in the juice.