I am slightly suspicious of people who don’t drink tea. Seriously, why? I do it on most days (coffee in the first half of the day, tea in the second) and I agree with the Brits – it has a civilizing influence. What I cannot quite manage, though, is to drink something very refined and nuanced all the time. What’s the use of getting out your finest Long Jing or your single estate grand cru teas, if you are tired or grumpy and have no energy to appreciate them?

Often, I just want something nice and relaxing and not too demanding and this is where casual green teas come in. In theory, this could mean any green tea that is easy to drink and not hugely expensive. This would be too easy, however, and a waste of a good categorizing opportunity! For me, a casual green tea is something very specific: it has to be flavoured, but not too strongly. This means jasmine, lavender, spices and even strong mint and citrus are out as too intense (I love them all in my green tea, they just don’t fit the genre). When I don’t want to think, my preference is for gently floral and fruity blends, just enough to make them a bit interesting, but not taking you to the dreaded soap/shampoo territory. A little sweetness is also a plus, as I don’t use sugar, but not too much.

My top picks of the genre come from Palais des Thés. Thé du Hammam (dry on the cover photo, brewed in the pink cup) is one of my absolute favourite teas: it has rose petals, orange blossoms and dates, so anyone who knows me even a little will not be surprised I like it. It sounds very opulent, but the result is light and extremely well balanced. To use the scientific terms – it smells and tastes absolutely lovely. My other favourite is the delicate Fleur de Geisha with cherry blossoms and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone objecting to that tea. It’s slightly sweeter than Hammam, but far from overpowering. Both are long-time bestsellers of the line and with a good reason. If you’ve been drinking Fleur de Geisha and want a variation on the theme, Le Thé Guimet is worth checking out – it adds some citrus and cornflower petals to the cherry blossoms.

I recently bought Betjeman and Barton’s Malesherbes that is a bit fruitier than the ones mentioned above, with passion fruit, bush peach, strawberry and rose petals. It smells pretty strong in the tin (which is gorgeous and pictured below), but the outcome is an enjoyable, mellow fruitiness – I personally cannot pick out any specific notes. The other brand that does excellent green tea blends is Mariage Freres, their Thé Sur le Nil is the most citrussy of the bunch and lovely, but there is a host I haven’t tried yet. Iskandar with its violet flavour is, of course, calling my name.

The main thing when having a casual cup is not to overbrew. With black tea, there is almost nothing some milk and possibly a little sugar cannot rescue, but I am not overly fond of bitterness in green tea. To avoid incidents, I tend to keep the brewing time a but shorter than recommended, at least the first time I try a tea. I have even been known to use a timer. Casualness, apparently, is a precise business.