Osmanthus Tea

The blog is getting a make-over of sorts! It came to my attention that my blog is not as FTC compliant as it should be, especially if you are viewing it from a feed reader or a phone (pointed out by a fellow blogger talking about FTC stuff) I had not updated things in that nature since I started this thing. Yipes. So going back and adding disclosures to all the posts, adding a new page for disclosure information, and that means as a side note that the blog got a new look. I am not 100% sold on the color scheme, I think it might be a little too cold, so I might play around and see if I can get it more ocean blue than ice blue, to match my hair better. So that is what I am doing, giving this thing a much needed update.

Having spent my entire day staring at my blog and editing things, I decided that for tonight’s blog I wanted something relaxing and fairly short to work with, so I reached for Grand Tea’s Osmanthus Tea, a tisane made from what is possibly my favorite drinkable flower…ever. The competition is steep too, competing with lotus flowers, rose, and various citrus flowers, but wow, Osmanthus is something else. The Osmanthus plant has a ton of different species, but the one most frequently used for culinary purposes is the Osmanthus fragrans variety, and is native to various parts of Asia. It goes by the name Sweet Osmanthus, Tea Olive, Sweet Olive, and Fragrant Olive, but like many plants it grows other places, one of which is my grandmother’s garden so points for nostalgia. The aroma of the tiny flowers is heavenly, like a blend of honey, apricots, scuppernongs, peony, and pollen. They are immensely sweet, though to me they never come off as heady, just sweet and flowery.

Usually I have this flower blended with other things (love it blended with chrysanthemum) or used for scenting teas (like my beloved Osmanthus Oolong) but on its own it is quite wonderful. The steeped flowers are very sweet, honey and apricot jam with a creamy undertone and notes of honeysuckle, peony, and pollen. It is a complex blend of notes for such a tiny flower. The liquid is really sweet and surprisingly creamy, like some sort of strange honeysuckle themed ice cream with a side of apricot jam. Someone make that as a dessert for me please.

Oh yum, this little cup of flower nectar is heavenly, seriously, I love osmanthus so much! It is smooth and very sweet, I am not joking when I say it is nectar because it really reminds me of what it feels like to be a butterfly or hummingbird, it tastes like flower nectar. Notes of apricot, honeysuckle, creamy sweet honey, and pollen blend with a gentle pansy petal and violet flower note. Those last two are only present because I leave a few of the flowers in the liquid to nibble on, without them it is all nectar. There is a powerful aftertaste too, it lingers in sweetness for quite a long time. There really is no wrong way to enjoy these little flowers, you can drink this tea chilled for a stronger sweetness, blended with other teas, as a late night sip for those watching caffeine, as a cooking ingredient…it really is quite versatile.

I received this tea as a prize in a photo contest. For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/04/grand-tea-osmanthus-tea-tea-review.html