Osmanthus Flower

As a Chinese American that grew up in the upper east coast I've heard of Osmanthus flowers but I've never seen it before and only on rare occasions would I see some specks of it from an elderly person's wolfberry jello dessert. The extent of my knowledge is that it was a flower and it was yellow. One day, long ago, I got a tea sampler set from David's Tea and I had enjoyed my first cup of most delicately fragrant tea in my life! And the hunt began!

I would search high and low for it. It's supposedly a very common and abundantly available treat....but. not here.....

In my pursuit, I found out a lot about it. Osmanthus is not only used in perfumes and fragrance oils. It's used in food, desserts, and tea. Although, I'd love to smell or put my hands on an osmanthus oil perfume, I don't think it'll be part of my future anytime soon. Tea on the other hand, I have found! From Red Blossom Tea company based in California. They smell nice and they taste good too, when prepared correctly. Did you know, you have to rinse the tea before brewing it?? I didn't. My first brew from them was yuck. My second brew after I washed the petals and adjusted my water temperature, it was much better.

Osmanthus flowers are also good for those who have stomach problems. It supposedly warms and soothes your stomach. As my traditional Chinese medicine doctor tells me, I have been abusing my body and my chi is all messed up. I very happily accepted his suggestion of drinking more tea. Who said healthy things don't taste good?!

To show my appreciation for this great creation I was inspired to do a little tinkering myself! I might be biased but I think my osmanthus flower earrings turned out quite charming.