A visit to Marshalls/Home Goods almost always means a tea-related purchase, even if it's just a small item.

I couldn't pass up this tea tray for $6.99 I don't typically purchase ready-to-drink teas, but there was a display of assorted Tao of Tea bottled teas for $1.99, so I purchased an Organic Osmanthus Green Oolong.  I liked the fact that no sugar or sweeteners were added. [Tao of Tea is located in Portland, Oregon.]

Osmanthus tea is produced by combining dried, sweet osmanthus blossoms with black or green tea leaves in much the same way as jasmine blossoms are used to produce Jasmine tea. The small white blossoms appear in short, stalked clusters in late summer and autumn, and bear an intense, sweet fragrance.   Osmanthus is native to Asia, from the Himalays east through southern China, and to Taiwan and to southern Japan.  The green oolong tea is from Hunan, China.

My first sampling of the tea was at room temperature, straight from the bottle.  It wasn't bad, but it wasn't lip-smacking good either, so I put it in the refrigerator to chill, while I headed to the Tao of Tea website, to see what they had to say about their tea.  I wasn't surprised to read, "Best served cold." My taste buds may still be skewed from a recent cold, because I didn't pick up an apple or apricot taste [as the website suggested].  I tasted a more floral, sweet flavor, with the fruitiness  in the aroma, instead of the taste.

It would be interesting to steep loose-leaf osmanthus oolong tea, and compare the hot tea to the bottled tea.
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