Corcha (Gor-Xa via IPA)

Overview

The Corcha plant is a common plant in Koria. It grows in bright, handwarm places where it can reach a height of around 100cm / ~0,40inch. It likes company so it grows in large fields or forms a colony which looks like an entire bush or a small tree. It just needs earth in field-quality like most grains, a normal amount of rain, water and sun to grow. The plant itself is pollinated by moths.

Its scent is mostly described as fresh and minty. The thick leaves might be the reason for that it has patterned, evergreen leaves with a cloud-white fluff. Those leaves are gathered during the winter days when the Corcha is "dormant" and not growing anymore for a few months, so they can regenerate during spring.

When plucked from the plant, the leaves are pickled in large glasses with either water or strong alcohol, depending on what kind of strength and taste you are aiming for. In terms of the water it doesn't matter if it is from a spring, a river or high up in the mountains where a hermit is guarding a small pond, the water has to be clean, thats it. The alcohol too, while we are at it. The leaves change colour over time from a lush green to a faint, sometimes darker red. The tea always looks a bit red.

After a few weeks in the water or the alcohol the leaves can be extracted from their fluid prison, dried and then cooked with hot, fresh, brewing, steaming water. Aaah, you hear that? The fresh prickling of the leaves, smell the scent, this minty scent? Yes, thats the stuff...now I am awake. Well, yes, let it simmer for around five to ten minutes, that should be enough. The tea from the leaves is a refreshement in and itself and can be sweetened with honey or chocolate. One can also add berries and other ingredients to get a distinct taste and scent.

The raw berries however are poisonous to everything which isn't a Garladan. One can pluck them with no harm, pickle them in fermented goat milk for around fourteen to twenty days and grind them into a fine powder. After this time the poison should be harmless and everyone can eat the berries.

Filtered and brewed with hot water they have the same effect as the leaves as tea, but with a more earthy, rich flavour. The powder itself can be used as spice as well for mushrooms, dumplings, stews and as a seasoning for tobacco, mostly used in pipes. The scent is still earthy and the smoke from the pipe and one exhaling it has a green-ish colour.

If you order Corcha, be it in a café, in a restaurant, at your friends house, at your mothers or your spouse is asking, you can distinguish between the two variants by their colour.

"Welcome Sir, what can I get you?"
"A pot of Corcha, please."
"Very well, Sir, which colour do you want your Corcha?"
"Uh, I think I am fully awake, so the red one."
"Red Corcha, Sir, I understood. Milk, sugar, honey with it?"
"Honey would suffice. Unless you have specific flavours."
"Oh, we have a wide range of flavours, Sir."

— Customer with a waiter in a restaurant

"It is so good to see you after all those years, Veron. Come in, come in. Can I get you something? Tea, wine, hot chocolate, something stronger?"
"Corcha would be nice, if you have it."
"Oh, we have both. What do you want?"
"Brown would be good, I feel a bit tired."
"Brown Corcha coming right up!"

— Two friends seeing each other after a long time

Corcha Plant by CrazyEddie via Midjourney

Corcha Tea by CrazyEddie via Midjourney

Corcha Coffee by CrazyEddie via Midjourney

Corcha Powder by CrazyEddie via Midjourney