We have developed a novel imaging technique, ground state recovery pump-probe optical coherence tomography (gsrPPOCT), which measures the transient absorption and recovery time of the ground state of a target chromophore or chromophores. By imaging the molecular absorption as opposed to the fluorescence of the target contrast agent, gsrPPOCT helps to fill a valuable niche for imaging biologically important molecules which do not fluoresce. The majority of biologically active molecules are non fluorescent. Here we present gsrPPOCT imaging of natural and transfected chromophores in living animal and plant tissues, as well as the first gsrPPOCT measurements of the ground state recovery time of a molecular chromophore, which may be used to deduce the relative concentrations of a mixture of chromophores.