Chinese herb granules are a convenient form of traditional Chinese herbs that require only hot water for preparation. This saves time when compared to boiling raw herbs at home, but still allows your practitioner to customize the formula – not possible with pre-encapsulated remedies.
The majority of our granules are from Legendary Herbs, a distributor in Colorado. Legendary herbs uses hypoallergenic food-grade dextrin as a carrier starch – the carrier starch is what allows the herbs to be so dissolvable. The rest of our granules come from Classical Pearls, a manufacturer based in Oregon – these do not use a carrier starch.
How to prepare your granulated formula
Always reach out to your practitioner if you have questions or run into any issues. PLEASE READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS IN FULL BEFORE TAKING YOUR FIRST DOSE!
- You were likely provided with a small plastic spoon (it may be inside of the bottle/bag with the granules). When flat, this is 1.5g of granules. If you do not have the plastic spoon, you can use a rounded 1/4 teaspoon instead. THIS IS WHAT IS MEANT BY 1 SPOON in your dosage instructions.
- Put the number of spoons of herbs indicated on the label into a mug or other heat resistant vessel.
- Add about 2 inches of just-boiled water to the herbs in the mug – the hotter the better!
- Let the herbs and water soak together for about 1 minute.
- Stir vigorously until almost all of the granules are dissolved (some may remain no matter what you do – but do your best).
- Add cooler water until you can drink it, or until your taste preferences. There is no “prescribed” amount of water to use – if you like the taste and a big mug of tea, feel free to use 12-16 ounces. If you prefer to get it down quickly, use as little water as you can to get full dissolving to happen.
- If you forget about the herbs, and they sit for a while, do stir before drinking so you get a good distribution of materials. You may even need/want to add a little more hot water to encourage full dissolving in this case.
- DO NOT ADD ANYTHING TO SWEETEN THE HERBS, this impacts their effectiveness. Instead, if the flavor is difficult, you can follow it with something more pleasant – as a “chaser.” No honey or other sweetener should be added to the herbs at any time!!!
Best practices
- In general, herbs are taken twice a day – in the morning and in the evening. But please read the label carefully and call to ask any questions you have if you are unclear.
- If they are taken 2 or more times per day, you want to leave at least 4 hours between doses.
- Generally, it’s best to take herbs away from other supplements and medications. If this will make compliance impossible, just ask your practitioner how best to handle the situation.
- For maximum absorption, it’s also best to take herbs 30 minutes away from any major meal. There are a few herbs that can cause mild nausea, if you notice this, then generally it is fine to take your herbs with food. Some formulas and some practitioners may have specific instructions that are different from what is written here so, again, always check with your practitioner if you are confused.
- Request your refill several days in advance of running out of herbs – just call or email the clinic to request a refill and they will initiate the process.
- Always tell your practitioner if you have a major medication change, have any kind of health emergency or undergo major surgery as this may change the suitability of your herbal formula.
- Keep your herbs away from heat and moisture – bathrooms and enclosed kitchens are generally not best. If your herbs get solidified and cannot be easily separated, or if many dark flecks or hard clumps of herbs begin to form, they have been exposed to too much moisture and should likely be replaced.