My Essiac Tastes Differently. Why's That?

Why does my Essiac taste differently?

Burdock root is *the* herb which controls both the main color and taste of Essiac. The darker the burdock, the higher temperature the root has been processed at. I’ve shared before an interesting study on temperature of burdock (which affects the color) versus potency before, so I’ll share it again now:

“Our data indicate that hot water extraction for BRT (burdock root tea) preparation may be a more effective method to obtain bioactive components from burdock roots than methanol extraction. The higher total phenol and flavonoid contents of BRT compared to methanol extract contributed stronger antioxidant activities. High temperature increases the liberating of polyphenols and flavonoids, the major bioactive components exhibiting antioxidant activities . Overall, these results suggest that BRT consumption is a good whole food-based antioxidant dietary approach.”

Again, Burdock is one of the 4 herbs in Essiac, a key component to color and flavor of the tea.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5383138/

Below you’ll find a photo of burdock root, specifically 4 separate vendors I've purchased from, all of which are certified organic. For a long time we purchased from vendor 1, and as you can see it’s much lighter in color and larger in size.As I’m sure you’re aware the US supply chains have been inconsistent at best the last couple of years. This includes quality herbs, so at one point I could not purchase from our normal vendor and set out looking for alternatives to provide the highest quality possible.

So then comes vendors 2-4. I took all 4 of these photos under the same light using my phone to keep the conditions consistent.

Essiac will not always taste the same.

Even the brewing conditions, if slightly changed using the same batches of herbs will yield slightly different results. All that to say I am being as transparent as I can be to assure you we keep quality at top of mind. One of the ways we do this is by requesting from each vendor and each batch of herbs we receive a certificate of analysis. This allows us to see when batches are harvested, and all the other outcomes of testing performed on each herb, including things like moisture content, etc.

Cheers,

Natasha Evans

Owner, Just Tea LLC