Quality

We’ve got the right stuff.

Our herbalists raise the bar and go to great lengths to secure pharmacopoeial quality herbs, which is a standard for quality, purity, strength, identity and composition. Simply put, the quality of pharmacopoeial herbs is better than commonly used food grade herbs to ensure our teas deliver their intended effect. 

An herb is an herb is not just an herb. In other words, not all herbs available are equal to one another. In fact, when blending herbal teas, there are many quality grades of herbs available, including pharmacopoeial, food and inferior grades. 

For example, the calming effect* of chamomile is due, in part, to the quantity of blue essential oil present in the herb. This essential oil and other important compounds are more concentrated in the flower heads. Thus, pharmacopoeial quality chamomile will be composed mostly of flower heads and will have a relatively high and consistent amount of essential oil to contribute to the calming effect. Food grade chamomile, on the other hand, might not contain this high amount of essential oil, and tends to be composed mostly of leaves and stems. While the food grade chamomile may taste quite nice, pharmacopoeial quality chamomile is what we turn to for chamomile’s calming effect*.

There are several grades of herbs available, including pharmacopoeial grade, food grade and inferior grades. Most herbs have their own pharmacopoeial standard dictating the presence or absence of necessary components, and including measures related to their identity, strength and composition. Many countries publish a pharmacopoeia, the official guide of quality standards. Mainly we utilize the quality standards of the European Pharmacopoeia (PhEur), although in some cases, we may select a standard from another appropriate pharmacopoeia. Look for the acronyms (below) listed on the Information Panel of our product packaging.

Legend of Pharmacopoeia Acronyms
API = Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India
BP = British Pharmacopoeia
BHP = British Herbal Pharmacopoeia
DAB = Deutsches Arzneibuch (German Pharmacopoeia)
DAC = Deutscher Arzneimittel-Codex (German Drug Codex)
IHP = Indian Herbal Pharmacopoeia
JP = Japanese Pharmacopoeia
ÖAB = Österreichisches Arzneibuch (Austrian Pharmacopoeia)
PhEur = European Pharmacopoeia
PhFr = Pharmacopée française (French Pharmacopoeia)
PPRC = Pharmacopoeia of the People’s Republic of China
USP-NF = United States Pharmacopeia - National Formulary