[AG]  Where is the best place online to buy dandelion tea in bulk?

[MB] Mountain Maus has cut-and sifted dandelion leaf in both conventional and certified organic. The conventional is $10 per pound; the certified organic is $15.50 per pound. These are by far the best prices of any of the herb houses from which I regularly order.

[AG] Thank you!! If I’m new to tea, what recommendations would y’all make?
MB: Actually, my suggestion for dandelion would be to make it into a tincture. The tea is bitter and lots of people aren’t fond of it. But the tincture is only taken 5 drops at a time, and that can be hidden in water or juice so that you can’t taste it. Plus the tincture will keep forever (although the well stored tea would also keep a couple of years). But if you really do want to make tea, then you would use 1 teaspoon of dried leaf per cup of boiling water. Steep for at least 10 minutes; but the tea would be much more medicinal if steeped for at least 4 hours. Making it at night and steeping it until morning is an easy way to do it.

P.S. I should mention that the tea should be covered as its steeping. And if several people will be drinking it, then it can be made in something like a canning jar.

[DM] Question, if you have fall allergies is dandelion tea ok to drink?

[MB] Yes, Dawn, it is. And another good tea would be nettles, which is a fantastic tea for those with seasonal allergies. As a note for those who are using herbs medicinally and a daily basis for weeks on end: it is good to take off one day a week; the body needs a “Sabbath” rest.

If you would like to make a tincture, it’s super easy: for every dry ounce of leaf, you would use 5 fluid ounces of ordinary vodka (40% alcohol). Shake for about a minute per day for 3 weeks; keep it covered with a dark towel or keep it in a dark cupboard in order to keep the sunlight off of it.

P.S. The above directions are specifically for dandelion leaf tincture; other tinctures require different alcohol percentages.

[DL] Mick I have a dandelion tincture I bought that is from the root. The directions say to take 1ml as a dose. How does the root compare with the leaf? Is leaf better?

[MB] (In response to a question about what is on the Corac site) We have a tincture-making video on the site, but no document. But all you do is put your herb into a jar (if you tincture a pound, you’ll need a gallon jar or 2 half-gallons o 4 quarts). Then you just add the alcohol, tighten the lid, and leave it in a dark place (or cover with a dark towel or shirt or something). You shake it up for perhaps a minute every day for 3 weeks. If you forget a day or two, then just add days on the back end so that it is shaken for a total of 21 days. Then strain off the liquid through a cheesecloth-lined sieve. Squeeze out as much of the liquid as possible. Store this liquid–your tincture–in a tightly lidded jar in a dark place that’s not too hot. It will keep for years and years. Oh… and I don’t have a discount code for Mountain Maus. In fact, I’ve never seen one.

[MB] (In response to DL) Two issues: (1) The recommended dosage on your tincture bottle is for how much an herbalist would tell you to take. But homeopaths give much smaller doses of tinctures than herbalists do; and homeopaths have found that these smaller doses mixed with water can have effects just as good as the larger amounts given by herbalists. (2) Dandelion root tincture is good stuff. However, the study done on dandelion’s ability to destroy the Covid spike proteins was done with dandelion leaf, not with dandelion root. So that is why I have been suggesting the leaf. That doesn’t mean that the root might not help, but I just don’t know.

[PG] So, I’ve kind of created my own loose tea mixture…
I combine roasted dandelion root, cut dandelion leaf, and nettle leaf. I add crushed cinnamon bark and orange peel for flavor. I brew a couple tablespoons of the mixture in a 2 qt mason jar and drink it as iced tea. I think it tastes really good.

[EJ] It sounds yummy! Roasted dandelion root – did you roast it? Did you harvest the dandelion and nettle or buy them?

[PG] So far I have gotten all of my ingredients from Starwest Botanicals when they have a discount code. I just ordered some minced ginger to add to my next batch. I notice that I don’t retain water as much when I drink it daily. Much better than trying a prescription diuretic!