Yuan Sheng Hang

I had initially headed to the International District early on a Sunday morning in search of another herb shop, favorably reviewed on Unilocal.However, it was closed (long story). So I walked one more block, just to see what else might be open. I was in serious pain from a UTI, and I knew the right herbs would help. Mai smiled at me as I walked in. I explained my symptoms (and mentioned Damp Heat) and Mai took me to the back of the shop– a glass counter in front of an enormous wall of drawers (all labeled with Chinese characters). She took my pulses and looked at my tongue– then asked me questions about my digestion, my bowel movements, and a few other technicalities. She took notes the entire time on a yellow legal pad using Chinese characters (which I thought was pretty awesome). She then told me it would be 12 dollars per tea preparation (that is me paraphrasing). I said, «Absolutely.» She then got out five paper plates, and proceeded to open drawers and measure out herbs on one of those cool old fashioned scales. As she placed each carefully measured herb on the plate, she told me what it would heal/​how it would impact me/​why she was giving it to me. As she weighed, we chatted about niceties– family, children, living situations, etc. She then tipped each paper plate into a little brown paper bag. She also took my notes and put them on one of those spiky paper-​collecters (where it joined a sheaf of other similar papers. .. «lots of customers!» she said. I thought that was a good sign). At some point, she asked me if I had a slow cooker. When I told her I did not, she told me she sold them. The slow cooker I purchased is shaped like a tea pot, and it is especially made for medicine. :) There’s a word here I’m supposed to use, like «Detocting» but I cannot remember right now. :) Anyway, it is a deep rich blue, with Chinese characters etched on it in gold. It’s very, very pretty, and it takes the guesswork out of boiling five cups of water down to one cup. The drink itself smells quite savory and tastes like the inside of those gunpowder pellet pills (i.e. sort of sickly sweet and disgusting). However, I felt an immediate relief after my first dose. The second day I felt even better. The third day (today), I felt an strong return of my symptoms (although I think me getting cocky and eating a bunch of dampening foods AND alcohol AND feeling really, really hot at night was at fault here). I am drinking my tea now and feeling my symptoms recede. I also scheduled a session with an acupuncturist here in Seattle. No more dampening or heat building foods! I should have known better. Holistic means WHOLE, and I can’t undo the work of the herbs by not making good choices regarding food. A few more details of the transaction: my herbs were tucked into paper bags– Mai wrote her cell phone number on one of them. She also had very charming customized bags– red with gold lettering. I realize that I am a white girl with enough knowledge of TCM to be dangerous. .. but I loved my experience. I am grateful to Mai for her care and obvious knowledge.

pros… one of the many little herb shops in the international district/​chinatown. was somewhat stocked for an herb shop. if you are a chinese herbalist in search of the raw herbs, i think this one is a good place to go. it also has a lot of other stuff like tea cups and pots and the like. also has a good choice of some loose teas.
cons…patent chinese med selection is quite sparse. and if you only know your formulas in mandarin than you will need to bring in the actual chinese characters so that the people here will know what you want. as they only speak cantonese and can’t really understand the mandarin pronunciation of the formulas. but nice people none the less. i think if they had a more complete selection of patent herbs i would have given one more star