Great China Herb

I came here for the first time this week, having grown up with Chinese herbs, I’ve fallen out of the health maintenance aspect of my culture. Thinking I needed herbs for a good chicken soup as a tonic for my lethargy these days, the lady behind the counter suggested that if I had any doubts to consult their doctor.
And so I did, after sitting down with their resident doc, telling her of my minor health complaints, she proceeds to take my pulse and looks at my tongue. Turns out I needed something else than chicken tonic soup. So I had a «prescription» for 4 days of herbal tea and to return end of the week for further evaluation. And once I’m better, then I can take the chicken tonic soup.
Doctor’s consultation $ 10, 2 packets of herbs $ 10. How do I feel after 3 doses of my tea? Better, much better.
They do good business here which is important since you’ll be assured that the herbs are fresh (inventory keeps moving) and from how they fill out the prescriptions, the weighing and double checking, these people know what they are doing and care about what they do. And you don’t have to use their doc, I saw many Chinese peeps come in with prescriptions written by other Chinese pharmarcists or docs.

It is probably a bit strange to rate a herbal company. But I have been pruchasing from them for about ten years. Mrs. Fang and Judy are very honost people and extremely helpful. I think they are the herbal shop with the most business in Chinatown. What this mean is that their herb are very frash (and more potent). I would buy from them over the shops in Mibrea or South SF, although it is a long drive to Chinatown. They can also UPS the products to you.

I have been a patron of Great China Herb company for nearly 40 years and they patiently welcomed and guided me to a greater understanding and appreciation of the profound wisdom and healing of Traditional Chinese medicine when all other shops in Chinatown were either unable or unwilling to address the budding enthusiasm of a hippie from Haight Ashbury wanting to learn Chinese medicine.
it is no wonder that they are the oldest and most respected Chinese pharmacy in San Francisco and I now encourage all of my students, associates and friends to patronize them.
long life and many blessing to Irene and her daughter, vicki and ?
Blessings to you and yours for your decades of loving dedication.
Michael Tierra

Great TCM shop for chinese herbs. I started coming here to get a chinese herb for my grandfather a couple years back. It was his first time trying chinese medicine, and when he first saw the mint tea (ban zhi lian) he thought it looked like bird’s nest. Ever since he’s called it bird’s nest tea whenever we brew it for him :P The ban zhi lian comes neatly packed here. I’ve also tried some Culing that was recommended to help with abdominal pains I was having for several days, did it’s job.
There’s a lady, think her name is Vicki, who speaks fluent English and very helpful. The shop also has a TCM physician who can diagnose and recommend herbs, though I’ve never tried.
I just got back from abroad, teaching English in China, and have no insurance. This little shop is a great place for those who find themselves in my position, no medical, limited funds, and suffering from minor ailments.

This place was pretty awesome. I went with a friend who knew all about Chinese herbs (I wouldn’t have had a clue what to get), and the staff were super-​patient with us poking around in there for a long time as my friend went over the properties of different stuff.
Vickie was super helpful, spoke English and helped us buy in the most economical fashion possible. I got the feeling that even without my expert friend, I would have been taken care of there.
The herbs we selected are having amazing results on my energy and stamina. I went running the other day, of all things… I haven’t been able to run since I was 13!

I like this place. They have a ton of herbs in raw form, pills etc that I need for my acupuncture practice. It’s also convenient to send patients here to pick up their herbs too. Vicki is helpful and she speaks english. =)
There’s also an herbal dr in here too incase anyone has health problems, they can go see the dr. on staff and get a quality diagnosis and herbal treatments.

Great service and good prices. In Chinatown, that’s as good as it gets!

I don’t speak Mandarin and I don’t practice Chinese Medicine, but I know people who do, and I know of some remedies I wanted to pick up (along with a set of cups).
I was directed here, and as I walked in, scanning the walls and shelves of the densely packed shop, I was kindly greeted with «Hi, can I help you find something?»
It immediately made me feel really welcome and comfortable that someone there spoke fluent English. She was able to find everything I was looking for (and then some) and I left a happy camper. :)
Note: cash only.

I had a chinese medicine herbal prescription from a book published in English. Foolishly, the author didn’t include the characters for the herb’s names, but only the latin names, the english names and a transliteration of the chinese name.
I went to 3 other herb stores and they all said they couldn’t figure it out.
Judy at Great China Chinese Herbs Co. copied the prescription, said she’d look up all the herbs (about 30 of them) and I could pick them up in 2 days.
That’s service!

Great China is a nice, traditional Chinese apothecary which has managed to escape the bland modernization and/​or cheesy glitz that seems to be the fate of so many Chinatown businesses. It has a broad selection of herbs and patent medicines, and Judy speaks reasonably good English (she may be the only one there who does). I haven’t comparison shopped at other Chinese herb shops, but the items I purchased seemed very inexpensive.