What Is A Tincture?

Herbal tinctures are making a comeback, and we are (and always have been) here for it.

Gaia Herbs® began as an herbal tincture company almost 40 years ago, rooted in our commitment to traditional time-honored formulas and organic wild-crafted herbs. Today, we honor and enhance that tradition with the launch of our newest Regenerative Organic Certified® (ROC™) herbal tincture line.

So what is an herbal tincture, what are their benefits versus capsules, and why are they trending again?

To find out, we tapped Gaia Herbs® Formulation Manager and Master Herbalist, Susan Hirsch, for an insider education on herbal tinctures 101.

What Are Tinctures?

Herbal tinctures are liquid herbal extracts made by soaking herbs in alcohol, glycerin, or vinegar.

The herbs, which may be fresh or dried, are soaked for days, weeks, or months, then strained to create a liquid herbal tincture that’s taken by mouth.

Tinctures have been used for millennia across cultures as a safe, practical, and sanitary way to extract and concentrate active herbal compounds while preserving the plant’s essence and beneficial properties.

Although tinctures have been overshadowed by capsules in the last decade, growing awareness about their benefits and ease of use, along with consumer pill fatigue, has created a comeback in the herbal products industry.

Herbalists and large-scale supplement companies still utilize this gentle processing method to create high-quality, concentrated herbal formulas.

How Herbal Tinctures are Made

Basic herbal tinctures are made by soaking finely cut dried or fresh herbs in alcohol, glycerin, or vinegar for several hours or days. These soaking media act as solvents, gently extracting the plant’s active constituents.

The concentration of the tincture depends on the amount of plant material used, the soaking time, and the soaking medium.

Hirsch shared the following regarding Gaia Herbs® ROC™ tincture potency:

“Technically, a tincture is a weaker preparation than a liquid extract, typically a 1:5-1:10 concentration. A liquid extract is anywhere from a 1:1 to a 1:4 concentration, so even though we call our ROC™ line tinctures, they are more in the lines of liquid extracts (1:1.7 for skull and oats, 1:2 for echinacea, 1:3 for lemon balm/ginkgo and hawthorn/ginkgo, and 1:4 for valerian poppy).”

Per Hirsch, alcohol yields the strongest tinctures and extracts the maximum active plant compounds, making it the most popular method of extraction. We use regenerative organic certified sugar cane alcohol in Gaia Herbs® ROC™ Herbal Tinctures.

$™$ Glycerin is a great option for alcohol-free tinctures, and its sweet flavor may make it more palatable to children and pets. The trade-off is a less potent tincture. The exception is when the tincture is first soaked in alcohol, then evaporated and replaced with glycerin, creating a more potent tincture.

Vinegar is another alcohol-free option, but it also yields a weaker end-product. The sour flavor may also make it off-putting for consumption as a tincture, and vinegar tinctures have a shorter shelf life.

Herbalists and aspiring herbalists can easily make small-batch herbal tinctures at home using high-proof alcohol, such as vodka, and their desired fresh or dried herbs. Hirsch notes that a higher proof alcohol must be used to compensate for the water if fresh herbs are used.

The benefit of buying premade tinctures is they’re convenient, consistent in their concentration and raw materials, and, in Gaia Herbs®’ case, are tested for contaminants, purity, and potency.

How Gaia Herbs® Tinctures are Made

Gaia Herbs® tinctures are made using the same traditional extraction process. Here’s what this looks like at scale.

First, our new Regenerative Organic Certified® tinctures are made with the highest-quality ROC™ herbs, sourced directly from our farm in Western North Carolina.

Says Hirsch, “The raw herbs are tested for potency before they’re harvested. Ginkgo is tested for flavonoid glycosides, Hawthorn is tested for oligomeric proanthocyanidins, Valerian is tested for valerenic acids, and Echinacea for alkylamides.”

The raw herbs are also tested for microbial contamination and heavy metals before extraction.

Extractions use only water and regenerative organic certified alcohol from cane sugar, ensuring our tinctures contain no toxic solvent residues.

Our extraction method focuses on whole-plant extraction rather than individual constituents. This allows us to preserve more of the known and unknown active plant compounds and to use food-grade alcohol, which adds to the product's quality.

Once the raw herbs are extracted and filtered, they’re batch-tested for purity, potency, and contaminants, then bottled and ready for use.

Benefits of Tinctures vs. Capsules

High-quality tinctures and herbal capsules provide many comparable benefits, depending on how they’re made.

The primary benefits of taking tinctures are:

They’re concentrated

They don’t require any pill swallowing

They activate receptors in your mouth and throat, which may provide additional benefits. Says Hirsch, “According to traditional herbalism, tasting the herbs, especially echinacea or those with bitter compounds, provides additional benefits because they interact with the mucous membranes and the salivary glands, providing localized and systemic support.”

They’re easy to mix into rituals like teas, smoothies, and evening mocktails

The primary benefits of taking capsules are:

No mixing required

There’s no taste

They’re familiar

In the case of Gaia Herbs® Liquid PhytoCaps, they’re really an encapsulated dose of a liquid tincture, providing the majority of tincture benefits (minus the taste and most of the alcohol) in a pill.

Although there are exceptions, not all herbal capsules are created equal, and some may be far less potent than liquid herbal tinctures.

Herbal Tea vs. Tinctures

In herbalism, a tincture is considered an extraction, while a traditional steeped tea is considered an infusion, and a concentrated, boiled-down tea is considered a decoction.

They both have their place, but tinctures generally contain higher concentrations of active plant compounds.

Herbal teas may be more beneficial if you desire warmth, enjoy the ritual, require a gentler dose, are administering herbs to a child, and/or need that hot steam for specific respiratory or nasal support.

A tincture tea offers the best of both worlds and is made by adding your tincture to hot water with honey, lemon, or other herbs.

What Do Tinctures Taste Like?

Tincture taste depends on their concentration, how they’re made, the solvent used (alcohol, vinegar, or glycerin), what you mix them in (water, juice, etc.), and what types of herbs they contain.

Some have a strong flavor, while others are very mild and even pleasing to the palate. The solvent, processing methods, and other herbs used can also affect the flavor, making it more or less bitter, sweet, astringent, or sour.

For context, here’s a quick run-down of the flavor profiles of Gaia Herbs® ROC™ Tinctures:

Milky Oats & Skullcap: Sweet, mellow, slightly astringent on the finish

Echinacea Supreme: Warm, zingy, earthy, grassy, slightly sweet, with a lingering tingle on the tongue (if good quality)

Lemon Balm & Ginkgo: Lemony, grassy, nutty, slightly bitter

Hawthorn & Ginkgo: Sour, astringent, notes of apple, nutty, and slightly bitter

Valerian & Poppy: Earthy, floral, sweet, warm, slightly pungent

Our new ROC™ tinctures have been thoughtfully crafted with complementary herbs to enhance functionality and flavor and taste great in juices, teas, and other tincture recipes.

How to Take Herbal Tinctures

Herbal tinctures are incredibly versatile, which has added to their comeback.

Here are 10 ways to take your tinctures:

Straight from the dropper (don’t touch the dropper to your mouth, and keep in mind, the alcohol may dry out your mouth)

Diluted in cold or warm water

Diluted in fruit or vegetable juice: “I love putting tinctures in juice because the more flavonoids the better,” says Hirsch.

Dropped into tea

Made into their own tea using hot water, lemon, & honey

Added to a nighttime mocktail

Mixed with raw honey

“Hidden” in black elderberry syrup (great for kids)

Blended into yogurt or applesauce

Mixed up in a smoothie or green drink

Know What You're Getting: How to Choose a Quality Tincture

Tinctures are easy to find, but quality really counts for your health and your wallet.

For example, some tinctures are made using very minimal raw materials, cheap solvents, and low-quality herbs.

This works out great for a manufacturer who wants to save money and charge a high price, but cheats the customer in terms of quality, safety, and efficacy.

Likewise, some tinctures lack transparency in their ingredients, potency, and end-product testing, leaving you guessing how much herb you’re really taking.

We suggest using this criterion to choose high-quality tinctures.

Made from organic, sustainably wild-crafted, and/or regenerative organic certified herbs

Made using only non-GMO alcohol and pure water

If it’s a glycerin tincture, inquire about its source, as palm-based glycerin should be RSPO sustainably certified and solvent-free, and soy- or corn-based glycerin should be non-GMO

List the amount of dry or fresh herb used in the formula

To learn more about potency, check out: A Beginner’s Guide To Understanding Potency Vs. Milligrams In Supplements

Tested for identity, potency, microbial contaminants, heavy metals, and pesticides

Manufactured in a cGMP-compliant facility

Feeling Tincture-Curious?

Be One Of The First To Try Gaia Herbs® New ROC™ Tinctures

Be one of the first to experience the tradition, potency, and power of these new ROC™ Tinctures!

These five unique blends are made using regenerative organic certified herbs direct from our North Carolina ROC™ farm, and are gluten-free, vegan, Regenerative Organic Certified®, and Non-GMO Project Verified.

And unlike single-herb tinctures, these are designed to offer specific support for: