Essiac: Powdered vs. Cut and Sifted Herbs

I have recently become familiar with your products via my mentor who has been teaching me about herbals. I would like to make essiac tea. I see that you have a powdered blend ready to mix. I also see that I could purchase the four herbs separately, which are cut and sifted. You recommend using cut and sifted, rather than powdered, in most cases. What is the advantage of using your powdered blend over blending the cut and sifted myself? I can hardly wait to get started and will be purchasing various items from you soon.

In general, we prefer the whole or the cut and sifted forms of dried herbs instead of powder. It is harder to judge the quality of herbs in the powdered form. With whole herbs, especially, one can better see the colour and purity of the product, and as you get to be familiar with the herbs you are using you develop a keener eye for quality. Also, in storage whole and cut and sifted herbs hold their active constituents better than powdered herbs do. On the other hand, powdered herbs are often more convenient to use, and during extraction processes such as making tinctures or teas the active compounds are released more readily because the solvents can penetrate the herbs more easily. The best of both options is to purchase whole or cut and sifted herbs and then powder them using a grinder to powder them just prior to use. A coffee grinder often works well for small batches.
Our RenEssence(TM) product is formulated in powder form for convenience. Our thinking is that people who purchase blends really prefer the convenience of powdered herbs. However, there is no reason why the product cannot be formulated with cut and sifted herbs and then ground for preparing Rene Caisse's remedy.
Because the Essiac name has been trademarked, we are not permitted to call our product by that name. However, we can assure you that our product follows the Caisse formula as published by Dr. Gary Glum in his book, "Calling of an Angel".