Why? The answers are CARE, EFFORT, and INGENUITY! Our dried wild lettuce tea contains only the potent wild lettuce leaves and not the stem coverings. The stem coverings do not contain the desired milky sap from the plant (lactucarium) and when dried, resemble wood and is where the bulk of the weight is from in cheaper products on the market. In most cheaper machine-processed brown-colored products, a large portion of the product (up to 50% of it) is the heavier, non-potent wood-like stem coverings. When you buy two ounces, you are buying approximately one ounce of non-potent, ground up stem coverings. Instead of simply laying the product on a tarp to dry and grinding up the whole plant to make the process easier, we take the time to remove the leaves and dehydrate them. This preserves much of the natural green color and allows for much-higher potency.

For our other products, we strip the lactucarium from the middle of the fresh leaves and stems. Most cheaper items on the market use a water base. The problem with this method is that lactucarium does not dissolve in water. Our alcohol extraction method creates products that are much stronger and have a longer shelf life. For those who prefer a water base, don't worry! We have organic, water-based products available as well. Many times, these are made to order. Once we get the fresh stems and leaves into their alcohol bath, there they sit for a minimum of six weeks. The tinctures and extracts are then home-cooked by hand in small batches. The result: the best wild lettuce products on the market!

We use virosa-strength lactuca serriola in all our products. A note from Wikipedia: MORE INFORMATION ABOUT WILD LETTUCE*

Lactuca serriola contains lactucarium, which is the milky sap (white latex) that flows through the stem [and veins and leaves] of the plant. It is used as a medicinal herb when dried after contact with air. Although the standard definition of lactucarium requires its production from Lactuca virosa, it was recognized that smaller quantities of lactucarium could be produced in a similar way from Lactuca sativa and Lactuca canadensis var. elongata, and even that [lactucarium] obtained from LACTUCA SERRIOLA or Lactuca quercina was of superior quality.* [Referenced from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactuca_serriola]