Hoan Cau Company

This is the real deal. English speakers available. You can get specific brands or raw assembled remedies there. They have a herbalist to tell your symptoms to who can prescribe something for you as well. Great prices, easy street parking.

First time here. The lady immediately answer my question and direct to the herbs that I need. Really helpful. Will come back again.

The store isn’t fancy, prices are extremely affordable, it could use some dusting, but hey, I’m not complaining, and you’ll read why momentarily. I had no idea that this place existed, and this is one of those times that I’m truly glad & thankful to the other previous reviewers for making me aware of Hoan Cau and the herbal prescription service offered by licensed acupuncturist Charlie. Much has been said about the communication style of the people in the shop, and I also like it too. Course, if you’ve read my profile (which you probably haven’t because it’s unlikely that I’m reading yours either) you’ll know that I have a crush on Walter Matthau which should explain a lot.
So it costs $ 25.00 to get a herbal recommendation **UNLESS*** you buy the raw herbs, so that fee gets waived, and you can use your credit card to pay, otherwise it’s cash only. You will have to cook the herbs in a non-​aluminum pot and depending on your ailment and the remedy, it will taste like bad coffee or tire juice. But ask yourself, how badly do you want to get better and not miss out on work, play, life, etc? Be aware that the last client is seen at 5:45 pm. Charlie knows his stuff, and you can’t go wrong. I went to see him when I had a nasty cold, and my usual herbal remedies weren’t working. I kick myself for not going sooner as I would spared myself the misery that comes from whooping cough, and lost work hours & sleep. I strongly wished that more people would give places like this a chance rather than the usual antibiotics offered by allopathic western medicine-it’s certainly more efficient and cost effective. For the cost of your office copay to a doctor that you may not even be able to get an appointment with immediately, & with a potential of a long wait time, give this a go. I would even suggest this in place of going to say, Whole Foods (which obviously will be far more expensive) & losing time trying out various natural remedies that may not be strong enough for what ails you.

I really can’t improve much on Joshua L.‘s review, but I just wanted Hoan Cau Company’s page to have more people talking about how awesome it is.
I’ve been in a few times now, and have yet to be disappointed.
It is true that you kinda have to like his blunt communication style… Which I do. Keep it in list form, basically. This last time I was in, I managed to make him laugh, which I think might be why he gave me loquat candies to make the concoctions go down easier.
My manpanion got a really nasty cough from working in the spray booth at his job with a loose respirator, so I went in… He starts reaching into drawers and weighing out things that I’ve never seen in my life with incredible speed, divvying them up on two squares of butcher paper. He hands me two paper packages and tells me how to boil them down for 30 min and strain them out for him. Two nights of that, and manpanion was completely better.
Last time I started getting a cold, I stopped in for some yin chiao (it’s awesome for staving off cooties), and I talked to the Doc again. I gave him a quick rundown, and since I expect that’s what everyone else in town had, he handed me two pre-​made bigger packages and two smaller packages. Boil down the herbs for 1 hr, then add the smaller packet for the last 20 minutes. Did it. Felt better immediately.
This time, I had a really weird persistent dry cough WITH sinus congestion. No fever. No energy. No concentration, headaches, morning sore throats and sneezing, plus I sounded like a hoarse teenaged boy. He took me into his office, asked me a bunch of questions, took my pulse in a forever, meditative kind of way and then he starts writing. A whole yellow legal pad of ingredients. Two guys carefully assemble the various roots, mushrooms, grains, sticks, bushes, leaves, etc. He tells me what I should and shouldn’t be eating while I’m undertaking the treatment. I pay (these are DEFINITIVELY NOT western doctor prices) the painless $ 20 bucks and go home. I’m on night three now, and feeling SO much better. Check him out next time you have cooties. Can’t recommend this cantankerous ol’ dude enough.
Rx,
D

Hoan Cau Company is like any typical chinese herb store. except Hoan cau hails from vietnam so there’s a variant or extras. typically a chinese herbalist has someone available to prosribe herb remedies for common every day ailments based on certain symptons. (have no idea what these signs are.)
Came here for a «refill» of tien ta yao. usually got the hong kong :five photo brand” first aid antiseptic” but they gave me «victor brand» … made in china. got it and gone. was on the meter…
turns out victor brand is made from rice wine. grandpa used to made this stuff in one gallon jars from distilled spirits. wondered if was the same. nope. the odor was different. not so pungent. and the «medicine didn’t do anything to ease the pain.
remedy?
avoid medications made in china. not effective at all.
–came with the pump spray.

RESPECT THE CHINESE HERBS, Y’ALL.
My mom has had the worst chronic wet cough for the last 4 months and she’s been to the doctor like 6 times trying a HUGE variety of Western medicine. Nothing has worked and she has been progressively getting weaker and we’ve all been worried. I’ve been online trying to research what it could be to no avail.
An ancient-​ish Chinese friend of hers was all, «Dude, just get some of that Chinese Herbs and you’ll be rollin’ in your own Boost Mobile commercial soon, cough-​free!»
So I escort my moms to Hoan Cau and the first thing that hits you is the pungent, bitter, acrid stench of old China. And then you hear all the Chinese people hollerin’ at each other in 9 different dialects (even though there are only 6 of them in the store…)
My mom goes up to some guy behind the register, and she’s like, «I have a cou-​» and the dude interrupts her and in his clipped Engrish is all, «Yeah, I knowed! You go to back and talking to doctor!» And so we do.
The «doctor» in his little 5×5 room — nay, closet (for brooms, too, I swear, not linen or anything) — basically yells at my mom the whole time. You have to know, this is their way of talking. They just always sound like they are sick and tired of listening to your stupid voice and that they are the end all for knowledge and understanding. But they don’t really mean it except sometimes. They just sound belligerent and hostile.
He then listens to her pulse for what about 6 minutes per wrist, so multiply that by 5 when you are standing there in silence watching your mom getting her pulse taken by this «doctor.» Yeah.
And then he’s all, «You have to much Cold in your body. Stop eating fruits, no green vegetables, no cold water. You need to balance out with the Hot in your body.» It was all so mystical and exotified forrealthough!
And my mom was like, «But what about orange ju-​» «NO»
“What about bok-​ch-​” «NO»
“But can’t I have banan-​” «NO»
“Oh.“
Schnapp!
And then he starts writing like crazy. His hand is like a mad black woman speaking in tongues; these strange words just start flowing on the yellow legal pad and even if I wasn’t trying to read it upside down, I doubt I would have been able to decipher the strange markings.
She’s prescribed 5 packets of a huge assortment of herbs and whatever elses — it looks like a bundle of petrified organisms getting ready to be delivered to a specialty museum in the Congos — and she’s also persuaded to buy this ancient looking clay teapot to boil it all in (because metal is not good to use, I guess it’s part of the «Cold» camp)
Literally, my mom is at these crazy Chinese Herb people’s hands, and she just goes with the flow.
But here’s the thing of it: 5 DAYS LATER, HER COUGH IS COMPLETELY GONE. What has eluded the «white man medicine» (his words, and mine, now) has been cured by 5 nights of taking the nastiest, most bitter and grossest concoction ever. BUT IT WORKED.
So in conclusion, FEAR THE CHINESE HERBS. FEAR IT!!! THEY WILL OWN US ALL ONE DAY.