I have recently ventured into the world of TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) and decided to fill a week's dose at this place because of the proximity to my workplace. Knowing how to read Chinese would be helpful here as it's an extra effort to look up these stores instead of being able to spontaneously drop by one while driving around. Finding this store was actually more challenging than I thought as in Cupertino Square Village where Chung Hsin Herbs is located, a lot of stores had huge bins of dehydrated fruits, flowers, fungus, and roots. Usually, this would be a visual indicator that I'm in the right place, but I was turned away from the first store that wasn't a "pharmacy" despite selling dried stuff.
I was about to give up and go back to Tak Yan Herbal on Hostetter Rd. when I started smelling the distinct aroma of herbal medicine near a beauty clinic that, for some reason, also sold a bunch of preserved herbal stuff, probably for the skin, or maybe to munch on as you're having your own face preserved in the ways of Joan Rivers. Next to the beauty clinic, tucked waaaaay in the corner, was Chung Hsin Herbs. A tiny white paper sign on the door had the business name in English.
Only one dude speaks English in there when I arrived. The dude who takes your pulse was having a conversation with some people who looked like they were just squatting the shop. The lady working the Rx counter just took out herbs with her bare hands, no gloves, which was sorta grody. Despite a Visa & Mastercard credit card logo on their wall (and note here that I cannot read the extensive Chinese surrounding these logos, so excuse me if I misinterpreted), they said they'll only take cash. I looked into my wallet and only had enough for 4 doses since it's $7.50/pop, 50 cents more than what I paid at Tak Yan for my Rx.
The guy said if I want 5 doses, he can take the cash I have and charge the last dose on credit (after having said they don't take credit, none of the herbal shops take credit. I pointed out that I filled my Rx at a place that does accept credit card last time and told him to just give me 4 doses since I didn't want him to go out of his way or anything).
So he and the lady filled my Rx, and it was messy as some of the fluffier leaves spilled over their square patches. The lady just brushed them off the counter into the plastic bags like you would bread crumbs. Not trusting the sanitation of their countertop, I was slightly disgusted. I know you boil up the herbs before consumption, but still.
Most ingredients in my Rx look the same as my first time filling it at Tak Yan, but some are slightly different. One ingredient is enclosed in a tea-bag-like filter, and he said don't open that, just cook it in the bag. They also ran out of bigger bags to put my 4 doses of Rx in, so I walked to the car looking like I had just done some serious forest gathering to the untrained eye. I can't comment on the quality of the medicine over Tak Yan, but I'm docking off some stars for difficulty to find the shop, credit card policy, sanitation, and overall service. read more