Pau D'arco Tea Preparation

Anyone know how to properly preare Pau D'arco? I read somewhere on the 'net that if it's steeped, like most tea, it won't be effective. It has to be boiled for 8-10 minutes. I also read somewhere that it shouldn't be taken as a tea at all b/c certain properties of it aren't transferred. Somehow, somewhere, somebody is misinformed...and now I'm confused.

Anyways, I can get a bag of this stuff for under $2 at Vitamin Cottage here in Denver. Much more cost effective than buying some manufactured pill of the stuff. What I'd like to do is boil/steep/whatever a bunch of the stuff & then put it into my 2 gallon water jug (of filtered water from the tap) that I keep in my fridge...so I can drink the stuff all throughout the day & fight candida. Sounds like a good plan right?

Magnum - It will work in a tea, no problem.

Magnum - Your plan is right on. It works great as a tea, I personally use the cut instead of the powder although both should work the same.

Cool thanks guys...sublime, how much do you think I should put in the 2Gallon jug for drinking over multiple days? Does refrigeration affect it any after it's been boiled?

I make my tea strong. For about two gallons I would use between 3-5 tablespoons. I would bring the water to a boil and then turn the stove off then add the pau d'arco to steep. Storing it in the fridge should be fine, I do that sometimes as well when I make my mad scientist concoctions. If I am going to keep it in the fridge for more than a couple days I add about half a lemon to keep it fresh. I don't know if the lemon is needed but I add it to all of my live food recipes to "preserve" them as it is called for in the recipe.

Good luck.

What do I have to look out for when getting some Pau D'arco tea? Where do you order from?

I get mine from here, www.naturalzing.com.

It is a bit more expensive but since I order from there anyway I am getting their deal of spending over 50 bucks and get something for free.

You can probably find it cheaper elsewhere and I would only be concerned about it being organic or wildcrafted.