Herb Temperatures and Flavors

Four Qi

1. Yin: cool, cold — (such as Huang Qin, Bo He)
2. Yang: warm, hot — ( Fu Zi, Gan Jiang)
3. very hot/cold slightly cold/warm
4. neutral/bland

Five tastes:

Acrid / pungent

1. Dispersing (Ma Huang, Bo He)
2. Moving ( Mu Xiang, Hong Hua)
3. aromatic: penetrate through turbidity, dissolve dampness, strengthen spleen and
4. open the orifices(Huo Xiang, Cang Zhu, She Xiang)

Sweet

1. tonifying (Ren Shen)
2. harmonizing (harmonize the middle Jiao, different herbs’ properties and taste, such as Gan Cao)
3. mitigating / relieving ( relieve spasm to stop pain such as Yi Tang)
4. moistening( such as Yi Tang)
5. some of relieving toxicification( such as Gan Cao, Lu Dou)

Sour

1. inducing astringency(Wu Wei Zi, Wu Bei Zi)
2. promoting body fluid(Wu Mei, Suan Zao Ren)
3. (with sweet) transforming into yin( Such as Bai Shao Yao with Gan Cao)

Bitter

1. draining/purging (including unblocking the bowels such as Da Huang, lowering the rebellious of Qi such as Xin Ren, and clearing away heat and purging fire such as Huang Qin, Zhi Zi)
2. drying damp( including damp-heat, such as Huang Lian, Huang Bai, and dampcold, such as Hou po)

Salty:

1. softening ( such as Hai Zao, Kun Bu, Bie Jia )
2. purging downward ( Mang Xiao )

Bland:

same as sweet, also eliminate dampness and induce diuresis ( such as Fu Ling, Yi Yi Ren, Zhu Ling )

Astringent:

same as sour, mainly inducing astringency ( such as Lian Zi, Wu Zei Gu, Mu Li

Acrid, sweet, bland pertain to Yang

Sour, bitter, salty pertain to Yin