As a traditional form of Chinese medicine, it has been used until now and is widely welcomed by clinicians and patients because of its advantages such as “good absorption, stable efficacy and low adverse effects”. There are many factors that affect the efficacy of tonics: 1. whether the diagnosis and treatment are precise, whether the prescriptions and medicines used and their tailoring meet the clinical evidence and the individual needs of patients. 2. 2, whether the source of the drug is stable, whether the concoction is proper and whether the duration of action of the drug exceeds the expiration date. 3. Whether the decoction of the drug is reasonable to ensure the full precipitation of the active ingredients and their good absorption by the organism. Of course, in today’s social environment with great changes, clinical efficacy is also affected by some uncontrollable factors, such as the uncertainty in the process of drug delivery and the uncertainty in the process of drug taking by patients. Among them, factor ①② is mainly controlled by clinicians and hospital drug preparation and management departments with strict quality control, but factor ③ is the link that patients can personally control in the process of medical efficacy assessment. The decoction method of Chinese medicine has been valued by medical practitioners since ancient times. Li Shizhen, a famous medical scientist in Ming Dynasty, pointed out the adverse consequences of improper decoction: “All medicines are taken, although the product is specialized and the treatment is as per the law, but the decoction is recklessly made, the water and fire are bad, and the fire is out of order, then the medicine is not effective. Xu Lingtai, a famous medical doctor of the Qing Dynasty, also had a statement that “the method of decoction is the most appropriate to be elaborate, the effectiveness of the medicine or not, all depends on this”. However, during my clinical practice, I found that most of the patients do not know much about decoction of herbal medicines. Therefore, based on a combination of traditional decoction methods and contemporary real life, I would like to make a brief discussion on the decoction of Chinese herbal medicines, which is a common clinical concern for patients. In ancient times, there was a saying that “silver is the best and magnetic is the second best”. In modern life, we advocate the use of “casserole” and “tile pot” as the best materials, and prohibit iron and aluminum utensils to avoid chemical reactions between drugs and metals such as aluminum and iron in high temperature environments, which may cause toxicity. 2, decoction water The ancients used running water, rainwater, spring water, wine, etc. as decoction water, which is considered to have different properties and should be taken differently for patients with different constitutions. But in actual life, it is difficult to do so. It is generally believed that clean cold water, such as tap water and well water, can be used as decoction water. 3.Decoction fire The ancient people put forward the “martial fire” and “civil fire”, the first rapid decoction with martial fire, boiling, and then slow decoction with civil fire to maintain a slight boiling state, in order to facilitate the slow precipitation of the active ingredients of drugs. 4.Decoction method Before decoction, the drug should be soaked in cold water for 30min to facilitate the precipitation of the active ingredients (in winter, it should be soaked in warm water). The amount of water added should depend on the amount of medicine and the texture of the medicine, and it is generally appropriate to spread the medicine in the casserole and not over the plane of the medicine by 3-5cm. In practice, if the drug is mostly roots, stems, leaves and flowers, it is difficult to define the amount of water to be added because the drug will float on the water surface after adding water. The rest of the year, the decoction should be made with cool water. The water for soaking should be used directly for decoction and should not be changed to avoid wasting the active ingredients. The decoction should be boiled on high heat (about 15min), and then changed to low heat and kept at a gentle boil (about 30min). Of course, it depends on the actual situation and the flavor of the decocted drug. If the drug is inadvertently scorched, it should be discarded and decocted separately; aromatic and light products such as mint should be decocted for a shorter time, and tonic and thick drugs should be decocted for a longer time with a gentle fire. The decoction process can be stirred moderately to prevent burnt pot, but avoid frequent uncovering to prevent loss of volatile components. In particular, it should be noted that in clinical practice, there are often drugs such as onion, ginger, garlic, date, etc., which patients may prepare at home, so if they are not marked in the clinical prescription, patients should not forget to put such herbs into the same decoction at home to avoid affecting the efficacy. 5.Special Decoction (1) Decoction First The shell and mineral drugs (such as turtle shell, tortoise shell, dragon bone, oyster, etc.), because of the difficulty in precipitating the active ingredients, should be broken before other drugs decoction first, and then decocted for about 20min after boiling, then put in the remaining drugs with the decoction; toxic drugs (such as Chuan Wu, Cao Wu, raw sophora, etc.) should be decocted first to reduce the toxicity. It is worth pointing out that many patients add a large amount of water to the first decoction and then add the remaining drugs to the group decoction 15min after the first decoction. This decoction method is not conducive to the precipitation of the active ingredients of the later decoction. (2) After decoction, most of the drugs are aromatic, light and volatile (such as mint, patchouli, etc.) and the active ingredients are not suitable for long decoction (such as hooked vine, rhubarb, etc.), and the decoction time is about 5min. However, the decoction time of drugs under decoction varies, such as peppermint decoction for about 10min and its active ingredients will be volatile, hooked vine for antihypertensive should not exceed 20min, otherwise it will destroy its antihypertensive ingredients hooked vine alkaloids, rhubarb for attack, its active ingredients rhubarb glucoside heating more than 10min will also be decomposed. Therefore, the timing of these drugs should depend on different drugs. (3) Decoction of the package Most of the drugs with fluffy hair (e.g. Xingyi, Rhizoma, etc.), small particles (e.g. sea clam powder, sea golden sand, psyllium, etc.) and certain drugs with light and floating texture (e.g. Pu Huang, etc.). In order to prevent these drugs from floating on the surface of the water during decoction, resulting in inadequate decoction or burnt pot, or excessive irritation to the throat from small particles after decoction, they are often decocted in a single package of gauze in clinical practice. (4) Single decoction Some valuable herbs (such as ginseng, antelope horn, etc.) can be sliced and decocted with the group of drugs to facilitate the full precipitation of the active ingredients and avoid waste, and can also be used for individual administration. (5) Melting Some drugs with large gum viscosity and easy to dissolve (such as gum, antler gum, honey, etc.) should be melted separately and then mixed with the medicinal juice and taken evenly. (6) Flushing Some precious herbs (such as Panax ginseng powder, antelope powder, etc.) are clinically concocted into powder form and can be taken directly with water to facilitate absorption and avoid waste. 6. Number of decoction The number of decoction is not uniform in clinical practice, but 2 times is the most. The author believes that it is appropriate to decoct Chinese medicine for 3 times, especially when it contains more mineral drugs. Related research shows that the average optical density of the drug decoction decreases by 45.7% for each decoction, which means that the active ingredient can be obtained by about 45% for each decoction. Then, under the comprehensive consideration of ensuring maximum active ingredient extraction and minimum human and material resource consumption, decoction for 3 times is appropriate to extract nearly 85% of the active ingredients of the drug. In practice, the solution of 3 times decoction should be mixed evenly so that the active ingredients of the drug are balanced and taken in appropriate amounts.