Traditional Chinese medicine has always emphasized the importance of decocting herbs properly in order to maximize their effectiveness and get twice the result with half the effort. Although most hospitals provide decoction services, there are still many patients who are willing to decoct their own herbal medicines following the ancient methods of Chinese medicine for thousands of years, but they often do not know much about the decoction method. Decocting Chinese medicine is just like cooking, you need to master the details of fire, time, what to put first and what to put second, in order to make a delicious and nutritious dish with full color and flavor. When you get the Chinese medicine package ready for decoction, you should pay attention to the following items: 1. Decoction container: A casserole is generally preferred. The casserole is preferred because it heats evenly, conducts heat slowly and is stable in nature, and is not easy to change the chemical composition contained in the Chinese medicine. If conditions do not allow, you can also consider using enamel products decoction. Avoid using copper and iron pots, because copper and iron are chemically active and can easily react with the tannin and glycosides contained in herbal medicines, which can discolor the liquid and destroy the active ingredients and even produce side effects. 2, Chinese medicine soaking: Chinese medicine must be soaked before decoction, which is essential for the full dissolution of the active ingredients, and can shorten the decoction time. Before soaking herbs, see if there are any drugs in the herbal package that are specially packed separately. Those drugs may need to be decocted first or later, so they cannot be soaked at the same time as the large herbal package. Chinese herbs should be soaked in cold water for 30 minutes or longer, so that the active ingredients can be easily decocted when the herbs are soaked through. The water used for decoction must be odorless, clean and clarified, and contain few minerals and impurities. Generally speaking, any water that people can use for drinking in life can be used for decocting Chinese medicine. It is better to use cool boiled water for soaking and decoction because boiled cool water can avoid the destruction of active ingredients by chlorine from tap water and reduce the precipitation of active ingredients combined with calcium and magnesium ions. The amount of water to be added should be 2-3cm beyond the surface of the drug, and the amount of water for the second decoction should be reduced, but it is still appropriate to exceed the surface of the drug, but of course the water should be applied flexibly according to the nature of the specific drug and the type of prescription. 3, decoction of the fire, time and frequency: decoction of Chinese medicine has a “martial fire, fire”, urgent fire for “martial fire”, slow fire for “fire”. Generally, the fire is first used to start the decoction, and then the decoction is changed to a gentle fire to keep it from overflowing or boiling dry too quickly. Other drugs are generally boiled with martial fire, and then maintained with civil fire for about 15-30 minutes. For tonic drugs, it is recommended to decoct for 45-60 minutes with a long civil fire so that the active ingredients are fully dissolved, the juice is thick and the power is long-lasting. Decoction should not be stirred frequently, on the one hand, it will make the temperature in the pot lose too much, which is not conducive to the dissolution of the active ingredients, on the other hand, it will make the volatile ingredients in some drugs volatilize a lot, which will affect the efficacy of the drugs. Generally, you can turn the pot once in about 10 minutes. In order to make full use of the herbs and avoid waste, a dose of medicine should be decocted 3 times, at least 2 times. After the decoction, make sure the total amount of liquid is about 300~400ml. Mix the first and second (third) decoction and finish it in 2 or 3 times. If the total amount of herbal solution is too much, it can be mixed and concentrated by civil fire. 4, special drug decoction method: (1) first decoction: the active ingredient is not easy to decoction of minerals, bones and horns, shells, crustaceans (such as magnet, keel, oyster, mother of pearl, penetrating nail, turtle nail, turtle plate, etc.), because the active ingredient is not easy to decoction, should first decoction for about 30 minutes, and then put other drugs with decoction; Chuan Wu, sapodilla and other drugs can reduce the toxicity of long decoction, so should also be first decoction, to ensure the safety of the drug. Therefore, they should also be decocted first to ensure the safety of the medicine. (2) After decoction: mint, cardamom, rhubarb, senna, hooked vine, Xu Changqing and other drugs are not durable for decoction because the active ingredients are easily volatilized or destroyed, so it is appropriate to decoct afterwards and put in 5~10 minutes before other drugs will be decocted. Rhubarb, senna, fat sea and other drugs can even be taken directly with boiling water. (3) Wrap decoction: Pu Huang, Hai Jin Sha and other herbs are too light in texture, easily float on top of the liquid or become paste when decocted, which is not easy to decoct, filter and take; Che Qian Zi, Cao Miao Zi and other herbs are fine, and contain starch, easy to stick to the pot, paste and coke when decocted; Loquat leaf, Xin Yi, and spinosa are easily irritated throat with fluffy herbs. It is advisable to wrap the above drugs in gauze for decoction. (4) Separate decoction, melting, blending, punching: some precious medicines such as ginseng and American ginseng should be decocted separately. Gums such as gum, turtle board gum, deer horn gum, etc., are easily adhered to other dregs and the bottom of the pot, which wastes herbs and is easy to boil and scorch, so they should be separately melted and then blended with other juices. It is advisable to use decoction of other herbs or boiling water to take liquid herbs such as mannitol, etc., which will melt in water, and bamboo leach. The correct decoction of Chinese medicine is only half of the process for the full play of the curative effect, and on this basis it is also necessary to pay attention to the correct method of taking Chinese medicine.