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The six tastes

Sebastian Pole

I started Herbal Reality in 2020 to share traditional, scientific and practical insights into herbal medicine that informs a deeper understanding of the power of plants and clinical herbalism.

Along with my herbal studies and clinical practice, much of what I have learned about the intricacies of the herbal world has come from my time with Pukka Herbs that I co-founded in 2001.

I have travelled to hundreds of organic farms around the world pioneering sustainable herbal value chains, rigorous quality systems and a regenerative approach to business.

I now work with Earthsong Seeds, a medicinal seed project in the UK growing over 100 species to encourage the tradition of the self-empowered apothecary; growing and making health-remedies yourself. I am also a trustee of Earthsong Foundation and serve on the Advisory Board of the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia.

I have written Ayurvedic Medicine: The Principles of Traditional Practice, A Pukka Life, and Cleanse, Nurture, Restore with Herbal Tea.

Each plant has a unique taste profile which, when unlocked and understood, will reflect its medicinal capabilities.

Taste impacts what we eat, when we eat and how much we eat. Each plant has a unique taste profile which, when unlocked and understood, will reflect its medicinal capabilities.

The six tastes of Ayurveda

The six tastes

The Sanskrit word for taste is rasa, and it is a very pregnant word: as well as meaning taste, it can mean ‘essence’, ‘juice’, ‘sap’, ‘lymphatic fluid’, ‘flavour’ and ‘delicious’. Just saying the word sounds ‘juicy’ … raa-ssa, rasa, RASA. Flavour is the essence of life – it affects everything.

Ayurveda identifies six tastes: sweet, sour, salty, pungent (spicy), bitter and astringent, which we will discuss later. Remarkably, how we ‘taste’ life affects our health and mood. If your experience of life is ‘sweet’ you are usually happy, whilst ‘bitter’ episodes are less savoury. Because our taste of life becomes our rasa, our essence, it is helpful to learn how taste affects us.

TASTE (rasa)
ELEMENT (tattva)
QUALITY (guna)
Effect on Dosha
Sweet (madhura)Earth, WaterHeavy, Wet, ColdK+, P-, V-
Sour (amla)Earth, FireHeavy, Wet, WarmK+, P+, V-
Salty (lavana) Water, FireHeavy, Wet, WarmK+, P+, V-
Pungent(katuka)Fire, AirLight, Dry, WarmK-, P+, V+
Bitter (tikta)Space, AirLight, Dry, ColdK-, P-, V+
Astringent (kasaya)Air, EarthDry, ColdK-, P-, V+
Sebastian Pole

I started Herbal Reality in 2020 to share traditional, scientific and practical insights into herbal medicine that informs a deeper understanding of the power of plants and clinical herbalism. Along... Read more

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