Chinese Herbal Tinctures: Why Color Can Naturally Vary (And Why That’s – Bioray

by Stephanie Ray, ND, BCN
Board Certified Naturopath
Chinese Herbalist, Formulator, and Mom

If you’ve ever held two bottles of a Chinese herbal tincture side by side and thought, “Wait… why are these slightly different?”—you’re not imagining it.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), we’ve always respected that plants are living organisms, and have plant intelligence. They respond to the season. The weather. The soil. The water. Even the wild environment they came from that year.

Plant medicine is born from the season-to-season differences in a plant’s environment. That’s what makes it a deeper, more effective remedy for us humans.

That means color and taste can naturally shift—without the formula changing at all.

And honestly? That’s part of the beauty.

Season, Water, and Soil Can Change Color (and Taste)

Even when the formula stays the same, plants can express differently from batch to batch depending on what nature gave them.

Seasonal conditions can shift pigment and concentration.
Water availability (and what it carries) can change how a plant develops.
Soil and mineral content can affect color.

This kind of natural variation is normal and expected in whole-plant herbal medicine.

Why We Still Tincture the Time-Proven Way

At BIORAY, we honor the time proven method of tincturing to make a whole formed elixir for children and adults that is full of phyto nutrients that use all mother nature has to offer.

Tincturing is a way of capturing more of the plant—its pigments, its bitter compounds, its aromatic qualities, and the broad spectrum of phytonutrients that make plant medicine what it is.

This is one reason the color can vary naturally. Whole plant medicine looks like nature.

Natural Variation… With Real Consistency Where It Counts

All BIORAY formulas are tested and assured for consistency.
They must pass identity testing and match at 99.7% of the original formulation.

All BIORAY products out in the world today passed this vigorous testing to be used by people like you and your family.

So while nature may shift the shade, the pigment, or the flavor notes slightly… the formula itself is held to a rigorous standard.

A Real-Life Example: Why NDF Tummy Can Vary in Green Hues

A great example is NDF Tummy (for children).

NDF Tummy is made with:

BIORAY's 11 strain probiotic lysate blend
our micronized chlorella (which gives it its different hues of green)
kosher glycerin — a natural preservative that naturopathically moisturizes the internal areas of the body

Because chlorella is naturally pigment-rich, you may see slight variation in the green tone. That’s normal—and it’s a great example of how whole-food and whole-plant ingredients can show up visually.

Respecting the Intelligence of Plants

In TCM, we don’t fight nature—we work with it.

A tincture’s color is a reflection of season, soil, water, and the wild environment it came from. That’s part of what makes herbal medicine what it is.

At BIORAY, you get the best of both worlds: