FYI I get my herbs from Penn Herb (www.pennherb.com). They tend to have a lot of the more esoteric stuff, like the cinchona bark (choice of cut or powdered).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Pound-of-Natural-Antibiotic-Pure-Quina-Bark-460-Grams-Quinine-From-Honduras-/271190103751?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f243096c7

You have to bash it up yourself, but what you leave whole will last better than when it’s already cut or, especially, powdered.

They also have raw cacao beans, so I’m going to try making my own Creme de Cacao or something similar. Tasty.

I also made a batch where i threw an entire pack (1.2oz) of freeze dried strawberries in the pot, also added a pinch of cardamom seed. Unreal. Get creative people!

Tips and tricks
1) Put the herbs and bark in a muslin. No muddy mixtures.
2) Replace agave syrup with sugar 1:1 works but could be too sweet. Next time I will 1 part sugar 2 parts liquid

1 and 2) gives you a cleaner base syrup with more body

3) I got this from the herborist after a translation mistake. Combretum micranthum. It is african, leaves instead of bark. Should give the bitters with less wood. Next time am going to replace half of the bark with this.

Can anyone tell me if this will work with Cinchona Bark Tincture instead of bark?

Thanks

Atalanta — the ratio of powdered bark to cut and sifted wouldn’t be 1:1 because the powder has tons more surface area to give up it’s flavor as you infuse. The bark itself will take way more to get the same flavor, but it also won’t leave so much debris behind. You’d have to compare prices to see which would be more cost effective.

Love this stuff.

Tried looking on the other comments if the topic was covered before. Any stores in Portland, OR that have cinchona bark?

To get the peel, I used a vegie peeler rather than zesting all that fruit. I strained it through cheese cloth. Keeping it in the fridge though I may add a tetch of everclear to the next batch to help preserve (though with all that citric acid, I doubt its necessary).

Had to reassure the people I gave it to taste that “brown” (IMO its more rust) color is OK!! Homemade stuff is often a little different looking than commercial made.

Thanks for the tip!
Matt

Thought I would share this tip: if you aren’t familiar with the Aeropress (which makes an amazing cup of coffee), it is like a French press, but uses a small paper filter. Since you have the ability to pressurize the liquid tube, you can force the tonic mixture through in about 3-4 minutes and get out all the solids.

I filtered the tonic water successfully using my Aeropress, and got a very clean liquid for the tonic – I also ended up with a 1/2-inch “puck” that looked pretty cool . . .

However, here are some suppliers others might find useful:

http://Www.pennherb.com – you can get most of the herbs, including the bark. They have a brick and mortar store in Philly if you’re local.

http://Www.herbalcom.com – bulk herb supply. Get my tea, stevia, citric acid, and other herbs from. I didn’t see the bark there though.

http://Www.prairiemoon.com – beverage supply. If you got one of those glass and mesh siphons on eBay, you can most likely get the charger holder here.

If you have trouble getting kosher salt, pickling/canning salt is also just pure NaCl, just a finer grind.

1/4 cup powdered bark = 1oz. So if you need to substitute whole or chunky, use 1oz.

Craft stores and pier 1 are also good bottle sources. I’ve found good ones at thrift stores and yard/garage sales.

The muslin bag prevented pretty much all the pith from actually physically going into the mixture. I was mainly wondering if enough could have infused in to turn the whole thing bitter beyond redemption.