The California apothecary movement bloomed in the 1970s — an era of curiosity, rebellion, and return to the earth. In Berkeley, a handful of small herbal shops began selling loose-leaf plants by the ounce, teaching self-reliance and connection.
Lhasa Karnak was one of the first. Its jars lined the shelves while students, artists, and healers filled paper bags with herbs that couldn’t be found in grocery stores.
Decades later, the model remains: hand-packed herbs, handwritten labels, honest sourcing. Customers come not just for tea but for a sense of continuity — a living link between the city’s radical past and its mindful present.
California’s apothecaries remind us that community healing doesn’t come in a capsule; it comes from shared knowledge, scent, and conversation across a counter.
