Taste?

Question:
Is it supposed to taste very bitter? Just want to make sure it's turned out correctly :)

Answer:
Yes, that is a sign of a well-extracted olive leaf tincture.
You can always take it with a little fruit juice, or tea or coffee but you will probably get used to the taste in water or as it comes.

Extracting in pure ethanol

Question:
What if I extract olive leaf in pure ethanol for better extraction?
Should I add water to it afterwards??
I've already extracted it in pure 96 grade ethanol.

Can I add 140 grams of water for every 100 grams of tincture or maybe more water??

Answer:
Pure alcohol is not necessarily better for extraction, it will extract more oils, resins and waxes but there are constituents which dissolve better in water.
Alcohol concentration is usually tailored to what is in the plant and what you want to extract from it.

In this case you could add 140ml of water to 100ml of your extract.
If you still have the leaves in your extract, adding the water now would dissolve the other constituents as well and you may well have a very effective product.

To take it, mix about 1ml of tincture to 1ml of water so the alcohol concentration is around 20%. This absorbs best into the stomach.

Very alcohol tasting.

by KB
(Adelaide, SA, Australia)

Question:
After a bit more info. Not sure if I've done something wrong. My tincture tastes and smells very strongly of alcohol. Is this correct? (Using vodka 40% ALC./VOL (80 PROOF)
After the second day of mixing I discovered that my jar was not totally sealed. Could that be a problem. Also I had to go away for 6 days and it didn't get mixed for those days.
I re-read your instructions and saw a section which mentioned covering with dilute alcohol. I couldn't find what the dilution ratio was. (Could just be me) after any further info. Thanx for the info I'm very excited to make more.

Answer:
It should be fine. If it is covered with the alcohol solution and sealed it should make a good tincture. The leaves also need to have been chopped up small.
The concentration of Vodka you are using is fine as well.

It will smell of alcohol but may need a little longer to extract and this will diminish the alcohol smell/taste.