San Francisco Herb Company

Amazing prices! You get everything in bulk and the staff is very accommodating and knowledgeable. They’ve got herbs, spices, teas, and a bunch of other random things you didn’t know you needed. Watch your wallet here. A must see.

They have a nice selection of spices, herbs, teas, and other great supplies for your pantry! I particularly like the variety of tea strainers available. I probably won’t return for teas, because the selection is somewhat limited and I like to get small batches, but if you have a business, you might want to check this place out.

I didn’t want to go to SF just to buy a bag of lavender buds but couldn’t locate any more locally. Had been there several yrs ago for a lg quantity of tumeric. Price is v good. #2 quality fm France for essentially the scent only but whole buds in a 8oz bag (abt 12“x6″ to help visualize amt) is priced $ 4.55. I didn’t consider the more expensive #1 which showed off the color of lavender, for visual use. Svc was good. There was a handful of customers when I arrived on a Sat abt 2:45. The cashier answered my concerns & was helpful. Really an interesting place to see all that they carry– dried culinary ingredients, botanicals & related needs like containers, oils/​extracts. I’d hate to go there during the holidays bc it probably gets pretty crowded in the sm shop. There’s a warehouse in back which the public is not allowed to enter. I hope they survive the gentrification going on.

I just placed another order online and realized I’ve been buying from them since a year or two after they opened. We lived in a rural area, wanted good stuff and fair prices and pretty soon we had a buying club so everyone could enjoy what was offered. A young woman made hand-​made soaps and needed the herbs, others wanted teas, one woman got sage to tint her hair with… and of course the various blends (Taco seasoning!) for cooking, canning and such.
Then I moved to Los Angeles (1984) but since they were just a phone call away, I’d wait until I needed the minimum and call. I went to Bodhi Tree (LA) where they sold bulk herbs in the Used Book Annex… I was curious as to what they had and then I noticed an empty SF Herb bag in the wastebasket… they had just refilled a gallon jar with something! Someone in the store said ‘we have the very best, freshest bulk herbs and spices you can find’. I said ‘I know, I buy from them myself’.
I haven’t read any of the reviews so who ever is responsible for the missing half a star, well maybe they have had a bad experience. I haven’t.
Friends who still live in the rural area (I left due to divorce) still buy from SF Herb… one friend is as devoted a fan of the BOP Ceylon tea as I am (but now I share my affection with the Chai Tea also)…
I appreciate that they’re always adding new things… not just as novelties but because there’s a demand for them. Gin and tonic? Buy vodka, get the necessary juniper berries, make gin. Buy quinine (etc) and make your own tonic water.
I started out buying the curry powders and progressed to buying the individual spices…
I can bring the world to my kitchen… buy the fresh stuff locally and SF Herb opens the door to countries and continents and cultures…

I love the service here, and also am very happy about the price. But I have to say after trying the curry and essential oils, I realized these are really just cheap stuff you cant have too much expectation on. Curry is bitter and would not dissolve well. Essential oils caused lots of allergies to my husband…

I’ve been using this place for going on twenty years for the herbs and spices that i use in larger quantities since everything i’ve bought here has been fresh and aromatic. They have the best buy on good, fresh vanilla beans i’ve ever seen, but my most frequent purchase is their one-​pound packages of Guittard high-​fat cocoa powder at a price that beats everyone else.

A SF institution, Amazing selection and prices make up for the some times grumpy clerk, who even though not the friendliest, has an extensive knowledge.

WOO HOO is right! I am a small business owner who gives out sachet to each client when they make a purchase. For the past 15yrs I have been looking for a solid, consistent and professional place to purchase my lavender and rosebuds. been so disappointed in the past. So I thought I would go local… their service from the minute I ordered to getting my goods within a week was excellent! and I am picky! I have just found my vendor! I am moving back east but I will still order from SF Herb Co. they are THE best!
I“d give 6 stars if I could… thank you, SF Herb Co!

I came all the way from Hayward to get some essential oils and other things, and while I checked out there was another guy getting oils. The cashier, while packing my bag of stuff, forgot to load my 4 bottles of scents and essential oils. I’m sure it was an accident, but really not acceptable based on how the 40min drive each way I drove just to get them.

BEST. TEA. EVER! this guy would make a killing if he was located downtown. They’re always stocked, prices are unbeatable and the man at the register is very helpful.

Wow! The SF Herb Company is one of the first places I went after I moved across the country to San Francisco a year ago, and it was the best decision I’ve made all year! I cook a lot of curries and drink a lot of tea, so I knew that I wanted the best quality as well as relatively cheap prices. This store is the best in both, and I was tempted to buy more than I came for (which I’m unique for in that this happens approximately 3% of the times I go shopping).
While most stores will try to sway their customers into buying more than what they came for and sell their products, the owner refused to let me buy any teas or spices unless I could tell him the potential consequences of overdoing the tea/​spice, and an acceptable reason for why I wanted the tea/​spice. I literally had to hide across the store and google the benefits and potential drawbacks of a certain tea I wanted to buy before he’d let me pay him more money.
This was so shocking and intriguing that one year later, I am paying my respects and professing my admiration with this long overdue Unilocal review.

You never realize how much you need something until… well you need it. Before today, I have never seen a whole juniper berry, let alone a juniper berry in a store. For some reason I decided to make my own spice rub instead of buying one from a store. The inner Asian always looks at expensive things and tells myself that I can make it for cheaper. I stumbled across an amazing spice rub recipe for my BBQ needs online and it called for coriander seeds and juniper berries. I searched near and far for these ingredients, well just Safeway and Trader Joes. I found a small spice container of coriander seeds but they were 6 bucks for a tiny container. I decided to hold off until I found my juniper berries.
After some research, I ended up at the San Francisco Herb Company. Not only did they have juniper berries, but a whole pounds worth for 6 dollars. Some places sell them for 50 dollars a pound. I was amazed. For another 6 dollars I got a pound of coriander seeds, 10x the amount I would have gotten at Safeway for the same price. Since I was there, I picked up some turpinado sugar because… well why not?
This place is a life saver and the owner is really nice. From now on, I will do all my spice shopping here. I ended up getting all my spices for around 15 bucks, which will make 50 times the amount of a 12 dollar spice rub packets found in the store.
P. S. They have a bunch of tea too!

The retail space in this store is small and check the hours before you go! It’s worth the effort to get there when the shop is open — bulk herbs, teas, essential oils, lots of things to work with! So far it’s had everything I was looking for, herb-​wise. I don’t think they stock many organics so I would go elsewhere for that. Otherwise, it’s fantastic!

Very Unique little shop that offers great values in spices, herbs, salts, teas, and more.
Idea inspiring for cooks and foodies.

Never would have known about this hidden away place without Unilocal.Thanks! Great find. Very happy with the spices (though such large packages… whoa!) I lugged back from here to NYC. The gunpowder green tea was excellent too.
If I lived in San Fran I would be a frequent customer too! Seems like good quality and definitely low prices!

This place rules.
I make a lot of chili. Texas style, which means you won’t find any beans or tomatoes here, just a boatload of peppers (some whole, some ground) and spices. This place is a godsend. A pound of ground anchos or NM peppers is $ 4 each, which is far less than you’ll even see it in most hispanic markets. Not to mention I can also buy cumin by the pound for a similar price. The only real downside is the fairly limited hours they’re open.
I doubt they have the absolute freshest spices, and while the selection is big it isn’t exotic like rainbow. But then the whole point is you aren’t paying rainbow prices. Also should you ever reach a low enough point in your life to buy a pound of easy mac powdered cheese sauce… you know where to do

Made a trip thinking it was a live nursery, adorable little shop. Very well priced. Bag of flax seed for only $ 1.25. Also bought loose lavender, chamomile, and cinnamon sticks.
Will be making a trip here again!

I really wanted to like this place.
The prices are alright, and interesting selection. I went in for the first time and the experience was not so good.
A white man raising his voice to this women to speak English cause no one is going to understand her when he leaves?
It was clear that he understood what she was saying, so why did it matter?
Is it not your job to understand the many different names people call different spices? Why did you need to make it a issue of language fluency power dynamic?
Then dude was very nice and chummy with this couple as they asked how many languages do you know? To which just English he replied. Whatever dude.
That just made for a horrible experience.

Made a trip here today need to mention SAFFRON from Spain… great price.
Almost got some Hawaiian black salt, then saw the grey sea salt which resembles beach sand as the steward of spices shares is the most salty like the sea which he thinks is how it should be.

Such an incredible SF hidden gem, they are open only between 10am and 4pm, M-​F and the place is fairly small but stock up pretty well. The man that works there is super sweet, I was looking for the green Stevia lefts and he allowed he to have a sample before I bought it. AE accepted.