07/09/2026
Apart from being incredibly prolific, hops are also very bitter - and that tells us something about their medicine before we’ve even opened a phytochemistry book 😉
Most people know hops (Humulus lupulus) as the plant that gives b**r its flavour - and perhaps as a sedative herb, traditionally used for sleeplessness and nervous tension.
But when I teach hops, I want students to look beyond the list of “what is this herb good for?”
And actually taste them. That bitterness is part of their energetics. Hops are cooling, drying and relaxing - particularly useful where there is heat, tension, restlessness and an inability to properly come down.
And their bitterness takes us somewhere else too: into digestion. Bitter herbs stimulate digestive secretions and appetite, so here we have a plant whose actions connect the nervous system and digestion rather beautifully.
But energetics also teach us when a herb might not suit someone. For a person who is already cold, depleted, sluggish or low in vitality, the cooling, relaxing nature of hops may be too much. The same herb can be exactly right for one person and quite wrong for another.
This is one of the things I care most about teaching in herbal medicine, not simply memorising that “hops are for sleep”, but learning how to taste, observe and understand a plant - its actions, constituents, energetics and traditional uses - and then think about the person in front of you.
It’s a very different way of learning herbs. And it’s exactly what we do inside The Crafty Herbalist Academy 🥰
The doors reopen for autumn enrolment on 21st September - do reach out with any questions!
Kristine x
Medical herbalist and educator
