Berkeley · Est. 1970
Rooted in Herbs.
Growing Since 1970.
A working herb shop on two Berkeley corners. We keep bulk medicinal herbs and culinary spices, house-blended teas, steam-distilled essential oils, cold-pressed base oils, resins, liquid extracts and capsules — weighed out by hand, in any quantity from one ounce up.
- 50+ years in BerkeleyOpen since Earth Day, 1970
- Extensive botanical selectionOver 1,700 catalogue entries
- Two local storesSan Pablo Avenue & Shattuck Avenue
Explore the apothecary
Six shelves, one long counter.
Everything we stock is listed by botanical name, with sizes and the designations we use for how each herb was grown or gathered.
Bulk Herbs
Dried roots, leaves, flowers and barks, sold by weight.
Teas
House-blended herbal teas plus black, green and white.
Culinary Spices
Whole and ground spices for the kitchen.
Essential Oils
Steam-distilled essentials, base oils and absolutes.
Extracts
Liquid extracts, tinctures and concentrates.
Capsules
Encapsulated herbs, and a shelf of herbal reference books.
Our heritage
Five decades of herbs, knowledge & community.
Lhasa Karnak first opened its doors on Earth Day, 1970, sharing a small space with Shambhala Books on Telegraph Avenue. A few years later we moved across the street to a larger location, and our Shattuck Avenue shop opened in 1981. Today the Telegraph store trades from San Pablo Avenue.
The name is pronounced “Lah-suh Car-nack”, after the cities of Lhasa in Tibet and Karnak in Egypt — Karnak is the site of the world’s first botanical garden, and Lhasa the source of much of the East’s medicinal plant knowledge.
- 1970Established
- Berkeley, CAOur home
- 2 LocationsVisit us
Quality you can trust
How we buy, in our own words:
- All of our herbs are guaranteed not sprayed with pesticides — many are certified organic, many ethically wildcrafted.
- Our essential oils are pure steam distilled.
- Our base oils are all cold-pressed, and our absolutes certified solvent-free.
Blended in Berkeley
House-made tea blends.
Every tea on this list is blended by us, in the shop. Most are available in convenient air-tight tins, and the blends containing yerba maté carry caffeine.
- Cold Mountain TeaThis is our house blend. A full-bodied and well-balanced tea, it is a refreshing all-purpose beverage.
- Full Earth TeaThis popular beverage tea is a full-flavored sage-based blend. Many people drink it while fasting.
- Northern Lights TeaThis is a combination of three varieties of mints, for those who want a well-rounded mint tea.
- West Wind TeaThis is a naturally sweet blend of roots, seeds, and barks. Use one teaspoon for 2-3 cups. Simmer 7-10 minutes.
Shop by interest
Find your way in.
If you are not sure which list to start with, these are the doors most people come through.
Reference
Notes from the counter.
Practical reference drawn from our own catalogue — the things customers ask us across the counter most often.
- Reference
Understanding Extract Strengths
What a 1:1, 1:2 or 1:5 ratio actually means in a liquid extract, and why the ratio alone does not tell you the whole story.
Read the guide → - Guide
Reading the Oil List
Sizes, Latin names and how our essential, base and fragrance oils are distinguished from one another on the list.
Read the guide → - Sourcing
How Our Herbs Are Designated
OG, CO and WC appear beside many entries in the catalogue. Here is what each designation means on our shelves.
Read the guide →
Come and see us
Visit us in Berkeley.
Phone and mail orders are processed at the San Pablo Avenue shop. Our entire inventory is available to you by telephone.
San Pablo Avenue
2506 San Pablo Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94702- Phone
- (510) 548-0380
- Hours
- Open 10–7 · Sunday 10–6
-
Shattuck Avenue
1942 Shattuck Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94704- Phone
- (510) 548-0372
- Hours
- Open Monday–Saturday 10–6
Stay in touch
A little herbal wisdom in your inbox.
Seasonal botanicals, new arrivals, tea inspiration and stories from our shops.
We use your address only to send occasional shop news. Unsubscribe any time.