Add every botanical going into this batch, set the shared base and method, and calculate. It's a working guideline built from studio practice — always taste and adjust from there. Ended up stronger than you meant to pour? The Dilution & ABV Calculator brings any infusion back down to drinking strength. Once it's bottled, the Shelf Life & Storage Calculator tells you how long it keeps. Not sure which spirit or botanical to start from? The Spirit & Botanical Pairing Matchmaker ranks the options either direction, using the same compatibility data below.
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Add an ingredient and set your variables to see a recommended weight, steep time, temperature range, and pairing read here.
Drink Theory Studio
Field notes
Ratio first, time second
The weight you're given is a starting ratio, not a rule — potency varies hugely with freshness, cut, and season. Two batches of the same botanical picked a month apart can differ by a third. Treat the number as the point you begin tasting from, not the point you stop. The Himalayan Pantry is a useful starting point for getting a feel for a specific botanical's character before you commit a full batch.
Why bolder isn't just "more"
Raising intensity increases the botanical load and extends the steep window, because extraction is a function of both concentration and contact time. Doubling the botanical while keeping a short steep gives you a different drink from a modest load left longer — usually a harsher one, since the fast-extracting harsh compounds arrive first.
Method changes what you extract, not just how fast
Cold infusion favours delicate aromatics and leaves tannin behind. Heat pulls everything, including the bitter fractions you may not want. Freeze-thaw ruptures cell walls mechanically, which is why it works on tough material that cold infusion barely touches. These are different extractions, not the same one at different speeds — and it's a different process again from fermentation, which transforms a botanical through microbial activity rather than solvent contact. Working with a ferment instead? See the Fermentation Calculator.
Taste before the clock says so
The steep window is a range because the endpoint is sensory, not temporal. Start tasting at the low end. Over-extraction is not reversible — you can dilute a strong infusion, but you cannot remove the bitterness that comes from leaving bark in too long.
What this tool cannot know
It has no idea what your specific botanical is doing today — potency, freshness, and identification are all things only you can check. See the safety note below for what to confirm before you infuse; the rhododendron study walks through why that check matters even for a familiar-looking bloom.
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