Question
Asked 23 August 2018
  • The Drawing Scientist

Where to buy OOLONG TEA EXTRACT for ELECTRON MICROSCOPY?

I am looking for a company selling the Oolong tea extract (OTE) for electron microscopy counter-staining.
On the papers I have found, (Sato 2008, e.g.) the indication of the source is quite obscure to me (Suntory, Osaka, Japan).
Is this just "normal" tea one could drink or it is a special (decaffeinated?) one?
Thank you in advance for your help!
All the best,
Veronica

Most recent answer

Veronica La Padula
The Drawing Scientist
I finally got an answer from Delta Microscopies, a French company selling microscopy material!
The OTE they sold was the "food grade" one, so the one Jesus and I found on Amazon could be used.
On the other hand, they do not sell it anymore for the following reasons:
it is not "EM grade"
a safety data sheet is not available
the results are variable
I hope this will be helpful for those who will decide to try, like me.
Personally, I understand the reasons of the company, but I al a "why not" person, so I will give it a chance.

All Answers (5)

Maria Jeziorska
The University of Manchester
Dear Veronica, I have tried to find the source on Suntory website (Japan, Taiwan and China) - failed because of obvious language problem. I have tried a different way - looking for latest literature, but source of OTE is the same , Suntory, Osaka, Japan. The latest paper which I have looked at is
I would suggest writing to the first author and 2-3 authors of recent references he quoted - asking for help how to order exactly the same OTE product. Good luck with your project.
Veronica La Padula
The Drawing Scientist
Dear Maria,
Thank you very much for your answer.
I was looking for the latest papers too, in order to write to the authors, as you suggested.
All the best,
Veronica
Jesus G. Galaz-Montoya
Stanford University
An extract is usually more concentrated than the source material after undergoing significant chemical processing.
They should be able to ship it internationally, too :-)
Veronica La Padula
The Drawing Scientist
Hello Jesus,
I saw that, but I was not sure if I could use such a product; for this reason I asked if some "food level" extract could do the job.
Have you already tried it in EM experiments?
Thank you!
Have a nice day,
Veronica
Veronica La Padula
The Drawing Scientist
I finally got an answer from Delta Microscopies, a French company selling microscopy material!
The OTE they sold was the "food grade" one, so the one Jesus and I found on Amazon could be used.
On the other hand, they do not sell it anymore for the following reasons:
it is not "EM grade"
a safety data sheet is not available
the results are variable
I hope this will be helpful for those who will decide to try, like me.
Personally, I understand the reasons of the company, but I al a "why not" person, so I will give it a chance.

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