How to source dihydromyricetin without guessing the grade

Dihydromyricetin — DHM on most US specification sheets — is the flavonoid that made vine tea a commercial category, and it is the ingredient buyers in the recovery and liver-support space ask for by name. It is also one of the easier botanicals to buy badly, because the number on the sheet tells you the concentration and nothing about the plant, the solvent or the method. Read those four things first and most of the price spread in the market explains itself. This is the sequence we work through before a dihydromyricetin quotation leaves this desk.

What dihydromyricetin is

The source line on the sheet reads Ampelopsis grossedentata, the vine tea known in China as moyeam, and the part used is vine and leaf. It is not a synthetic flavonoid and it is not a generic "green tea extract" — two confusions we correct regularly. DHM is also present in Hovenia dulcis seed, which we supply separately; buyers sometimes compare a vine-tea quotation against a hovenia quotation and conclude one of them is mispriced, when in fact they are two raw materials with different assay bases and different chromatograms.

The commercial grades are 20%, 30% and 98% and above, all by HPLC. The low grades are brownish vine-tea extracts sold into beverage and food systems where colour and flavour are part of the product. The 98% grade is a white to off-white fine powder for capsules and tablets, and it is the grade almost every US supplement enquiry is actually asking about. Decide which one you need before you compare prices, because the difference between them is not a rounding error.

The dihydromyricetin specification, line by line

Line	Standard grade
Botanical name	Ampelopsis grossedentata (vine tea)
Part used	Vine and leaf
Process / solvent	Water / ethanol-water extraction
Assay	Dihydromyricetin 20% / 30% / 98% or higher (HPLC)
Appearance	White to off-white fine powder
Particle size	80 mesh
Loss on drying	5.0% or less
Packing	25 kg fibre drum
Shelf life	24 months unopened

The physical lines are the ones buyers skip and then ask about later. Loss on drying at 5.0% or less is the moisture ceiling, and it matters here because DHM is a flavonoid being shipped through a hot, humid route — a drum that arrives with moisture above the line has already started degrading. Particle size at 80 mesh suits capsule filling and tableting; beverage work in recovery shots usually wants the finer end and a solubility conversation before the first purchase order.

The COA is where the specification becomes evidence. A standard lot of the 98% grade reads at 98.4% by HPLC, loss on drying 2.1%, lead below 1 ppm, total plate count below 1,000 cfu/g, and E. coli and Salmonella negative. Every lot ships with the chromatogram that produced the assay figure, which is the single most useful document you can ask any DHM supplier for.

What dihydromyricetin is bought for

Two categories cover almost every enquiry we see:

• Dietary supplements — hangover-recovery capsules, liver-support stacks and after-party recovery blends, where the 98% grade is dosed in a capsule or tablet and usually paired with milk thistle, electrolytes or B vitamins.
• Food and beverage — recovery shots and functional beverage systems, where the lower assay grades are used because the vine-tea character is acceptable and the cost per serving has to work in a single-serve format.

What changes between these two is the grade, the colour tolerance and the documentation set, not the plant. On the labelling side, DHM is sold as a dietary ingredient in the US market; we supply it as a raw material for manufacturing and we do not make claims on your behalf, so keep your own regulatory review in the loop before you finalise copy.

What a first order looks like

• MOQ: 1 kg
• Samples: drawn from production lots; how much we can supply free depends on the item's value, and anything beyond that is billed at cost plus courier, quoted up front
• Standard packing: 25 kg fibre drum, with 1 kg and 5 kg foil bags for samples and pilot runs
• Lead time: in-stock items ready in about 2 days; bulk production 3 to 5 working days after deposit for standard grades
• Transit: Xi'an to Shenzhen consolidation about 3 days, then air freight about 6 days to major US and EU airports; sea freight 18 to 25 days
• OEM: packing under your own brand, artwork handled under confidentiality

Samples are always drawn from production lots, so what you test is what you will receive — and for the 98% grade we send the matching HPLC chromatogram with the sample, because that is the document your QA team will eventually have to file. If you are comparing us against an existing supplier, send us their sheet and we will read it back to you line by line, including the places where it is silent.

Frequently asked questions

What is dihydromyricetin standardised to?
The commercial grades are 20%, 30% and 98% or higher, all measured by HPLC, from the vine and leaf of Ampelopsis grossedentata. The 98% grade is the white to off-white fine powder used in capsules and tablets; the lower grades are browner vine-tea extracts typically used in beverage systems.

What should I check when comparing dihydromyricetin specifications?
Check the botanical source first — vine tea, not hovenia, unless you specifically want hovenia — then the assay and the method (HPLC, not UV), then the part used, the mesh and the loss-on-drying limit. Then ask for the lot COA with the HPLC chromatogram attached rather than a generic sample certificate.

What is the MOQ, sample policy and lead time for dihydromyricetin?
MOQ is 1 kg. Samples are drawn from production lots; how much we can supply without charge depends on the item's value and the rest is billed at cost plus courier, always quoted in advance. In-stock grades ship in about 2 days, bulk production takes 3 to 5 working days after deposit, and transit is about 6 days by air or 18 to 25 days by sea from Xi'an.

Related: Dihydromyricetin — full specification, grades and documentation. Also see Hovenia Dulcis Seed Extract and Milk Thistle Extract for liver-support stacks.