I'm aware that I'm suspicious to talk about the TA since I totally feel in love with this gift from God, which changed my quality of life. It surely did not happen from one day to another but took almost two years of research and collecting findings, books, websites, trying different brands and tracking products and suppliers. At the beginning, when you start searching the web using the four names for which the plant is recognized, around 450.000 results will come out, (that explains the two years search) but I'll abbreviate my findings to save you from a hard work. Most part of the extract comes from Indonesia and Malaysia. It is produced at industrial scale. Small manual production scale can be found too. What's the difference? The one produced at industrial scale usually comes from Malaysia where the TA is planted and has a less concentration; in this case the whole plant is used to extract these elements, and the use of chemical solvents which then contaminate the final product is necessary. It has already been found the active ingredient of Cialis (Tadalafil) in extracts coming from Malaysia. Check the following website: www.anvisa.gov.br/farmacovigilancia/boletim_oms/2004/03_04.pdf. Does it work? Yes it does work, however a large part is contaminated with lead, a very toxic metal and maybe other substances which were not published. How about the manual production? In these two years of my crusade I found one supplier in Indonesia which fulfilled all my expectancies. It is a group of natives who receive the support and official backup from the local government. Let me describe to you how the TA extract is produced by this Union: Early morning a group of natives enter the forest seeking the Pasak Bumi, that's how they call the root - It is a botanical, organical root and can't be found near the civilization - soon there will only be the plant cultivated - no more native plants. They need to find the trees which are fully grown - at least 5 years old. What they are really after is the root of the tree, where the ingredients are concentrated. However the tree can not simply cut off - it is not like a yucca tree - but they need to dig around it since its root is thick and can go down for at least 2 meters. Once it is removed the roots are taken by man, on their shoulders, all the way back to the truck. The load then is taken to a huge warehouse where it will be cut into small pieces and left to dry in the shade for 30 days. It has to be stirred constantly. After this process and now totally dry, one ton of roots is mixed with 2 thousand liters of water in these huge stainless steel containers, where they are heated for 2 days. After that the roots are removed and what is left is a strong and dark tea (the active substances are no soluble). Then it returns to be heated for another 3 days; during this period the water evaporates and what is left at the bottom are these crystallized flakes which are again cut into small pieces and packed. This is the Tongkat Ali 200:1 that we import - no chemicals - just water and the root (organic). To clarify, it is necessary 1,000 kilos of dry root to make 5 kilos of extract - 200 kilos of dry root to make 1 kilo of extract - that's why it is called 200:1 or 1:200.