Two things decide whether kava is worth buying: which cultivar it is, and whether the batch in the bag is what the label says. Kavaha answers the first with the official registers of Vanuatu and Fiji, and the second with batch numbers, lab reports and certificates on every product page.
Vanuatu sorts its kava cultivars into noble, medicinal, two-day (tudei) and wild groups. Noble cultivars are the ones that have been in everyday and ceremonial use for generations and have a kavalactone profile the country considers suitable for export. The classification is written into law, not decided by vendors.
The Kava Act No. 7 of 2002 lists the noble cultivars by name and island in its Schedule, Table 1, and permits the export of noble cultivars only. Export consignments are inspected by the Department of Agriculture. Borongoru, Melo Melo, Palasa and Palarasul in our shop are all on that list.
Fiji does not use chemotype codes. The Ministry of Agriculture, with the PHAMA Plus programme, describes each cultivar by its morphology (stem colour, lenticels, internode length, growth habit) and classifies it as noble or not on that basis. Vula Kasa Leka is recorded as noble in that survey.
Each batch we import is given a batch number that is printed on the packaging and shown on the product page. When a laboratory report or a noble certificate exists for the batch, it is linked on the same page, so you can read the actual kavalactone content of what you receive rather than a typical value for the cultivar.
Yes. The Vanuatu cultivars are listed as noble in the Kava Act No. 7 of 2002, Schedule, Table 1. Vula Kasa Leka from Fiji is classified noble in the Fiji Ministry of Agriculture / PHAMA Plus variety survey.
On the product page, under Quality and certificates, once a report for that batch has been published. The batch number is printed on the packaging.
Chemotypes are measured on specific plants; island, plant age and the laboratory method all shift the order of the six kavalactones. That is why we list every published code with its source instead of one number.
Root only. Stems and leaves are not used.
In the European Union, Kavaha products are sold as natural botanical colorants for external use only.