Philippe asked: I recently ordered some of your kava, and I noticed that on the package it says” 10% underground root, and 90% lateral roots” for your kava. Other sites and yours say that the lateral roots are the strongest part of the plant, but I remember seeing somewhere on your website that use use 10% lateral roots and 90% underground roots. Also, wouldn’t you be in danger of getting leaves and stems in your kava if you harvest 90% lateral roots as your packaging says? – Please clarify for me if you would be so kind.
Makaira says: So sorry about the confusion, Philippe! – It was a website misprint and has been remedied. In short, we are extremely careful about how we harvest our treasured Kava plants. We sustainably harvest them and continually rotate our crops to ensure continued consistency and strength. To preserve our plants, so that they can produce the sweetest and–strongest–kava for years, we protect the underground roots, and harvest only 10% of the underground roots with each harvest. When we take 90% lateral roots, it still preserves the plant, so that it can re-foliate over and over again.
We never use a single stem or a single leaf in any of our products; making kava out of the stems and the leaves is not a good idea, as the leaves can be poisonous. But, it’s not a difficult task to make sure that not a single stem or leaf gets in our harvest because stems and leaves are quite different than the roots we harvest. Unscrupulous companies who only care about making money have sometimes been known to use other parts of the plant, but we care about our customers and reputation equally, so we would never dream of using anything but roots for our products.
Aloha no,
Makaira
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Leslie,
You’ve voiced a very important concern, and that’s why we always stress how important it is to not only buy Kava from trusted, reliable sources. And the main reason for this, is that trusted sources (such as Kona Kava Farm, who’s Kava was chosen in the early 2000’s to disprove the false claims that Kava Root can be harmful to health) follow very strict protocols when harvesting, partially because of the strict FDA regulations. Liability alone for a USA company manufacturing a product with poisons in it has dire consequences, and although I could never speak for the manufacturers who included leaves and stems in their products, none of them were based in the USA.
When Kava is encapsulated or made into another product such as an instant drink or a Kavalactone paste…you’re correct; you’ve got to take the manufacturers word on it. But, with powdered Kava root, it’s easier to tell: Leaves and stems tend to be green instead of yellowish or brownish or tanish like the root. So, in powdered root, when it’s only root, you will notice a very “rough” texture, very gritty. When leaves are powdered, it changes both the hue and texture of the root, making it far less gritty as well.
Hope this helps! Aloha no, Makaira
Ok. Since we have no way to verify the absence of stems and leaves in the products – we’ll take your word for it. 🙂
Hmm…this is another question that we are doing our best to be as clear as possible in relation to, but since customers are still asking, we obviously still have work to do (and possibly package printing to still change as well)! As Philippe asked; “I recently ordered some of your kava, and I noticed that on the package it says†10% underground root, and 90% lateral roots†for your kava.”
Our answer is the same: Yes, we use 90% lateral roots and 10% underground roots for every kava product we offer, whether it’s powdered root, capsules, instant drink mixes, or the kava paste. Using 90% lateral roots allows us to preserve the kava plant, and lateral roots are typically the strongest part of the plant as well. So sorry again for the confusion once again! Aloha no, Makaira
On your packaging I just got also says 90% ground and 10% lateral. I orderd the 8 oz package of powdered root. So wich way is it? The lateral is the most potent part correct?
Patrick, again, that was a brief typo on our website; sorry and thanks for pointing it out! We can see how this might have been confusing, so it was changed when we received the above question. That part was supposed to read: “Our featured variety of Kava is Mahakea. Our estate has 1600 Mahakea Kava Kava plants maturing on the fertile slopes of of Mt Hualalai on Hawaii’s Big Island. From the Mahakea we make our coveted pure Powdered Kava Root from 10% underground and 90% lateral roots!” Aloha no, Makaira
I don’t understand, in your website for the “Kona Kava Mahakea Root” your say :
“Our featured variety of Kava is Mahakea. Our estate has 1600 Mahakea kava kava plants maturing on the fertile slopes of of Mt Hualalai on Hawaii’s Big Island. From the Mahakea we make our coveted pure Powdered Kava Root from 90% underground and 10% lateral roots!”
Is-it correct ?