Kava 5x is a product that doesn't make much sense to us in a root, powdered, or instant form. We recently found several with names like "X5 Strength Tudei Kava" and "5x Kava", as well as a few others, but this does not offer the consumer much information. If you have 5x strength of an inferior crop of a famous, commercially grown kava, you will have 5x of something that has no effects or strength whatsoever, regardless of how many numbers are attached to it.

Whether a product is 5x, 10x, or 20x, it completely depends on the original material that it was made from. As the consumer, this kind of label gives you no way of knowing the actual amount of active ingredient in an herbal product, and no way of knowing what amount to take to generate a satisfying effect. "5x" means that an extract will be 5 times more concentrated than the original plant material, but if the original kava root had a low amount of kavalactones to begin with, then the final kava extract will also be weak and likely ineffective for most people.

This is why we at Kona Kava Farm prefer to name almost all of our products in terms of percentages, especially in relation to kavalactones. For example, we have a product that is 30% kavalactones. Since you can also easily look up the weight of all our products (in either pounds, ounces, or milligrams), with a few simple calculations you can easily figure out the approximate kavalactone content by weight of any of our products. This will give you a very clear idea of the actual strength of our extract, and will allow you to return to it time and time again with reliability.

Also, we list the exact ingredients in our strengthened and fortified products because if something is 5x or 10x of something, you need to know what went into it, such as lateral roots or underground roots, as well as if there were other additives that may make a 5x or even 10x extract no stronger than how the root originally started out.

If all this discussion of the quality and types of kava extracts seems overly complicated, don't despair: the most basic kind of kava extract is the kind you can make yourself, using pure powdered kava root, water, and an emulsifier such as soy lethicin. The traditional, water-based kava brew is basically a kind of extraction--not unlike iced tea--and if done patiently and right, it can yield a kava drink that is every bit as strong as a concentrated extract. If you want to be absolutely sure that your kava is fresh and will generate the pleasant effects you've come to expect, brewing kava according to the traditional method is the way to go.

So, simply be careful, especially when it comes to Kava, because it is only recently gaining in popularity, and with every new herbal product that hits the market, there are going to be a large number of people who only want to make a quick buck, moving onto the next product when the time is right. We've been here for generations, and we are not going anywhere; so trust the farm with the expertise and passion to bring you the best Kava has to offer.