What is a COA, and why does it matter for kava?

A certificate of analysis (COA) is a laboratory report on a specific production batch. For kava it typically covers five things:

• Kavalactone profile — how much active compound is present, and which kavalactones
• Heavy metals — absence of lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury
• Residual solvents — that extraction left nothing behind
• Microbial — no bacterial or fungal contamination
• Pesticide residues — nothing carried over from cultivation

Why it matters more for kava than for most products. Kava is sold as a botanical, which means composition varies with cultivar, growing conditions, plant part used and preparation method. Two products labelled identically can differ substantially in kavalactone content. A COA is the only way to know what a specific batch actually contains rather than what the category generally contains.

It also addresses the part of the plant used. Traditional preparation uses peeled root and rootstock; aerial parts have a different chemical profile and are not used in quality kava. Testing verifies chemotype, which is how that's confirmed rather than asserted.

How Kavayn's supply chain handles it. Kavayn's ingredients are manufactured by Kavain, which issues a certificate of analysis on every batch — kavalactone profile, heavy metals, residual solvents, microbial and pesticide residues. Testing methodology was developed with ISO/IEC 17025:2017-accredited US laboratory partners (Murray-Brown Laboratories, Wonderland Labs, Cora Science) to USP-aligned specifications.

What to ask any kava brand: is testing per batch or per year? Does it cover heavy metals and pesticides, or only kavalactone content? And is the analysis available to look at, or just referred to?