Kava Testing Policy

At Australia Kava Shop, we endeavor to supply the highest quality noble kava to the Australian kava community. To do this, we commit to only importing noble kava that has been tested to confirm noble variety and microbial testing standards in their country of origin. Our kava testing policy is simple. If the order doesn’t pass noble variety testing at its country of origin, it doesn’t get shipped.

Unfortunately, Australian import regulations under the Phase 2 kava trial are NOT testing for noble variety kava. This means that the market will likely be flooded with “Tudei/2 day” and “wild” kava and “Makas” (re-used kava from kava bars). Unfortunately, these forms of kava have been proven to be detrimental to your health and are high in the DHM (5) kava lactone which can cause nausea and lethargy. This is the reason it is called “TuDei/2day” kava, as these effects last for up to 2 days. For more information on this we recommend reading HERE.

Our noble variety kava testing is done using the colorimetric testing method by the Vanuatu and Fiji departments of Agriculture and Biosecurity. We only accept kava imports that have colorimetric tested between 0.2 to 0.92. This is well below the accepted maximum threshold of 1.1. Any colormetric test that shows a score higher than 0.92 means that it is HIGHLY likely that the kava is of a Tudei or wild variety kava.

We also perform microbial tests for all our kava prior to importation. This is done by the National Bureau of Standards from each country we import from. This make sure that our kava confirms to the Quality control methods for medicinal plant materials World Health Organization Geneva and is free of E.coli, mold, bacteria and other impurities.