My thing is whether it was opened before (the bag of roots) or still sealed. If you can squeeze the package and no air comes out, I'd trust that coming out of a Sarcophagus, haha. Once opened, kava tends to degrade as a result of being exposed not just to air, also the humidity in the air. I'd drink it, so long as there is no drops of moisture, moldy smell, in the bag with the kava! Bulaaa!