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An Acid Test for Acetone Tests

FijiFreshKava

https://fijifresh.com
Kava Vendor
As I prepare to launch my products at fijifreshkava.com I have been doing rigorous chemotyping tests (HPLC, HPTLC, microscopy) and I've also been doing some acetone tests because, well, I would expect that informed consumers would do it. Quite frankly, I wanted to know ahead of time if there were going to be any surprises. I'm glad I did, because the acetone tests on our products appeared at first to be anomalous. Let me explain.

I have a lot of details about the experiment on my blog, but here is the conclusion: The way we pound our kava creates significantly more very fine particles compared to other kava powder I've tested. The presence of these small particles changes the color of the acetone test significantly (the scientific word is the Tyndall effect). I confirmed this by using a centrifuge to force sedimentation of suspended particles and was able to successfully change the tint of the supernatant from amber to noble.

This is what our kava looks like before and after centrifuging.
acetone_before_after.png

It's also worth noting that this kava will take more than a week to achieve the color on the left, and it is still not sedimented. It's only possible to get a useful result if the samples are centrifuged. I hope this sheds some light on the practical challenges of achieving high accuracy through acetone testing.
 
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kasa_balavu

Yaqona Dina
Thanks for the informative blog post. (lol @ RIP lewena)

It'd be interesting to compare results with some kava from @Kava Time , given that he also has Savusavu kava and uses an identical production method.

As an aside, since you're specializing in Fijian kava, I thought I should point out that the correct spelling is lewena rather than lawena. It's an iTaukei (native Fijian word) literally meaning "flesh".
 

FijiFreshKava

https://fijifresh.com
Kava Vendor
Thanks for the informative blog post. (lol @ RIP lewena)
As an aside, since you're specializing in Fijian kava, I thought I should point out that the correct spelling is lewena rather than lawena. It's an iTaukei (native Fijian word) literally meaning "flesh".
That's very interesting; I was just going based on how I've seen it spelled. Lawena is more commonly used, but if Lewena is correct then Lewena it is.

It'd be interesting to compare results with some kava from @Kava Time , given that he also has Savusavu kava and uses an identical production method.
There are some differences between Kava Time and our product:

1. We solely use radiant drying, whereas several of their products are flame heated
2. We only harvest 5+ year plants with a typical age of 5-7 years. The Kava time web site reports 2.5-3.5 year old harvests.
3. The fresh pounding. By working in small batches we avoid the need to move and disturb large quantities of powder, which tends to release the small particles that cause the effects noted in this thread.

But then again, my point #3 is speculative. Better to do the experiment to find out for sure.
 
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Groggy

Kava aficionado
Admin
When do you estimate you'll start selling kava again, you may have mentioned it somewhere else before but I forgot.
 

kasa_balavu

Yaqona Dina
Any idea why so many vendors call it lawena? Including all Fijian vendors I can think of.
I was just going based on how I've seen it spelled. Lawena is more commonly used, but if Lewena is correct then Lewena it is.
Most Fijians of Indian descent seem to pronounce it "lawena", and since they dominate the wholesale/export/retail sectors of the kava industry, that's probably what most people buying Fiji kava are exposed to.
 

verticity

I'm interested in things
Based on my experience I agree centrifuging is necessary to get consistent results: especially if the particle size is very small it will take forever to settle using gravity alone.
 

FijiFreshKava

https://fijifresh.com
Kava Vendor
what will you be charging for a half pound and a pound of kava, you have mentioned pounding it fresh which I think is pretty cool. (off topic, apologies)
The exact pricing is still in flux, but it will be in the $60s per pound and that will include shipping and tax. Whole roots will be sold at a slightly higher markup.
 

FijiFreshKava

https://fijifresh.com
Kava Vendor
Most Fijians of Indian descent seem to pronounce it "lawena", and since they dominate the wholesale/export/retail sectors of the kava industry, that's probably what most people buying Fiji kava are exposed to.
I was talking to an (Indian) Fijian friend and he said 'Llawena' (two Ls) is how he spells it. In any case, I checked our bulk packages from Fiji and they do say 'Lewena', so that's how I'll spell it from now on.
 
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