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Kava Chocolate - kavachocolate.com

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Wigman

Kava Enthusiast
I haven't seen this particular brand mentioned here before, so I thought I'd add a thread.

I was looking through an herb shop in my neighborhood recently and a little basket of choclate bars caught my eye. I love chocolate, so I took a closer look-- holy hell, there was kava in it. The girl at the counter assured me that it was good, and backed up her claim by informing me that she's from Hawaii and has been drinking kava for a long time. She said it was perfect for planes, which basically sold me on the idea. Plus, it was less than five bucks, so I went ahead and bought it.

As soon as I got home, I checked out the package (300 mg kava extract) and their website. They use organic cacao and offer four flavors: Milk Chocolate Caramel Cream, Dark Chocolate Blueberry, Dark Chocolate Vanilla Coconut, and Dark Chocolate Mint, which is what I got.

Before I tried it, I sent them an email:

Hi there,

I purchased one of your chocolate bars the other day. I haven't tried it yet, but I am excited to!

I was wondering if you use noble kava or tudei? There are a lot of kava suppliers that seem to be getting kava that's been cut with tudei.

Also, how do you extract it? Is it a supercritical CO2 extraction or alcohol-based?

Thanks so much for reading my questions!

-[Wigman]

I got a reply almost immediately:

[Wigman]......no need to worry. The kava is a Borogu kava from Vanuatu. Yes....it is noble kava. CO2 extraction. I buy my kava from the founder of the American Kava Association. Kava has all been tested in a lab for quality. Only the best!!!

So, taking her word for it, I tried it. I broke off a segment and chewed it up a little, letting it dissolve in my mouth, where I held it for as long as I could before swallowing. It worked! My mouth got prerty numb and I got the good old kava relaxation from that piece, but I wanted to make sure it wasn't placebo before I came running to the forums, shouting it from the hilltops.

I tried a bigger piece today (it's the weekend, right?), and it definitely worked. I would advise against eating an entire bar, personally.

This is definitely going to be great for planes and traveling in general, as well as times when I don't feel like downing the grog.

Sorry for the length of this post, I just wanted to make sure all the information was here!

Thanks for reading,

Wigman

 

HeadHodge

Bula To Eternity
@Wigman, thanks for the posting. Never heard of it, but it looks like pretty good stuff. Do they give any nutrient info on the back of the package??
 

Wigman

Kava Enthusiast
Sure does. There's a regular nutritional facts table and ingredients list on the back, and a long legal disclaimer on the inside of the wrapper. I'd post a picture, but I'm not good at opening things so it got a little torn. It's legible, but not pretty lol. I'm sure if you emailed them, though, they'd provide a good picture.

The whole thing looks very nice, unlike some other botanical-infused candy bars I've seen in the past.

And it comes from the kava capital of the world: Boise, Idaho.
 

Monkava'd

A spoonful of sugar makes the Awa' go down.
Sure does. There's a regular nutritional facts table and ingredients list on the back, and a long legal disclaimer on the inside of the wrapper. I'd post a picture, but I'm not good at opening things so it got a little torn. It's legible, but not pretty lol. I'm sure if you emailed them, though, they'd provide a good picture.

The whole thing looks very nice, unlike some other botanical-infused candy bars I've seen in the past.

And it comes from the kava capital of the world: Boise, Idaho.
The only kava chocolate I've had came from kava king, was supposedly from Vanuatu, could not be verified as to its nobility, tasted great and the effects I have little remembrance of. ::wonky::
Here's a pic off of Kavakings website.
Chocolate-Landing-Page.jpg

Questionable at best I know o_O.

But what you've discovered sounds wonderful and if i'm not mistaken @Gourmet Hawaiian Kava (or Chris) is the founder of the Aka(If you checkout Chris's website Gouremet hawaiian kava.com you'll find on the front webpage that I was mistaken)...and and that means :woot:....wait for it!
th.jpeg

Chris's wonderful kava (also wrong) is in the chocolate you've eaten...and Organic Mhmmm, we've got ourselves a real deal ::indeedsir:: on our hands here.

::frosty::<- Frosty give this man a round of applause!:sneaky:
tumblr_mejjsuswOH1qkr18lo4_250.gif

Any way i'm gonna have to look into this and I may purchase a couple bars at some point; though i'm unaware if I can really do so online atm because I still need to check it out of course. ;)

Thanks for the heads up Wigman, that chocolate sounds like a dream. :angelic

Edit-Just to prevent further confusion and clarification I felt I needed to say that Chris is the president of the HAC Hawaiian Awa' Council and not the founder of the Aka or American Kava Association.
 
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ApéroNoble

The d'Artagnan forum 4th Kavateer
Chris, with all due respect here, simply because UHM cannot find a clean room for hawaiian farmers to use, and you can't seem to find a lab to test kava.... doesn't mean that other companies can't. Herb Pharm, Vitality Works, Gaia's herbs, and well, every single other legitimate dietary supplement manufacturer seem to have figured out how to use a GMP clean room and a lab to test their products a very long time ago. I'm sorry you're having difficulty with all of this FDA stuff, but that doesn't mean that other vendors are incapable of finding labs and facilities to carry out these relatively simple tasks. In terms of talking to the labs, I really don't see how you couldn't get a clear answer. You call the lab and give them the test number. Pretty easy stuff.

So far I have given two of labs, the University of Suva, and the Van Food Science Lab that perform some of our testing and really don't feel the need to publicly give out all of the private labs that we use so that anyone can use them. It wouldnt be fair to those who are members of the organization. With that said, if a vendor would like access to all of the labs and resources that have taken years to acquire, join the AKA... thats the point of a membership based organization. Join, get your material tested, and get set up with an FDA registered GMP compliant facility to properly package and label your material. Thats the entire premise that for one reason or another is being met with resistance.
In regards to buying kava, personally GMP certification holds no weight in my purchasing habits. Whilst being GMP certified is a good thing, you would be shocked at some of the things I could show you where GMP certified companies have caused significant ill health issues for very many people. After being in this business over 15 years I look at the integrity of each company I deal with.
 

Tyler

Kava Vendor
Hey I agree. GMP is not the end all be all, but is is the law and it is whats best for kava.
 

Tyler

Kava Vendor
Yes this is correct. To get the price down to 450, vans lab is used for fkb. We normally use a domestic hplc to do lactone quantification but for this material, we used suva on this test because we had qualified the supplier by taking their test and rechecking it domestically twice already and got the same results. Once you qualify a supplier, you can utilize a nearby lab. This happened to be suva. For flavokavain, we utilize the van lab since, as you know, they arent giving up much info on how to reproduce their methodology. Moving forward we will be doing fkb by hplc and it will cost a bit more.
 

Tyler

Kava Vendor
USP method? You mean the big letters on the page that say USP. Lol University of South Pacific...They use HPLC as stated on the test.
 

Tyler

Kava Vendor
The labs that we use, including Suva, use this conversion factor method via HPLC analysis as described on the link you just sent. Otherwise, six reference samples must be purchased and six separate HPLC runs must be made and the test goes up to $1200 or more. In terms of the FKB algorithm, this is not something I have off the top of my head. This is sent to van because Lebot invented it and implemented it there at the lab we use. To my understanding its simply a ratio of the least two variable Kavalactones versus the amount of total chalcones. HPLC would also be able to determine this, but I'm sure TLC would be much cheaper. In short, I would love to see this method come here stateside, but as of yet, there is no domestic lab that does the TLC fkb analysis, only the more expensive HPLC method.
 

Bula Kava House

Portland, OR
Kava Vendor
Kava Bar Owner
First off- You guys got way off topic here. Kava Chocolate is awesome! We sell it at the Bula Kava House kava bar and people love it. I actually thought it would be a dud but people keep buying it so we keep selling it. Yes, it is made with a bright yellow noble Co2 Borogu extract. It really is awesome stuff.

As for testing and the AKA, yes, the Trade Ministry lab in Vanuatu is the only lab who will put a noble stamp on kava. This is primarily decided by FK/KL ratio. They do a colormetric test as well, but this test was developed to confirm tudei or noble based on the FK/KL ratio. According to prominent kava researchers, knowing a kava by chemotype and FK/KL ratio is actually a legitimate way to determine noble or tudei, and it gives you quantifiable numbers of known compounds. When Lebot has stated that his test has positively ID'd all tudei ever tested, he's basing that on the fact that it has confirmed what is known tudei and noble based on flavokavain levels, and known tudei/noble cultivars. And how are kava varieties "known tudei/noble"? Effects, and therefore chemotype.

Even if you 100% buy in to the acetone test, because what causes the color change has yet to be identified, it cannot independently ID noble and tudei. It can only confirm. There has to be something quantifiable to determine tudei, and that can't be some magical orange colored fairy dust that imparts its colorful properties on acetone. Experts agree that for now, those quantifiable compounds are flavokavains and kavalactones. The researchers I have spoken with agree on this.

As for the 11 Year Waka results that both Tyler and I have publicly posted, the HPLC is from the University of Suva, which is a well respected south pacific lab. It was sent directly there from the supplier. The test shows an obvious noble chemotype. The supplier also sent samples to Microbac Labs in the US for Microbilogical and Heavy Metal testing. Both results are clean, as you can see. The Vanuatu Trade Ministry result Tyler posted also shows very low flavokavain levels, consistent with noble, unadulterated kava. This kava gets the 'NOBLE' stamp from Vanuatu. Just to be sure, I have another sample into Vanuatu right now and am waiting for results. I have no reason to expect them to be much different.

The testing done on this kava is complete and ridiculously intensive. I don't at all blame Tyler for blacking out supplier info. There are lots of people coming into the industry that would love to have that info, then could possibly sell that kava at a lower price because they aren't paying for the same testing and quality control. I remove this information from test results as well. It makes it no less valid.

As for AKA member testing, I'm all for it. Who wouldn't agree with having all kava tested for FK/KL, heavy metals, and pathogens? E-Coli? Yep, that can kill you. Mercury? Yep, that'll do it too. I'm happy to become a member because it's good for the kava industry to have high testing standards, and it's good for business to put an official seal on my product saying that it has been tested for quality. As far as I know, and @Tyler correct me if I'm wrong, but members are free to use any accredited lab they want as long as all the tests are performed. From personal research, I can tell you that there are multiple labs in the US that will test for heavy metals, microbiological contaminants, and chemotype. A quick google search should get you started. @Gourmet Hawaiian Kava, feel free to send me an email and I can point you toward some of them if you're having a hard time finding them.

In the end, no matter if a vendor chooses to join the AKA or not, consumers should pressure them to have similar testing requirements. We want to keep kava legal? Let's take the guesswork out of it, and know exactly what's in what is being sold.

Again, Kava Chocolate is great! Try it! Maybe we'll start selling it at bulakavahouse.com
 

The Kap'n

The Groggy Kaptain (40g)
KavaForums Founder
That, and shipping chocolate without it becoming a box of chocolate syrup may be challenging.
 

Wigman

Kava Enthusiast
@Wigman - is that being sold online anywhere that you know of?
I don't know of any websites that sell it, but you can buy it wholesale (by the 12-count box) by contacting them directly. Here's a link to their prices and contact info: http://www.kavachocolate.com/kava-chocolate-bars/

If you don't want to go the wholesale route, you could probably contact them via the form on their contact page (http://www.kavachocolate.com/about-us-contact/) and ask for a list of their retailers. I imagine they'd provide that info to interested parties.
 
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