Kavalactones are the signature compounds in kava root, Piper methysticum, a plant cultivated across the Pacific Islands for well over two thousand years. Around eighteen have been identified, but six do most of the work: kavain, dihydrokavain, methysticin, dihydromethysticin, yangonin and desmethoxyyangonin. The ratio between those six is what growers call a chemotype, and it is why one cultivar drinks so differently from another even when the root looks identical. Kavalactones are fat soluble rather than water soluble, which is why traditional preparation kneads the ground root in water instead of simply steeping it. Our kava is sold with the root's natural lactone profile intact.
