mitragyna speciosa

Kratom for the Holidays: Great Gifts For Kratom Lovers

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Every year, planning out what you are going to buy for your friends and family can be very stressful. It can even be stressful to be asked what you want for Christmas because you then need to come up with a list for yourself, too!

Here at Phytoextractum, we want to help make the holidays a little bit easier this year. If you like kratom and want to ask for some kratom-related gifts or perhaps you have a few friends that use kratom, we are here to help.

Our complete list today is going to be focused on kratom gift ideas for the winter holidays or any time! Hopefully, we’ll help you find the inspiration that you’ve been searching for.

1: Kitchen Scale

The first item that you might want to consider getting for a friend that loves kratom is a digital kitchen scale. Having a scale on hand is a great way to ensure that every serving of kratom is the same and accurate. When consistency is key, a scale is a necessity.

Plus, a kitchen scale can be used for more than just kratom! While it is incredibly useful for measuring out servings, it can also be useful for baking, portioning meals, and much more. You can even use a kitchen scale to help figure out postage for any packages or letters that you need to mail out.

A lot of people won’t want to invest in a kitchen scale for themselves, so buying one for a friend that is interested in kratom is a great way to treat them to something super special!

2: Capsule Prepping Kit

If you know a bit more about how your friend takes their kratom, you might be able to get them a specialized kit to help with their kratom consumption. Many people use kratom in capsule form, but buying pre-made capsules is usually much more expensive than it is to make your own capsules. 

To help your friend save a bit of money and take control of their specific servings, you can set them up with a capsule prepping kit. Try including the following items:

With these tools, your friend will be able to easily and efficiently fill up their own capsules. Some people might already do this, but few will have the full capsule making tool that makes it quick and easy. Gifting this to your friend gifts them a lot of convenience.

3: Flavor Set

Does your friend make their own kratom tea? Do they mix kratom liquids or tea concentrates into other beverages? If so, you might want to consider gifting them a kit of various things to make these drinks taste better!

It’s no secret that kratom tea isn’t the best-tasting thing out there. In fact, it can be pretty hard to get down for some. Finding ways to flavor tea is key, so why not put together a basket of fun flavors that they can use on their next concoction?

Try using some of the following items in your flavor gift basket to help them flavor their tea:

All of these items are very easy to add to kratom tea to improve the flavor. Often, kratom users just get used to the rough taste, but they don’t need to if you can gift them something lovely to enjoy it with!

4: Tea Supplies

If you think that your friend prefers to keep things classic, you can still gift them some items to help with their kratom tea production. Making tea requires a number of tools to make sure you get a clean, filtered final product.

Consider purchasing any of the following items for your kratom-loving friend:

One of the coolest things about gifting a friend some of these tea-making supplies is that they can use them to make other types of tea as well. It is, after all, possible to enjoy other types of tea besides kratom tea!

5: Apparel

This idea won’t work for everyone, but there are some people out there that just can’t get enough ball caps, themed hoodies, and customized T-shirts. Believe it or not, there are some organizations that sell kratom apparel. Any local shop that your friend likes to buy their kratom from might have some apparel, too!

This type of gift is best for the type of friend that enjoys showing their public support for kratom. Not everyone feels confident enough to rock this type of apparel, and that’s okay. Consider your friend’s personality before you commit to this type of gift.

6: Donation

Does your friend support any Kratom-focused nonprofits, such as the American Kratom Association? Are they concerned about the risk of kratom becoming an illegal substance in the US? If so, you may want to consider gifting them something a little out of the box: a donation!

By donating to kratom research and support organizations in your friend’s name, you’ll be helping them support the future of a botanical they love to use. And that is a great gift for any occasion!

7: Storage System

If the friend that you are searching for a gift for is a prolific kratom user or a veteran user that loves to rotate which strain they are using, the chances are pretty high that they have a large shelf for all their kratom products.

Have you ever seen this shelf? Is it organized, or is it a complete mess? 

If your friend hasn’t quite figured out how to keep all their kratom stored yet, you might want to consider purchasing some storage containers for them. Kratom leaves and powder are best stored in dark, air-tight containers where heat, air, and sunlight cannot affect them.

We love dark-colored glass containers as the best Kratom storage type. Purchasing a few jars or containers like that for your friend will help them get organized!

5 Ways To Make Kratom Tea Taste Better Than Ever Before

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Those of us that use kratom regularly may be able to agree that it has big benefits, but that isn’t the only thing that we can agree upon. Most of us will also agree that kratom tea simply doesn’t taste that great! Sure, you can get it down, but who wants to drink something regularly that just isn’t good?

While you could think of this problem as a simple fact of using kratom, we like to be more creative about things around here at Phytoextractum. As a sort of inspiration, we’re gearing up today to share with your our top five methods for making kratom tea taste better than ever before.

If you have any other great suggestions for how to improve the tea’s flavor, be sure to let us know!

Making Kratom Tea

While it’s important to learn how to flavor your kratom tea in new and interesting ways, it is also important for you to learn how to make kratom tea the right way! Kratom tea needs to taste as good as possible when you get started so that there is a chance to make it taste even better.

This is a bare-bones guide on how to make some great kratom tea:

  1. 1. Start with a liter of water.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a full boil in the pot.
  3. 3. Lower the heat, and let the water come off of the boil for at least three minutes.
  4. 4. Put the kratom powder or leaves in a mesh strainer.
  5. 5. Add to the water.
  6. 6. Let the kratom simmer in the water for about 20 minutes.
  7. 7. Remove the mesh strainer or use the cheesecloth to get the powder out of the leftover kratom tea.

Once finished, kratom tea can be consumed hot, cold, or even after it has been refrigerated for up to five days. This means that you can make a bigger batch of kratom once or twice a week so that you don’t have to make it every single time you want to drink your kratom tea.

How To Make Kratom Tea Taste Better

Now that you know all of the basics of how to make kratom tea, it is time to learn how to make kratom tea taste better! There are a lot of different solutions that you can use, but these are the five different ways that we prefer to improve the flavor of our kratom tea.

Add Flavored Tea Bags

When you’re brewing kratom tea, taking a minute to brew up another flavor of tea as well can be the key to making your kratom tea taste better! Combining the earthiness of kratom tea with a sweet, fruity tea can make it taste incredible. You can even mix up multiple different kinds of tea in the batch so that you can have your own special concoction.

There are many flavors of tea that go well with the taste of kratom:

  • • Green tea
  • • Citrus tea
  • • Raspberry tea
  • • Vanilla tea
  • • Chai tea
  • • Any fruit tea
  • • Sweet tea
  • • Spice teas
  • • Tea lemonades
  • • … and much more!

The possibilities are as limitless as your tea cabinet, so get creative and try out different combinations to figure out what will taste the best. Once you choose a tea, choose twice as many tea bags as you usually use and then brew it up. This will help to make a concentrated enough flavor to compete with the flavor of the kratom tea.

Mix With Milk

When many people drink coffee or a traditional tea, they like to add milk and sweetener to it so that it fits with their favorite taste profiles. For kratom tea, you can do the same thing!

Many sweetened milk products, such as vanilla creamer, can be added to kratom tea to help cut into the bitterness and add a bit of sweetness to the final drink. Adding milk makes everything taste just a little bit better than the usual earthiness that kratom tea offers.

There are many types of milk that you can add to kratom tea to try to balance out the flavor:

  • • Dairy creamers (they come in lots of flavors!)
  • • Soy milk (flavored or plain, but we prefer vanilla)
  • • Oat milk (vanilla is best)
  • • Straight milk (not as flavored, but good for those who don’t want to add more sugar)

Many kratom lovers have found that using almond milk as an easy addition to kratom tea. Not only is it delicious, but it also has a lot of alkaloids which makes it work well with the standard chemical composition of kratom tea.

Mix With Citrus

Adding citrus to kratom tea is a great way to cut through the earthy flavor of kratom. Many find the richness to be way too heavy to easily drink, so cutting through that is a key part of improving the flavor of kratom.

In particular, we love to add honey, sugar, and lemon to kratom tea in order to make it more palatable. Of course, those aren’t the only things that you can add to tea to make it better.

We love adding lemon for a few reasons:

  • • Citric acid helps to balance out alkaline content to help it be more efficient.
  • • Citric acid also helps to keep kratom tea stored in your refrigerator last for even longer.

If you aren’t a big fan of lemons, you could also use other fruits like orange or grapefruit instead. If you want to mix kratom powder into a full glass of citrus juice, you can do that as well. There are a lot of different ways to incorporate citrus flavor into your tea, so experiment a little bit.

Add Flavored Syrups

Have you ever gotten a flavored coffee or latte before? To make the latte taste that way, flavored syrups are used. These syrups come in lots of different flavors such as sweet and fruity flavors. Those flavors, in particular, can help to make kratom tea taste much better.

Sweeten Everything

This is a simple solution, but it is one that works for some people! Adding honey, sugar, or another sweetener to your kratom tea will immediately help to cut through the rich, dark flavor of the kratom. We recommend starting with one teaspoon of your favorite sweetener for each mug of kratom tea, but you can add more until the balance is just right.

Kratom Products Labels: What They Mean And Why They Matter

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Have you ever taken the time to read the product label on the last batch of kratom that you bought? Do you know what type of information you should see on that type of label? Or are you completely unsure about what it says on the package other than the company and product name?

If you’ve ever taken the time to look at a kratom label, the chances are pretty high that you haven’t found much information there. Due to a lack of regulation in the industry, there isn’t a lot of incentive for companies to include a lot of information.

Here at Phytoextractum, we find that to be incredibly frustrating. What is a consumer supposed to do if they can’t get any information from the label? Are people expected to know everything about a product before they buy it?

Let’s take a look at the complicated world of kratom product labels and what we hope to see happen in the future.

Creating a Brand

The first reason that we’re used to seeing labels on products is to let you know who made it. Brands are eager to put their names and logos on everything that they put into the world because they know that indirect marketing like this can bring them more business in the long run.

Consumers who have used their products before are more likely to recognize their name and logo if they saw it on the packaging, and that recognition can lead them to buy again. That’s why companies put so much time and money into choosing the right imagery, colors, and words for their logos.

Branding is incredibly important in all industries, and the kratom industry is no exception.

Generalized Label Expectations

At this time, not all states require specific information to be included on kratom labels. We believe that this doesn’t mean that general label expectations should not be followed. In fact, we think that the lack of regulation makes it even more important.

Usage

The first thing that needs to be included is some type of instructions about how to use the product. Any relevant information and suggestions from the manufacturer to the consumer can be included here so that the customer sees it.

Warnings

Other things that you can (and should) see on a label are warnings. If there are any cautions, warnings, or other precautionary information that would benefit the consumer to know, it is a company’s obligation to warn the customer about these things.

Many products have warnings that are regulated and must be put on every product, such as cigarettes. For unregulated products such as kratom, however, no such requirements exist.

Stats

Another important thing to include on the label is any specific information about what is in the product. Ingredients, nutritional information, serving size, and more are all examples of stats that you might find on a product label.

As kratom is not under FDA regulation, product labels should not include any type of nutritional information unless otherwise advised by a regulatory agency.

The Complicated Kratom Label Situation

If you know anything about kratom’s legal status, you know that the status is always at risk. While some states have legalized kratom and made moves to protect consumers from unregulated dangers, not every state is as open to the idea of legal kratom.

Because of this, there are no official regulations that kratom vendors need to follow when they sell their products. There are some things that vendors are not allowed to say per FDA rules, but that doesn’t mean they have to say other things instead.

Vendors can put whatever they want on the labels, and we don’t believe that is enough. Though official classification of kratom at levels is still underway, it is possible to label kratom properly.

AKA’s GMP Label Program

For own labeling purposes, we follow the labeling protocol that is outlined within the American Kratom Association’s GMP Standards Program. The AKA is working tirelessly to help protect kratom consumers in America, and we believe that this is a program fully worth supporting.

With the standards laid out through AKA’s research, we (and other kratom vendors) can be sure to protect our consumers to the best of our abilities.

AKA’s Label Requirements

To be part of the GMP program with AKA, you have to follow their guidelines. Many of the guidelines have to do with labels, as you can see in the program guidelines:

  • • The labels, labeling, or advertising of any kratom product should not bear any disease claims (i.e., claims regarding the treatment, cure, prevention, or mitigation of disease) or unauthorized health claims.
  • • The labels, labeling, or advertising of any kratom product should not bear any structure/function claims.
  • • The labels, labeling, or advertising of any kratom product should not reference any research or clinical data.
  • • Each finished product label must include a batch or lot number.
  • • Each finished product should be labeled to disclose the mitragynine and 7-OH alkaloid content of the product.
  • • Each finished product label must advise consumers to consult with a physician for dosing information relative to alkaloid values.
  • • No kratom products may be sold to individuals under the age of 18.
  • • The label should bear a statement that pregnant women should not use kratom products during pregnancy.
  • • All labels, labeling, or advertising should include the following statement: “This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or condition.”

As you can see, those labeling requirements can be quite complicated, but that’s not a problem because AKA resources to help clarify things for vendors and consumers alike. The requirements don’t exist just to be complicated. They exist to ensure that vendors and consumers both are protected from the risks and dangers of the industry.

When you’re buying kratom online or in stores, take the time to look at the label on each product. Does the label give you good information? Do you feel like you have a good idea of the product by the time you read through it? If you answered yes to those questions, you should feel confident that you’re making a good choice.

Quality Tips: How To Choose The Right Kratom Vendor For You

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One of the most appealing parts of modern technology is the options that it gives us. When we want to buy a new picture frame, we can check out dozens of prices and styles online before we choose a seller, buy it, and have it shipped our way. Never have there been more choices so easily accessed.

With so many more options, it can become difficult to decide which is the best because it becomes overwhelming.

Buying kratom is no different from buying anything else when shopping online. There are dozens of websites that sell various strains online, and your local CBD or herbal store might carry some as well. How do you decide where to buy something like kratom when it can be impossible to see the differences?

Choosing the right vendor is very important when purchasing kratom, especially if you will be buying it online. We’ll cover how to choose a vendor and why you should be careful in today’s tip roundup.

Tip #1: Ask Your Friends

Do you have friends that use kratom regularly? If so, those friends can be a great resource when choosing a vendor for your next kratom purchase. Everyone has different standards, but it is likely that everyone with kratom experience will be able to give you a good picture of what to expect from the vendors that they have tried.

If you don’t have a lot of friends that personally use kratom, reach out to an online kratom community and see what they have to say about vendors. Everyone who has purchased kratom a few times will have at least some information about their experiences with those particular vendors, and this information can help you to make more educated choices.

Tip #2: Consider Reviews Carefully

Reviews on the internet are a complicated topic. While they can be a great way to get an idea of how much people like a product, there is always the risk that the reviews found online are secretly commissioned or sponsored by the vendor themselves.

For that reason, it’s always important to consider reviews with balance. Take the things that are mentioned seriously, but don’t fall for reviews that seem too-good-to-be-true; they probably are. Think logically as you read through each review, and you’ll be able to get valuable information from them.

Tip #3: Shop For What You Enjoy

Another way that you can decide where to buy your kratom is to decide what strain, blend, or variety you want to purchase first. Even though there is considerable stock overlap between vendors, not all shops carry the same items. Kratom strains that are rarer or specially blended by a vendor will be harder to find, so you want to choose based on that.

If you’re not very particular about which specific products you want to buy, you can skip this tip and instead move to tip #4 to help you learn about vendor reliability while shopping.

Tip #4: Certifications, Reliability, and Policies

Let’s talk about what it means to be a reliable kratom vendor. Here at Phytoextractum, we think that it is incredibly important to keep an eye on our quality so that our customers don’t receive anything from us except the very best kratom.

Kratom safety has been a concern for the kratom community for a few years, and we fully support the efforts by groups like the American Kratom Association to ensure that safety is a reality in the community.

As such, we have spent time and money, ensuring that we follow their manufacturing guidelines and have all of the necessary certifications. When shopping around at various kratom vendors, these certifications can be a guide for you. After all, wouldn’t you feel more comfortable buying from a vendor that cares about that type of safety regulation?

Contaminated kratom has made it to the market in recent years, and we don’t want to see that happen ever again. We’ve implemented additional testing procedures, and we know that all reliable vendors would be proud to say that they have done the same.

Before you buy from a new vendor, check the following:

By checking into these items, you can quickly discover if the vendor takes safety as seriously as they should.

Tip #5: Seek a Partner

We always mention that we believe the process of using kratom is always changing. As new information, strains, and techniques come into the community, you are consistently going to need a way to become informed about these things.

For that reason, we think it’s really important to choose a regular vendor that also offers educational support. You don’t need to enroll in kratom school, but knowing that your favorite vendor has a blog with up-to-date and detailed information can help you to feel more secure when making choices in the future.

One of our favorite parts of our website is our blog! There, we take the time to write up detailed information full of tips, tricks, and research that you might not find otherwise. Any vendor that goes out of their way to ensure that you know what you’re dealing with is likely to be a good quality choice.

Keep Your Options Open!

If you haven’t already done so, we’d love it if you give our online store a try. We always source high-quality products, and we do our best to ensure that our customers are always able to have the most positive experience possible.

Of course, we don’t think that you should only consider us! There are a number of reliable kratom vendors out there. Trying out a few different vendors makes sense as long as you are sure that they are selling safe, reliable strains of kratom. Doing this, you’ll get a better idea of what best fits your wants and needs, and that’s essential!

AKA: The American Kratom Association And Why It Matters

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When you enter the world of Kratom, you’re entering a large and diverse community. There are people from all walks of life and all backgrounds that enjoy using Kratom, and that’s not going to change anytime soon!

Still, the position of Kratom in America is not yet solidified. While there are millions of people that use Kratom regularly, the misconception that Kratom is a dangerous substance still exists in many areas. That rumor has led to a number of media blitzes about the danger of the substance. How can these rumors be put to rest?

Like CBD which was once viewed as dangerous, Kratom needs a champion to lead the way to full legal protection. And that champion is going to be the American Kratom Association.

AKA: American Kratom Association

The American Kratom Association, also known as AKA, is an advocacy group that is working tirelessly to cement the legal and protected status of Kratom in America. From working on grassroots movements to working with state-level politicians to pass protection acts for Kratom users in each state, AKA is doing a lot of work to ensure that Kratom can be used in the USA.

The active leadership that AKA has committed to in the community is essential! They strive to make using Kratom a safe and legal activity in America, and they’ve done amazing work doing just that. Since their work began, they have revolutionized the way that the Kratom industry operates.

The Goals of AKA

According to AKA’s advocacy efforts sheet, their goal is to: “make natural kratom safe and to keep it available for millions of Americans who use it for health and wellness; manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers whose livelihoods depend on a safe and robust market; and for scientific and research communities that are actively exploring its potential.”

Basically, the American Kratom Association wants to ensure that the government is going to continue to allow the sales of safe Kratom while simultaneously holding manufacturers accountable for the products that they are putting into consumer’s hands.

AKA’s Activities

How can the American Kratom Association make these things happen? The organization works with manufacturers, consumers, media, and government politicians to help ensure that the Kratom industry becomes a fair and safe place for consumers and manufacturers alike.

Specifically, AKA works in these areas:

  • • Helps vendor members learn to promote safety properly
  • • Engages with the US government to protect the safety and availability of Kratom
  • • Keeps an eye on all FDA, NIDA, and DEA policies that might incorrectly characterize the status and nature of Kratom
  • • Engages with the media and scientific community to promote accurate and thorough research about Kratom
  • • Shares all gained knowledge with the public
  • • Sponsors the Good Manufacturing Practices Standards Program to help vendors only sell high-quality and well-tested products to Kratom consumers in America
  • • Connects with the FDA about the need to set up a regulatory system for Kratom

As you can see from the list, the American Kratom Association is very active! Not only does their list of desired actions look good on paper, but their list of positive outcome events does, too! AKA has successfully set up its GMP program and also helped a number of policies be passed in states around the country to solidify Kratom’s legal status.

More About The GMP Program

We feel that AKA’s Good Manufacturing Practices Standards Program is one of the most exciting things that they have achieved. While some organizations might not want to report their testing results or to keep up with high-quality testing requirements, we believe that it is important to keep our consumers’ safety in mind while we sell our products.

The GMP program by the American Kratom Association is a set of standards and guidelines for Kratom vendors and manufacturers to be sure that they follow. These expectations help to ensure that all Kratom sold to consumers is safe. 

The GMP program is a voluntary program, but all reputable vendors of Kratom should have no issue joining up with this program. We find that the honesty of a company willing to join and show their test results is a great thing for consumers who need to be able to see this kind of transparency.

Why We Need AKA

Some people might not see the need for an organization like the American Kratom Association. After all, isn’t it up to the FDA and the government to determine what is and what is not safe?

While we agree that government organizations should play a role in deciding what is and what is not safe to use, we know that Kratom has a solid background. Unfortunately, several biased studies and dishonest media reports have tarnished Kratom’s image. Mistakenly linked to the opioid crisis, Kratom is at risk.

But Kratom itself is not an opioid, nor does it carry any of the risks of opioids! Kratom does partially bind to receptors in the body, but it works in very different ways than opioids do and thus should not be linked to the crisis.

Unfortunately, there are some organizations determined to continue to blame Kratom for things that are not true when Kratom is used and made correctly. An organization like AKA, then, is needed to ensure that Kratom consumers will able to continue safely and legally using Kratom.

Vendors Need AKA, Too

We get very frustrated when we see vendors out there that are selling unreliable or mislabeled products to the customers. Without complete regulation in all areas, however, there is nothing stopping vendors from being dishonest in their sales tactics.

For that reason, we believe that AKA is beneficial to vendors like us as well. Honest vendors should have no problem subscribing to what AKA is trying to do, and we believe that you should only shop from vendors that are going to put your safety first.

As you shop around for your next Kratom purchase, find out if the vendors that you are buying from are part of the GMP program. If they are not, you may want to reconsider where you are going to buy from unless you have some other proof of their safety practices.

Kratom Strains, Colors, and More: A Phyto Guide

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So you’ve dipped your toes in the proverbial kratom pond. You’ve looked around; you’ve decided to give kratom a try. But you’re suddenly being bombarded with dozens of different varieties, names, and words that you don’t really understand.

Where do you go from here?

All that you need is a simple, straightforward guide to the strains and colors of kratom and what they should mean to you. We’ve got you covered! Today, we’re putting together that very guide so that all kratom users, new and experienced, can gain the most complete understanding of what they’re looking at when browsing kratom.

Why Are There Different Kratom Varieties?

Those new to kratom might be wondering how it is that one plant can come in different varieties when it reaches the market. The difference lies in the growth and methodology, not so much in the plant itself.

When kratom leaves are harvested, they then need to be dried, blended, and then packaged as they will be sold. Depending on where the tree grew and how the conditions were, the exact makeup of the plant will differ.

Then, the drying method will change the final chemical composition of the leaves. The final product depends completely on what type of process the leaf went through when it was grown to when it was dried after harvesting. All of the differences of kratom varieties come about during these parts of the process!

How Kratom Colors Are Classified

When you browse kratom varieties, you’ll likely see that kratom is usually divided by Red, Green, and White varieties. There are a few specialty colors that might pop up from time to time like Gold or Yellow, but most will be Red, Green, or White.

Over the years, there has been some dissent within the kratom community about what the meaning of these colors truly is in the industry. Is it a marketing effort? Is it based on the color of the leaves? Or is it something else?

In our opinion, it’s a bit of all of them! Certain leaves have colored veins, which lead them to be a specific variety, and the marketing component can’t be overlooked either.

Drying Matters Most!

Ultimately, however, the color of kratom often has a lot to do with the way that it was dried! Green leaves are usually dried indoors for 80% of their drying time while whites are dried inside in the dark. Red leaves are given more sun exposure via outdoor drying or UV lighting, depending on the variety.

Often, the variation between red and white kratom will be more simply explained as red being more “mature” and white being “younger.” In terms of overall light and sun exposure, this is true, but the terminology can be quite confusing. 

The only way to be absolutely sure about what the color terminology means in regards to your kratom is to ask the supplier or vendor that you are purchasing from. They will be able to give you the most accurate information about what you should expect from the kratom.

All About Kratom Strains

In addition to seeing a lot of different color words used when marketing kratom, you are likely to have also seen a lot of different strain names such as Maeng Da Thai or Red Bali. What are these strain names, and how are they decided?

Today, we’ll attempt to unravel some of the confusion that exists about strain names and their origins.

Strain Names: What Do They Mean?

There are a lot of specific strain names that are well-used and well-known:

  • • Red Bali
  • • Maeng Da
  • • Borneo
  • • Super Green Malaysian
  • • … and more!

All of these names seem to have specific meanings, but do the kratom varieties truly align with their names?

Yes and no.

Originally, kratom sellers would create the names for their kratom based on where it came from or what experience it would give you. Bali kratom, for example, may have originally been grown solely in Bali, but now the name may refer to the strain’s lineage (where the seeds came from), or even to different strains that have comparable alkaloid profiles.

Many of the origins of kratom strain names have similar stories. Some names, like Borneo kratom, were originally given to the strain because the kratom was grown there. Now, however, the name doesn’t always indicate where the particular leaves were harvested.

Instead, the name indicates the specific style, content, and processing method that the kratom was created with. 

What To Expect From Specific Strains

As mentioned above, kratom strain names might not always match up with the location that the kratom originates from, but the stain names do consistently describe specific attributes of the kratom itself.

Red Bali kratom, for example, is known for its high alkaloid content, but it tends to be grown in Sumatra because of the more consistent growing conditions. 

Thus, the strain names are assigned to kratom based on:

  • • The conditions the trees were grown in
  • • The alkaloid content
  • • The drying method
  • • The processing

These four factors are what makes up a specific strain of kratom, and you can expect different effects from the kratom supplement depending on how exactly it falls into these four categories.

Are New And Unique Strains Trustworthy?

Now that you know more about how the strains are named and what the colors mean, you might be wondering if you can trust a strain like a Platinum Maeng Da Thai or Gold Malaysian blend. Do these blends fit the pattern, and what would they be like?

Our belief is that as long as you make your purchase from reputable vendors, you can give any strain a chance! Reliable vendors will explain the strain and its attributes in their product descriptions, so use that info to get an idea of what to expect when you try something new.

Improving Kratom’s Future

As you can see, understanding what to expect from kratom when the names are so confusing and seemingly randomly assigned can be overwhelming. We support organizations such as the American Kratom Association that are pushing for more clarity in the kratom industry because it would better inform and protect consumers like you.

Among other things, we believe that GMP compliant processing, testing, and marketing is going to be a requirement in the future. Until then, we will do our best to ensure that you can get a clear understanding of our products! As always, feel free to contact us with any questions that you might have.