What a Certificate of Analysis Actually Is
A certificate of analysis (COA) is a lab's written record of what it actually measured in a specific batch of kava, as opposed to what a label or marketing page claims. Reputable kava brands increasingly publish a COA per product, or even per batch, generated using HPLC (high-performance liquid chromatography), the standard method for measuring kavalactone content precisely.
Chemotype
The chemotype is usually shown as a sequence of numbers representing the six major kavalactones, ranked from most to least abundant in that specific batch. This is the number that tells you whether you're actually looking at a noble-pattern or tudei-pattern profile. See our full guide: Kava Chemotypes and Kavalactones Explained.
Total Kavalactone Content
Most COAs also show total kavalactone content, sometimes as a percentage of the product's weight, sometimes as a milligram amount per serving. This number tells you roughly how strong the product is, independent of chemotype. A product can be noble-chemotype but still weak if total kavalactone content is low, so this figure matters alongside, not instead of, chemotype.
Other Details Worth Checking
Beyond chemotype and kavalactone content, a thorough COA may also note the testing lab's name (useful for verifying it's a real, independent lab rather than an in-house claim), the batch or harvest date, and sometimes basic contaminant or microbial testing. Not every vendor provides all of this, but the more a report actually shows, the more confidence you can have in the claim behind it.
A Red Flag Worth Knowing
If a vendor only advertises an "extract weight" or vague strength claim without any accompanying lab documentation, treat that as a signal to ask more questions rather than take the claim at face value. A specific, verifiable number from an identified lab is a meaningfully stronger signal than a marketing description alone.
