Jaya Quality
At Jaya we only work with premium kratom directly from our partner farmers in Indonesia who we know and trust. Our expert knowledge of the kratom industry and personal passion for the plant coupled with rigorous lab testing and Oregon Department of Agriculture licensing ensures only the highest quality leaf enters your hands.
But this raises an interesting question, what influences the potency of kratom?
Historically, one of the most common complaints from kratom consumers has been inconsistent potency. Anyone who enjoys kratom regularly can tell you some batches are better than others.
During our field research in Indonesian Borneo one of the main questions we wanted to answer was why there is such an inconsistency in the quality of kratom that reaches the US.
The most broad answer to this question is seasonal variation. It has been shown that leaves harvested during the rainy season often have lower alkaloid values compared to those which are harvested during the dry season. This however is just the tip of the iceberg.
One common misconception with kratom is that leaves from old trees will be more potent than leaves from younger trees. This has clearly been demonstrated to be false through lab tests. A healthy young tree at least 18-months old is able to produce leaves with equal potency to a 30 year old giant in the jungle.
It’s not about the age of the tree but rather the age of leaf itself. The single greatest thing we found to be effecting the potency of kratom was how long leaves were left to mature before the next harvest.
During a harvest as much as 75% of the tree’s leaves will be stripped bare. In a matter of 2 months the leaves grow back. To the naked eye they may appear full-sized, healthy and ready to be harvested again, and this is exactly what many farmers assume. Furthermore, farmers are incentivized to harvest frequently because more harvests equals more profit.
The problem with this is that in order to develop a full alkaloid profile the leaves must be left to mature on the trees for a minimum of 4-6 months. So it is crucial to only harvest 2-3 times per year as opposed to more frequently.
One of the reasons people associate older trees with more potent kratomis that typically they are ones found in the wild and as such are harvested less frequently. Kratom has been growing wildly in Borneo foras long as anyone can remember but it’s commercial export just began in the early 2000’s. In fact, the majority of farms in Borneo have been established in the past 5 years as the popularity of the leaf has boomed.
It’s important to point out that the potency of a leaf does plateau, so there is no need to let them mature much past six months in ideal growing conditions.
The next most likely culprit for weak kratom comes down to an issue of supply and demand. Every farmer has a limited capacity that they can output over a given time, for example, 500kg every month. If they are approached by a large international buyer asking to fill a container shipment with several tons of kratom the inevitable is outsourcing the portion they cannot fill to other farmers/collectors in the region. So out of a 5 ton order, 500kg may be from the primary farmer and of excellent quality but the other 4.5 tons may be filled in with product from other suppliers- all with varying quality standards.
Like any agricultural product, the quality of the kratom is highly dependent upon the skills and practices of the farmer. At Jaya we are friends with our suppliers and have explored far and wide across Borneo in order to bring you a premium product.
For us, kratom is not a commodity crop to be imported by the container load from unknown origins. Rather, it is our passion and a plant which we have studied in its natural environment and care about deeply.
