To all those whining and complaining about Kratom Bird - please read this...
"KrAToM BiRd kRAtOm Is AlL ThE SaMe"
These are eight different 'strains' of Kratom from my last two Kratom Bird orders. If you can't read my writing, from top left:
White Thai
Green Malay
Yellow Borneo
Gold Maeng Da
Green Indo
Red Thai
White Elephant
Red Plantation Maeng Da
The photos were taken under identical lighting conditions, with the camera on an M4 iPad Pro. If you think they "look identical", then perhaps a trip to the optician's in order...? I'm losing my sight due to Graves' opthalmopathy - and if I can see that they all look different, then anyone can.
I think people fundamentally misunderstand what Kratom is and, when they hear the word 'strain', they think of Cannabis, and expect Kratom to be the same; there is only one Kratom tree - Mitragyna speciosa - there are no subspecies, the different strains come from the maturation of the leaves, with different alkaloids being present at different stages of growth.
⚪️ - comes from the youngest leaves
🟢 - come from a middle-aged tree
🔴 - comes from old(er) trees
Yellow and Gold are mixtures, as is Maeng Da.
Kratom can also be affected by where it's grown, due to differences in the soil and the amount of sunlight the trees receive.
Conversely, there are three species of Cannabis:
Cannabis sativa
Cannabis indica
Cannabis ruderalis (the most recently discovered; contains low amounts of THC compared to C. sativa and C. indica, but is often high in CBD)
(You'll note I've put the word 'strain' in quotes, because I think it's a bit of a misnomer, and it's - perhaps - what's leading people to believe that different 'strains' come from different trees)
Even though they're different species, C. sativa, C. indica and C. ruderalis can be readily hybridised, and there are many varieties of hybridised cannabis, either a combination of all three species, or Sativa or Indica dominant. Much of the medical cannabis available in the UK is hybridised.
Every variety of Cannabis will have a different look, smell, taste and contain different terpenes. Think of it like any other cultivated plant; my dad's dad used to love roses - there are hundreds of varieties of rose, each of a different colour and with a different scent (though there are some varieties which don't smell at all).
Different strains of Cannabis will look, smell and taste different, because they are different - they're different varieties. Every variety is unique.
Conversely, different 'strains' of Kratom will smell and taste the same - or similar - because they are the same - the colour difference comes from the maturation of the leaves (think of it like the different colours of leaves in autumn, the same tree will have leaves of different colours). The only variables in Kratom are leaf maturity and growing conditions. Kratom hasn't been cultivated in the same way Cannabis has.
So to all those trying to find Kratom that smells and tastes different, I say this - give it up; you're not going to find it because it simply doesn't exist. Kratom is Kratom is Kratom.