Reviewed by the Jungle Standard team. Educational information only — not medical advice.
Ask ten people what kratom is and you may get ten answers: a green powder, a capsule, a small bottle at the register, a fruit-flavored seltzer. All of them are correct, because they all trace back to the same thing — the leaf of one tropical tree. What has changed in recent years is the number of shapes that leaf now takes by the time it reaches a shelf. This page starts at the tree and walks forward, so the whole range makes sense, including the extracts, shots and ready-to-drink products that make up much of our catalog.
The Short Answer
Kratom is the leaf of Mitragyna speciosa, an evergreen tree that grows in the warm, wet lowlands of Southeast Asia. Botanists place it in Rubiaceae, the same plant family as coffee. Leaves are picked, dried and ground, and that ground leaf is the starting material for everything sold under the kratom name — whether it stays as plain leaf or is processed further into a concentrated liquid.
That is the entire definition. The rest of this guide is about what happens between the branch and the bottle, and how to tell the resulting products apart.
Meet the Plant
The tree is native to countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, where it has been part of rural life for generations. It favors humid conditions and fertile ground, and it produces large, glossy leaves with a visible central vein. That vein matters later: its color is the basis for the red, green and white names you will see on leaf products, which our vein colors explainer covers in detail.
Like tea leaves or coffee cherries, kratom leaf contains naturally occurring compounds called alkaloids. The best known is mitragynine, which shows up on product labels and lab paperwork, often shortened to “MIT.” You do not need a chemistry background to shop; you only need to know that MIT is a measurable ingredient, and that labs report how much of it a product contains. We treat it purely as a label fact, not as a promise of any outcome.
Two Families of Product: Leaf and Extract
Everything on a kratom shelf falls into one of two families, and knowing which family you are holding clears up most confusion.
Leaf products. These are simply the dried, milled leaf, sold loose or packed into capsules. Nothing has been concentrated or removed. Labels for leaf products describe weight: ounces or grams of powder, or a count of capsules with a stated fill per capsule. Our powders and capsules sit here, including Kraken’s OG Bali, White Borneo and Red Maeng Da, sold in pouches from 1 oz up to 1 kg and in bottles of 60, 120 or 300 capsules.
Extract products. An extract starts with leaf, but the manufacturer pulls the alkaloids out into a concentrated form and then builds a finished product around it. Because the leaf itself is no longer the point, these labels usually state milligrams of MIT rather than grams of leaf. This family is where most of our range lives:
- Liquid extracts and shots — small bottles such as Club 13’s full-spectrum extracts (13 ml, labeled from 100 to 300 mg MIT) or Kraken’s 15 ml liquid lines like Zenith Nano 250. Browse them all in our extracts collection.
- Ready-to-drink cans — Club 13 seltzers and sodas in 12 oz cans, each labeled with its MIT content per can, gathered in our kratom drinks section.
- Chewables, gummies and softgels — Kraken’s Zenith and Platinum chewable tablets, Kraken gummies, Club 13 Big MG MIT tablets, and Kraken Ultra Enhanced Indo softgels.
- Extract capsules — such as Kraken Gold Reserve, which look like ordinary capsules but carry an extract rather than plain leaf.
That last example is the one that trips people up. A capsule is a container, not a category. Always check whether the label talks about leaf weight or about milligrams of MIT.
Why Liquid Kratom Exists at All
Plain leaf is bulky. Preparing it takes a bit of time, and its earthy taste is not to everyone’s liking. Extracts and drinks are the industry’s answer to those practical complaints: a small bottle or a can is portable, already flavored, and labeled with a specific alkaloid figure instead of a weight of leaf. That convenience is the whole appeal, and it is a packaging story, not a health story.
There is a trade-off worth knowing. Because extracts are concentrated, the numbers on them are not comparable to leaf weights. Two hundred milligrams of MIT in a shot and two hundred milligrams of leaf powder are completely different quantities of material. Our guide to reading kratom labels walks through those units with real examples.
Decoding a Product Name
Kratom product names stack several pieces of information together. Take two items from our shelves:
- Kraken Red Maeng Da Kratom Powder 4 oz — brand (Kraken), vein color (red), strain name (Maeng Da), format (powder), size (4 oz).
- Club 13 Full Spectrum Extract 13 ml 150 mg MIT — brand (Club 13), product type (full-spectrum liquid extract), bottle volume (13 ml), labeled alkaloid content (150 mg MIT).
Notice what the extract name leaves out: vein color and strain. Many extracts are identified by product line and MIT figure instead. Once you can split a name into its parts, any label on the shelf becomes readable.
Who Makes What We Sell
Jungle Standard is a curator, not a manufacturer. We carry products from brands such as Kraken and Club 13, and before a product is listed we look for a manufacturer lab report, clear labeling and a lot code you can match to that report. Our quality page lays out the checks, and our guide on reading a kratom COA shows how to inspect the paperwork yourself.
Legal Status and Age Limits
Kratom is legal in most of the United States, but not all of it. Several states prohibit it outright, and a number of counties and cities have local bans. Some states regulate it under consumer-protection laws that set age and labeling rules. We sell only to adults 21 and older and do not ship into restricted areas; the current list is on our where we ship page. Laws change, so check your own location before ordering.
Three Questions to Ask Before You Buy
- Leaf or extract?Look for grams of leaf versus milligrams of MIT.
- Who made it?A named brand with a published lab report beats any slogan.
- Does the lot match?The code on the package should line up with the report you are reading.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is kratom a plant or a chemical?
It is a plant. Kratom is the leaf of the Mitragyna speciosa tree. Some products are plain ground leaf; others are extracts made from that leaf.
Is liquid kratom the same as kratom powder?
No. Powder is whole dried leaf, labeled by weight. Liquid kratom is an extract, labeled by milligrams of MIT. Both come from the same plant, but the numbers on them measure different things.
What does “MIT” mean on a kratom label?
MIT is shorthand for mitragynine, the best-known alkaloid in the leaf. Extract labels state how many milligrams of it a bottle, can or package contains, as tested by the manufacturer’s lab.
Is kratom related to coffee?
Botanically, yes. Both belong to the Rubiaceae family, though they are different genera and very different plants in practice.
Why do you only sell to adults 21 and over?
Several states set 21 as the minimum age for kratom purchases, and we apply that standard to every order, along with the shipping restrictions listed on our where we ship page.
Jungle Standard products are for adults 21 and over, in states where kratom is legal. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Our products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.