We’re excited to have uncovered a new manufacturer of hemp products and were equally curious to see how it fares in comparison to one of our highest rated products, Populum Full Spectrum Hemp Oil (and which earned an awesome 9.89 rating). Clearly, the company Ananda Hemp has a challenge facing up to this reigning champion, but initial impressions pointed to a good opportunity for them to vie for the top position of hemp-derived products.
Before we proceed with our usual practice of allowing the company to introduce themselves and present their product to you before we run our own analysis and tests, let us update you on our improved scoring system so you understand how products are compared. As before, we still assess and rank four factors (potency, effects, taste, and packaging) but now use a weighted system which gives greater value to the results received from our third party testing lab, Level One Labs in Arizona.
Our reasoning for this adjustment is that potency is the only factor which delivers an unbiased, objective result: namely, lab data as gleaned from the product analysis. We recognize that the other three factors (effects, taste, and packaging) reflect subjective opinions and have consequently adjusted for the unavoidable “bias” factor inherent in scoring them.
Now on to our review of Ananda Hemp’s CBD Hemp Extract Tincture Oil – 600 MG (Full Spectrum)…
Ananda Hemp
The first stop we prefer making when putting together reviews is a visit to the manufacturer’s website. Let us assure you, it’s not always a pleasant journey; in fact, twice it was downright impossible, since neither the Good Things Coming Fruit Jellies and the Pro Naturals CBD Tincture products even offered a website! However, when we do find company websites, much too often we leave unimpressed, as if it were slapped together as an afterthought.
In contrast, our entire exploration of the Ananda Hemp website was enjoyable and informative, thanks to its easy navigation and their commitment to transparency. The website offers an online store, an information center, along with the standard contact link and a regularly updated blog. As a fun add-on, and clever marketing tool designed to collect email addresses (with a classy, no-pressure opt-out clearly displayed), the website offers an online “product quiz” (in actuality, a questionnaire) designed to gather enough personal information to provide you with a curated list of recommended products.
Most impressive for us, though, was their ever-present yet unobtrusive link to their COA (Certificate of Analysis) Lookup Tool found in the upper right corner of their website. Every product you purchase from them provides a Batch ID, which you can type into the lookup tool search box and get a full Certificate of Analysis from a third-party laboratory.
Headquartered in Kentucky, Ananda Hemp is one of the largest domestic hemp producers, cultivating over 500 acres of Kentucky farmland operated by 8th-generation Kentucky farmers. All of their products use only the CBD which is extracted from their flower of their plants (the stalks are not used in any of their products); no imported CBD extract is ever used, keeping their products pure and in full compliance of the 2018 Farm Bill.
Their parent company is Ecofibre Ltd., which owns the largest private cannabis seed bank consisting of 300+ cultivars collected from almost every continent on Earth. One of the oldest and largest hemp development companies in the world, Ecofibre operates on several continents, farming, processing, and marketing hemp-based products worldwide.
Needless to say, our first stop in this journey left us feeling positive and ready to learn more about their product.
CBD Hemp Extract Tincture Oil – 600 MG (Full Spectrum)
As firm believers in delivering the ultimate entourage effect, Ananda Hemp uses a full spectrum hemp extract instead a CBD isolate in their CBD Hemp Extract Full Spectrum Tincture Oil. We really appreciated the wealth of information they provided, not only with this product, but with all the other products we looked at while on their site.
Of course, we want to see the ingredients, which they display right at the top of the page, underneath their bullet list of benefits and values. For us, there is always a great satisfaction when reading a simple, clean list of ingredients, which was exactly what we saw for this product. In brief, the ingredients are:
- Ananda Hemp Premium Flower Extract
- Ananda Hemp Raw, Cold-Pressed Hemp Seed Oil
- Sustainably-Sourced, Coconut-Derived MCT Oil
- Botanical Terpene Blend
Clean, simple, and effective, just as we like it!
The bottom line is that this tincture comes in a 30 mL (one fluid ounce) bottle, contains 600 mg of active cannibinoids, and the dropper holds 30 servings (a 20mg dose per serving). As the recommended usage suggests one dropper per day, each bottle effectively provides a one-month supply of their hemp extract tincture oil.
Finally, and this is no small accomplishment in our books, they list customers reviews at the bottom of the page, boasting a 5-star average rating for close to 200 reviews. Comments such as “I’m a lifer” and “calming effect” and “helps me at night slow down racing thoughts” show a consistent and positive response from just about every customer.
After finishing our website and product review, all very positive, we were really excited about the product and more than ready to experience its effects firsthand.
The CBD Informative Testing and Rating
We started, as always, with the first step in our multi-stage testing and analysis: having our professional, third-party testing group, Level One Labs in Arizona, run their own independent and unbiased analysis. We also used the COA Lookup Tool on Ananda Hemp’s website to obtain their third-party results, allowing for a true apple-to-apple comparison of CBD contents.
Third Party Test Results
We are usually comparing our Level One results against the claimed CBD content as displayed on the package, as few companies offer an independent analysis. In fact, so far only one other company offered a third-party COA (see our Reliva CBD Wellness review) which allowed us to compare two independent reports.
Not surprisingly, our Level One Certificate of Analysis showed total CBD cannibinoids to be 619.86, just slightly higher than their own results, both of which are well within our 20% deviation allowance from the product claim (actually, both independent reports showed an extremely low deviation of less than 3.5%!). This result, confirmed by another third-party agency, earned Ananda Hemp a definite 10 out of 10 in our most important category, that of potency!
CBD Informative Assessment
With the third-party analysis reviewed and coming in with highest possible marks, we were more than ready to share with you our own perspective on the company and their product…
The Manufacturer – Ananda Hemp
Our interactions with Ananda Hemp have all been positive. In fact, the company sent us some additional products to test, with no pressure to change our scores or review other products. We will say in passing that everyone appreciated the extra goodies, but one product in particular, their Full Spectrum Roll On (150mg), earned rave reviews from all of our staff, especially one member who finally found real tennis elbow relief!
We also were one of the first to receive our product in their new packaging, which we immediately proclaim to be a major improvement over the previous look, which used pastel shades and appeared drab and faded. The color change added a distinctive pop to the package, along with a brighter and glossier presentation. While the overall look is good and the improvement is great, we are sticklers for the perfect packaging; in this instance, we gave a modest ding for presentation and logo, wishing for a bit jazzier feel and mood. All things considered, this is good, but not perfect packaging, giving it a 9.5 out of 10 score for the packaging factor.
The Product – CBD Hemp Extract Tincture Oil
Now we arrive at our admittedly favorite stage of the analysis: consuming and gauging the effects of the product. As you can tell from the tone and enthusiasm of this review so far, we were ready and raring to experience their CBD hemp extract tincture oil in action!
Of course, we are always interested in the effects, but taste is a major factor in our analysis. In this case, we were surprised and slightly disappointed, as our testers felt the taste leaned noticeably towards an oily flavor. That same oily taste would show up as an aftertaste, particularly after even a small belch. We are not certain, but are guessing that taste effect may be due to the fact they are use cold pressed hemp seed oil in their production process.
We believe they too are aware of the unusual flavoring, as their website offered the following suggestion on the product page: “Not a fan of the earthy taste of hemp? Mix the oil into a smoothie or take a sip of your favorite beverage right after.”
Based upon the fact that there was unanimous agreement about the taste lacking delicious flavoring, the product scored an average 8.5 out of 10.
The CBD Informative Overall Rating for Ananda Hemp CBD Hemp Extract Tincture Oil – 9.75
Our bottom line recommendation is positive for Ananda Hemp’s CBD Hemp Extract Tincture Oil, landing at the top of our scores with a 9.75 total. As we mentioned, thanks to their generosity, we were able to test other products, all of which left positive impressions and delivered good results to our team of testers. We look forward to adding more of their products to our review pages, as we believe we have uncovered a quality hemp oil manufacturer committed to developing and purveying hemp oil of the highest caliber.
We also like the fact that other living creatures, namely pets, are also important clients of Ananda Hemp. Such a holistic, whole-earth approach to improved lifestyles is always treasured, so we spread extra kudos to the good people at Ananda Hemp for such excellent intentions!
