Every cannabis product sold in a Washington dispensary has been tested by a state-licensed lab. The result is a Certificate of Analysis, or COA, listing what's in the product and what isn't. We can pull a COA on most products if you ask. Here's what's on one and what each number is telling you.
The five sections of a COA
A typical Washington cannabis COA has five panels of data plus a header. We'll take them one at a time.
Header: who, what, when
The top of the COA names the producer (the licensed company that grew or made it), the product (strain or formulation), the batch number, the harvest or production date, and the testing lab. The batch number is the trace-back ID. If a producer ever recalls a batch, that's the number that matches.
If you want to check whether a product on our shelf has a current COA, the batch number is what we'd look up.
Cannabinoid panel: the headline numbers
This is the panel everyone reads first. It lists the cannabinoids the lab tested for and the percentage by weight. The two common columns:
- Total THC: combined THC and THCA after decarboxylation. This is the potency number on the label.
- Total CBD: combined CBD and CBDA. CBD doesn't intoxicate, so CBD-heavy products behave very differently than THC-heavy ones.
Newer COAs increasingly list minor cannabinoids:
- CBG: often described as a focus-leaning, non-intoxicating cannabinoid. Usually present in low percentages.
- CBN: typically shows up in older flower and in sleep-marketed products. We say what's on the label, not what it does.
- CBC: even less common, non-intoxicating.
Some COAs split THC into THCA (the raw acid form in fresh flower) and Delta-9 THC (the activated form after heat). When you smoke flower, the THCA converts to Delta-9. Most labels show Total THC as the headline.
Terpene panel: the smell, the flavor, often the feel
Terpenes are aromatic compounds. Cannabis has them, and so do citrus, pine, lavender, and basil. Every plant does. Most modern COAs test for 15 to 25 of them. The big ones:
- Myrcene: earthy, musky. The dominant terpene in a lot of indica-leaning strains.
- Limonene: bright citrus. Often associated with uplift.
- Pinene: pine-forward. Often associated with a clear head.
- Linalool: floral, lavender-like. Often associated with calm.
- Caryophyllene: peppery. Unusual among terpenes because it binds CB2 receptors directly.
- Terpinolene: fruity-floral. Common in head-leaning sativas.
Total terpene percentage matters for the experience as much as THC does. A 20% THC flower with 3% terpenes will usually beat a 28% THC flower with 0.5% terpenes for most people. Terpene content is what gives flower its smell and shapes how the high feels.
Pesticide panel: pass/fail by analyte
Washington requires every batch to test below threshold for a list of pesticides. The COA lists each one and either a number (in parts per billion), "ND" (not detected), or pass/fail. Anything that fails is destroyed at the producer level. It never reaches a shelf.
Commonly tested pesticides include myclobutanil, abamectin, bifenazate, imidacloprid, and around 40 others. Most COAs show a clean pass line with every analyte at ND. That's what a clean test looks like.
Microbiological panel: pass/fail for living contaminants
This panel tests for total yeast and mold, total aerobic bacteria, salmonella, E. coli, and aspergillus. Same pass/fail mechanic. Anything that fails doesn't ship.
Aspergillus is the one most worth knowing about. It's a mold whose spores can cause respiratory infection in people with weakened immune systems. Washington tests for it and rejects on detection. That's a meaningful safety floor.
Heavy metals and residual solvents: pass/fail again
Heavy metals (lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury) can build up in cannabis from the soil. Tested every batch.
For concentrates and vape cartridges, there's an extra residual solvents panel, checking for leftover butane, propane, ethanol, hexane, and other solvents used in extraction. Pass/fail again.
What "premium" looks like on a COA
When we call a product premium, here's what we're usually pointing at on the COA:
- Total terpenes at or above 2%: high terpene content tracks with full flavor and a complete high.
- Total cannabinoids at or above 22%: strong without being forced. Mid-20s on flower is the sweet spot.
- Every pesticide, microbio, and heavy-metal panel at ND across the board: clean baseline.
- Single-strain extraction: for concentrates, the COA shows it was made from one strain, not blended trim.
Miss any of those and we'd call it "fine, gets the job done" rather than premium. We don't sell anything that fails the state-required panels. Every product on our shelves passes those by definition. The premium call is the tier above that floor.
How to ask us for a COA
Producer COAs sit on a shared portal. If you want to see one for a product you're weighing, ask the budtender. We can usually pull it up in under a minute. Handy when you want the dominant terpene, the exact CBD level, or the batch date.
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This is general cannabis education for adults 21 and over. WAC 314-55-102 lays out Washington's required testing standards; the full list of analytes and thresholds is on the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board's website.
