Saturday, February 27, 2010

More Kava Reviews Coming Soon

I've been down and out with the flu for about eight days now, but once I feel better I'll get some more Kava kava reviews up. It's very difficult to enjoy a good Kava session with a stuffy nose and headache, though it can undoubtedly give you temporary relief of a sore throat. Just to give you a tease for what's coming up, here are the next few Kavas in line for review:

Chief's Jungle Kava
Kona Kava
Tongan Kava (hopefully)

After I finish reviewing those, I want to start posting some more stuff on Kava history and culture. Thanks for reading!

-Le Kavasseur

3 comments:

  1. Douglas:

    Thanks for the insightful reviews of Kava you have been posting. I had tried Kava many many years ago (through Kava Kauai) at their recommended dosage (3 tablespoons per 3 cups; spin in blender 1 minute; knead) and enjoyed it to a point. Clearly I did not get the full experience…! I have read this comment recently at a few sites, that many have been introduced to the kava experience at way too low a strength. And therefore, they are prematurely underwhelmed. I think that turned out to be somewhat the case for me at that time. Me, I was always looking for the nakamal experience. (Seriously, if the average shell equals 250mg. kavalactones as I seem to be Googling up; and there are 16 tablespoons in one cup; and an authentic kava recipe is one cup kava per two cups water, then I had maybe 50mg kavalactones or 1/5 of a nakamal experience, or even 1/8, since it was 3 cups of water!) …Imagine going to a Nakamal and drinking only 1/8 cup…

    Shortly before I found your blog I found nakamalathome and ordered Black Sand and Chief’s Jungle (can’t wait; will def. try Black Sand first several times to accustom myself). Loved your reviews of the Tongan (seems most muscle-relaxing and differently fresh/interesting-tasting) and Wow (wow) and Stone (wow wow woe wow; felt it even as I read it; whoosh, relaxation) and you have motivated me to try them very soon. As well as Shaman, esp. in fortification with Black Sand. I’ll re-comment here as soon as I have tried my order! – soon.

    Meantime, hope you’re feeling better. Thanks for your anthropological perspective on kava, too. You have seen the Wan Blo 100 Ultimate Nakamal Review at the Vanuata Kava Store, right? I found this “newsletter” very interesting, because I’ve always wanted to try out kava directly at a nakamal for the full experience. They review various nakamals every “issue” and actually interview typical kava drinkers about where they go, what they’re looking for, and how much they drink. Talk about gleaning the authentic experience, anthropologically! I was disappointed, of course, to read about your experience with their (current) Pentecost Pride…but am wondering if the Tanna kava Kaolik kava strain would be better. Of course, Jeffrey and his kava at nakamalathome and service keeps one quite happily occupied, of course!

    Very best, Bula!, Anthony La Russo

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  2. Wow, cool reply there. Thanks for the support and positive feedback. I ordered from Vanuatu Kava Store and really didn't enjoy their product. I thought it sounded really good and dropped a whopping $79.95 on a kilo of Pentecost Pride. Their recipe called for almost 200 grams of Kava to a liter of water, which I thought was ridiculous. Even that didn't work for me. I burned through the entire kilo in a couple nights and just didn't get what I needed out of it. I would like to hear from them, but I try not to complain and just let my purchases speak for themselves. Again, thanks for the feedback.

    So far, I'd say that Nakamal at Home's Stone and Wow Kavas are the way to go. The Tongan is great for casual drinking and when you have friends around. I drank all of the half kilo Fiji Kava I ordered last week with a friend and it was nice and mellowing and very, very fresh.

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