What is great about the Niugini variety is that it is not as overpowering as Chief's Jungle Kava, a Kava that you can really only consider drinking on a Friday or Saturday night. Niugini Kava gives you a chance to enjoy a Papau New Guinean Kava on any weeknight. It maintains the powerful taste of a Kava like Chief's Jungle, but in a much more mild manifestation with much more subdued effects. I can drink three or four shells and just kind of coast through the night with a relaxed body and mind. Niugini Kava also has a slightly different flavor than Chief's Jungle Kava, with milky Tongan-like undertones that create a nice foundation for that "grassy" (to quote Kaiden, a regular contributor this blog) taste that all the Papu New Guinean varieties I have tried have contained, sometimes in overwhelming quantities.
You will notice that my rating for the flavor on this Niuguni Kava totally overshadows that of Chief's Jungle Kava. That is because this Kava is absolutely delicious and contains high and low notes, where Chief's Jungle is just a high grassy flavor with no solid, milky base to fall back on. I absolutely love the balance of the flavors in this Kava. Unlike what the Nakamal At Home website claims, this Kava is actually noticeably non-spicy, and it has several layers of flavor that are sweet, creamy, and nutty. It tapers off with probably the best aftertaste (with noticeable exceptions in Tongan and Fijian varieties) that I have encountered in a Kava, but it has a more unique nutty flavor where others have either a milky or a sour taste. With some hesitation, I would argue that this is tied with Stone Kava as being the tastiest brew available. Also, this Kava must be tried for its sheer uniqueness in flavor. It would be difficult to find a Kava that tastes like Niugini Kava, and even more difficult to find one that tastes better.
In terms of effect, this Kava is much more mild than I expected it to be. I thought it was going to have a Chief's Jungle kind of effect, but it is much more subdued and, indeed, much more pleasant. In addition to Fiji Kava and Tongan Kava, this will probably be my next go-to Kava for a stressful weekday. It has a "mind and body" kind of buzz, with no real dominance in either area. It has a great effect on the muscles that makes me believe it would be good for people who are sore or experiencing arthritis. After a long day of working on a big project outdoors that involved shoveling, lifting, and pretty hard labor, this Kava took away every last ounce of pain in my body. Of course, it also has that profoundly nice de-stressing effect that we all look for in Kava. Great stuff for everyday consumption.
Taste - 8.5/10
Effect - 7.5/10
Nakamal At Home's Niugini Kava - 8 shells out of 10
-Le Kavasseur
Just like Chief's Jungle, the buzz carries through quite nicely into the next morning.... love those Papau New Guinean varieties.
ReplyDeleteI will have to give this a try. I just finished my first bag of Kava that was from Kona Kava. I think I'm ready to take it up a notch.
ReplyDeleteI'm new to Kava so you'll have to pardon my ignorance. Are you just working the kava with your fingers in the bowl and not straining it?
I have been putting it in a blender with water and putting it through a cheesecloth but does have less effect?
You want to squeeze out the kavalactones - press as hard as you can.
ReplyDeletei think you should have a third rating category called strength, which would refer to the strength of the effect, whereas effect would just be how pleasing the effect is.
ReplyDeleteGood idea, it also gives me a reason to go back and re-review them :-)
ReplyDeleteWhen I reviewed Chief's Jungle Kava, I also rated it on "aftereffect." I wasn't too impressed with it until I woke up, ate some breakfast, took a shower, and realized I was somehow krunk again.
ReplyDeleteNice job - glad someone is finally blogging about this. What do you think of effect being split between mind/body since some kava does more to one or the other?
ReplyDeleteSounds like those boca boys have the best source of kava around!
Cheers!
I think it would be interesting to take a poll and see where people think different Kavas fall into the mind/body divide.
ReplyDeleteLove this variety of kava,
ReplyDeleteMix half cup of niugini and half cup of soloman and your in for a euphoric ride!
i second the idea of rating them on strength! :)
ReplyDelete