Mellow Mellow - Bula Kava House's "Melo Melo"

I typically work about 80 hours a week. I am an agricultural development facilitator in the Ethiopian highlands, where I have access to very few distractions from my job or the seriousness of my mission. On a day to day basis I have to perform a job that addresses hunger and food security. If you want to learn more about my work, check out the website of the organization I work for. So yeah, it gets stressful. But we all know that it is very important to mellow out every now and then. So, on a particularly stressful afternoon this week I decided to reach for a kava that seemed to fit the occasion – Bula Kava House’s “Melo Melo.” The name alone implies an anxiolytic product (look it up!), and its powdery grind with some lateral chips mixed in looks quite appetizing.   

Now let me be perfectly honest when I say that this is one of the best kavas I have ever had. Is it strong? Yes. Does it give you an amazing body-buzzing blow? Absolutely. But it really – and I mean really – mellows you out. I kind of picture the effect of this kava on me as being like a stiff board that steadily crumbles into a pile of dust. Or perhaps a candle slowly melting until the fire burns out and the fame rests into the wax. It is a combination of that Tongan stoniness, that Solomon euphoria (I felt this with Fu’u as well), and some of the minor excitability of a good light Vanuatu variety. When I say excitability, I mean it in a perfectly social sense. I drank four shells of this and danced around my compound listening to some Sierra Leonean music and enjoying the scent of some good incense. My co-workers were wondering what could have possibly gotten into me. “Some Melo Melo,” was my response.

Melo Melo is a light kava with a wonderful flavor and immediate impact. I brewed two batches of it in one night so as not to let the feeling drift off. With most kavas, I limit myself to two big pots. But with Melo Melo, I really wanted to keep the feeling alive. And that’s not because it is short-lived or wears off at an annoying rate (and there are definitely some kavas that do that), but because it just gets nicer and nicer as you let shell after shell fly down the hatch. I can say that I actually got legitimately krunked for the first time in quite some time on Melo Melo, but was still focused and sharp enough to be able to retire with a good book. I woke up the next day with a spring in my step and the clear intention of brewing up another batch that day.

This kava gives you a great body high, a focused head buzz, and an absolutely stunning sense of stress relief. I know this because I drank it on a particularly stressful day (ever had to put together a three-year budget for a poverty alleviation program? Believe me, it’s not a mellow affair). After my second shell (I actually drank it from a glass, because poor Kavasseur doesn’t have a shell out here in East Africa) I was completely relaxed, conversational, and had my mind completely off things.

In sum, this is a great buy. I’d love to keep a couple kilos on hand at all times…

Flavor - 9.5/10
Effects (Mind) - 9.5/10
Effects (Body) - 9.5/10
Strength - Strong, Medium-lasting

Melo Melo 9.5/10