At the beginning of this month, Kava resurfaced in the news as part of a concerted campaign spearheaded by Consumer Reports. It was listed as part of the "dirty dozen" supplements that can be purchased online and in health food stores - aconite, bitter orange, chaparral, colloidal silver, coltsfoot, country mallow, germanium, greater celandine, kava, lobelia, yohimbe. According to Consumer Reports, these "dirty dozen" supplements have been proven beyond a doubt to be detrimental to your health. Kava kava (Piper methysticum) was included in that list, based on research that led to the banning of Kava in Europe in 2002 (see Escher et al 2001; Kraft et al 2001). The story quickly spread throughout American news networks, newspapers, and internet sites. Once again, our beloved beverage is in the cross hairs of regulators. Unfortunately, the same data that was used to ban Kava in Europe eight years ago was cited by Consumer Reports to support increased regulation of dietary supplements - including Kava.
The European Union's ban on Kava was lifted in 2008. In 2006, Germany led the way by lifting the Kava ban in its own country. Why? Because Kava is safe. Early reports of the relationship between Kava consumption and liver problems were based on samples that involved parts of the Kava plant not recommended for consumption by, well, anyone. The only part of Kava that is traditionally consumed in its home islands are the roots. Many tinctures and supplements sold in Europe prior to the Kava ban were amalgamations of leaves, stems, and roots. The leaves and stems (and pretty much any above-surface part of the plant) contain chemicals that may be toxic and lead to liver damage. The studies that led to the banning of Kava were biased towards doses of Kava that were incorrectly prepared and would never be imaginable in Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga, Hawaii, Papau New Guinea, or any other island in the south Pacific.
Kava liver damage is a myth. Even those cases of liver damage cited on the CDC's website are purely circumstantial - there is no way to know that Kava was the variable for liver disease in the cases mentioned. Furthermore, these studies were sponsored by pharmaceutical companies that have a vested interest in giving Kava a bad name. After all, how could they possibly compete with a natural, safer alternative to their anti-anxiety medications? They can't. Now, with the help of Consumer Reports, pharmaceutical companies, and possibly even big alcohol, the war on Kava is resurfacing. What is so amazing about this second attack is that it is based on the same biased, completely bogus data that was used ten years ago.
A great resource for reading more about this issue is Erowid Kava Vault, which supplies links to many of the original statements and arguments made against Kava, and finally evidence that supports the position that Kava is safe.
(http://www.erowid.org/plants/kava/kava_health_liver.shtml)
For more on this issue, visit Kona Kava's "Kava Safety" link on their website. They have done a very good job defending Kava.
(http://www.konakavafarm.com/blog/?page_id=184)
REFERENCES
Escher M, Desmeules J, Giostra E, et al. Hepatitis associated with kava, a herbal remedy for anxiety. BMJ 2001;322:139.
Kraft M, Spahn TW, Menzel J, et al. Fulminant liver failure after administration of the herbal antidepressant kava-kava. Dtsch Med Wochenschr 2001;126:970--2.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Nakamal at Home's Chief's Jungle Kava - Review by Kaiden Fox
Kavasseurs,
It's going to be a busy month here at Kavasseur. I'll be reviewing several varieties of Kava from Vanuatu Kava Store and Pacific Kava. I'll also be doing another review of Chief's Jungle Kava (the new batch). But before I do, here is Kaiden Fox's own review of Chief's Jungle Kava. I also put a link to a really great book I just finished reading at the end of this post - Kava: The Pacific Elixir by Lebot et al.
Krunk on, Douglas
Nakamal at Home's Chief's Jungle Kava - Review by Kaiden Fox
For Saint Patrick’s Day, I wanted to do something a little more Irish with my kava. Looking at my South Pacific map, I noticed the Madang Province, where Chief’s Jungle PNG kava originates from, is pretty much a straight shot from the island of New Ireland.
First, the taste… not bad. I noticed, when mixing up the bowl, it was very ginger smelling, with an undersmell of something I would say was anise or licorice. It actually smelled, and tasted, quite good. I drank it at room temperature. No stomach upset.
Being a perseverant researcher, I had noted the chemotype of this kava was quite different than the Borogo kava blends I normally drink. It was low in kavain by high in desmethoxyyangonin. Over the centuries, kava has been cultivated to be higher in kavain and lower in desmethoxyyangonin. Madang Short is a less cultivated variety, and in fact was originally classified not as piper methysticum but as piper wichmannii before Vince Labot demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that there were not enough morphological, chemical, cytological and genetic distinctions between the two “species.” Still, “Waeld Koniak” is a waeld variety of kava.
At first I thought, “tasty, it’s kava, but it’s nothing to write home about out.” I had experienced “powerful” effects mixing Shaman into White Sand kava, where the eyes see but do not care, and where the ears are content to “harem singsing blong kava.” I should note that I was sitting through most of this. When I did recline my body in bed, I suddenly felt much better. Posture plays a big role in helping this kava kick. I’d recommend a hammock chair, ideally. I didn’t really experience the music euphoria I normally do with kava. Eventually I did put on an audiobook, and that was better. This kava also had less of an appetite suppressant effect, but that could be just me becoming used to it.
The next morning I discovered it was, indeed, weekend-grade kava. I woke up very pleasant and peaceful. No grogginess, maybe a little clumsiness, but a definite feeling of well-being. I was keenly aware of the samsaric suffering of all sentient beings. At the same time, I felt ready to go. My fiancée called me near the point of tears. She had just wasted over 20 minutes on hold to find out the item that she ordered a fortnight ago, which the company she ordered from still shows as being in stock, is now out of stock. Being a high-quality but discontinued item, she doubted the two left at Amazon.com were still there. Normally, panic is contagious, but I was in my own bubble of happiness and was able to calmly hop on, find the item by visual description, confirm it was correct, and place an order.
After breakfast and a shower, the kava is starting to kick in again. I can feel a pleasant tingle and Led Zeppelin is bringing a mild music euphoria. It feels like I’ve just drunk a single shell of a good-but-not-krunking kava, like Fire Island.
As an experiment, I would like to see how long I would stay in bed if no one called and if I had no pressing concerns.
My overall bottom-line review here is that this is not the kava to be totally krunked-out on – that kava is Black Sand or White Sand made into super-kava with Shaman. While Nakamal@home markets Jungle Chief’s as nasty-tasting super-kava, it’s really a pleasant-tasting kava that has a comparatively mild but disproportionately long-lasting effect.
Taste: 8/10 shells
Effect: 7.5/10 shells
Aftereffect: 10/10 shells
Overall: 8.5 shells of ginger-licorice sleepytime goodness
Search Amazon.com for kava
It's going to be a busy month here at Kavasseur. I'll be reviewing several varieties of Kava from Vanuatu Kava Store and Pacific Kava. I'll also be doing another review of Chief's Jungle Kava (the new batch). But before I do, here is Kaiden Fox's own review of Chief's Jungle Kava. I also put a link to a really great book I just finished reading at the end of this post - Kava: The Pacific Elixir by Lebot et al.
Krunk on, Douglas
Nakamal at Home's Chief's Jungle Kava - Review by Kaiden Fox
For Saint Patrick’s Day, I wanted to do something a little more Irish with my kava. Looking at my South Pacific map, I noticed the Madang Province, where Chief’s Jungle PNG kava originates from, is pretty much a straight shot from the island of New Ireland.
First, the taste… not bad. I noticed, when mixing up the bowl, it was very ginger smelling, with an undersmell of something I would say was anise or licorice. It actually smelled, and tasted, quite good. I drank it at room temperature. No stomach upset.
Being a perseverant researcher, I had noted the chemotype of this kava was quite different than the Borogo kava blends I normally drink. It was low in kavain by high in desmethoxyyangonin. Over the centuries, kava has been cultivated to be higher in kavain and lower in desmethoxyyangonin. Madang Short is a less cultivated variety, and in fact was originally classified not as piper methysticum but as piper wichmannii before Vince Labot demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that there were not enough morphological, chemical, cytological and genetic distinctions between the two “species.” Still, “Waeld Koniak” is a waeld variety of kava.
At first I thought, “tasty, it’s kava, but it’s nothing to write home about out.” I had experienced “powerful” effects mixing Shaman into White Sand kava, where the eyes see but do not care, and where the ears are content to “harem singsing blong kava.” I should note that I was sitting through most of this. When I did recline my body in bed, I suddenly felt much better. Posture plays a big role in helping this kava kick. I’d recommend a hammock chair, ideally. I didn’t really experience the music euphoria I normally do with kava. Eventually I did put on an audiobook, and that was better. This kava also had less of an appetite suppressant effect, but that could be just me becoming used to it.
The next morning I discovered it was, indeed, weekend-grade kava. I woke up very pleasant and peaceful. No grogginess, maybe a little clumsiness, but a definite feeling of well-being. I was keenly aware of the samsaric suffering of all sentient beings. At the same time, I felt ready to go. My fiancée called me near the point of tears. She had just wasted over 20 minutes on hold to find out the item that she ordered a fortnight ago, which the company she ordered from still shows as being in stock, is now out of stock. Being a high-quality but discontinued item, she doubted the two left at Amazon.com were still there. Normally, panic is contagious, but I was in my own bubble of happiness and was able to calmly hop on, find the item by visual description, confirm it was correct, and place an order.
After breakfast and a shower, the kava is starting to kick in again. I can feel a pleasant tingle and Led Zeppelin is bringing a mild music euphoria. It feels like I’ve just drunk a single shell of a good-but-not-krunking kava, like Fire Island.
As an experiment, I would like to see how long I would stay in bed if no one called and if I had no pressing concerns.
My overall bottom-line review here is that this is not the kava to be totally krunked-out on – that kava is Black Sand or White Sand made into super-kava with Shaman. While Nakamal@home markets Jungle Chief’s as nasty-tasting super-kava, it’s really a pleasant-tasting kava that has a comparatively mild but disproportionately long-lasting effect.
Taste: 8/10 shells
Effect: 7.5/10 shells
Aftereffect: 10/10 shells
Overall: 8.5 shells of ginger-licorice sleepytime goodness
Search Amazon.com for kava
Thursday, August 19, 2010
In a League of Its Own - Nakamal At Home's Solomon Kava
*A NOTE ON PREPARATION: I brewed Solomon Kava using 1 cup of Kava to 2 1/2 cups of water and kneaded it twice before adding ice. I prefer not to use a blender in Kava preparation. I also did not add lecithin this time around. Still, the Kava was quite thick and oily by the time I poured it into a serving bowl. The dried, squeezed, Kava roots produced another 4 cups of relatively strong Kava. In other words, 1 cup of Solomon Kava should produce an impressive amount of Kava. If you buy a 1/2 kg or a 1/4 kg you will be getting enough Kava to last you a long time, depending on how much Kava you drink.
The Solomon Islands are comprised of a chain of islands that essentially spill out from the eastern part of Papau New Guinea. During the colonial era, the British called the Solomon Islands "the Happy Isles"because of the graceful countenance of the archipelago's inhabitants (excepting the headhunters, of course) and today one can visit the Solomons and continue to find some of the world's most gentle and friendly people. Kava is not widely consumed in the Solomon Islands and, indeed, when I visited the Solomons to do anthropological research in the summer of 2009, I didn't encounter one single Kava bar. It would be very interesting to know where exactly in the Solomons this Kava comes from.
That being said, I have never seen a more beautiful looking Kava than this Solomon Island's Kava, nor have I ever felt a Kava like this Solomon Islands Kava. As I will describe below, this Kava has a very strong mental impact and a totally different physiological impact. I titled this entry "In a League of Its Own" for a good reason: Solomon Kava feels and tastes like a completely different plant than Piper methysticum. I would invite Kaiden Fox and Anthony LaRusso (regular contributors to this blog) to comment on what the breakdown feels like for this Kava, since they have also drank most of Nakamal at Home's Kavas and commented on their variable chemotypes and their respective effects. I for one am still trying to get into Kava jargon, but as a social scientist most of the complicated terminology flies right over my head.
Before I talk too much about the flavor, I want to say something about how this Kava looks. To me, it looks a lot like hot chocolate that someone has decided to add a lot of creamer to. It has the most calming, appetizing look of just about any Kava I have ever seen. Too bad I never created a category for the aesthetics of Kava. And no, I won't start today. So, let's take a break and take a look at a shell of Solomon Kava.
I, for one, did not find much of the peppery flavor that is described on the Nakamal at Home website and in Kaiden's review from last month. I found the Kava to have more of a general bitterness slowed down by a milkier undertone. Brewed the way I describe above, this Kava definitely didn't give me "Kava anxiety" the way that some stronger-flavored ones like Chief's Jungle do. It tastes like Tongan with perhaps a chunk of ginger and, yes, pepper added to it. But really, the peppery flavor doesn't dominate the way it does in Vanuatu varieties. To me, it is surprisingly mild compared to the euphoric chaos that ensues.
Alas, I can understand why Kaiden commented that this Kava could bring upon an unexpected emotional outcome. It is very cerebral. It has the highest "mind" effect of any Kava I have ever consumed. Most Kavas I have consumed seem to permeate my body but leave my mind relatively untouched. Well, not this Kava. In fact, it is quite close to a medium-strength cannabis buzz, or perhaps even a mild psychoactive hallucinogen. Not entirely relaxing, but more of a "lift" that is combined with a sort of introspective gaze. You could drink this Kava and go watch a jazz quartet play until dawn. It has a stimulating intellectual effect that makes you want to talk a lot, but also makes you want to be conscious of your speech. In some ways, I feel like it is the ideal Kava for me - I like to be inspired and stimulated, but also to have something prepared to hold me back. If I was forced to compare it to any other Kava that Nakamal at Home sells, I would place it somewhere between Niugini and Chief's Jungle, only with a more satisfying flavor than either of those could ever boast. On top of that, it has a longer lasting buzz that throws any notion of sleep in the near future out the door. If you are looking for a Kava that deals with insomnia and restlessness, this won't be the Kava for you.
Another feature of this Kava I want to comment on is its relationship to food. Kaiden claimed that when he drank Solomon Kava he finally discovered the true complexity of the bouquet that is a common banana. Yes, indeed. Drink a few shells of this and take a spoonful of Ben and Jerry's... dear God that tastes complicated, and about ten times better than it normally would. Another quite unusual effect of this Kava is a mild form of dry-mouth. You will feel hungry, parched, and high.
Physiologically, this stuff is a dream. You will melt into your furniture. Every muscle in your body will turn into jelly and you will lose whatever soreness has been bothering you. I can see this stuff being peddled as sports medicine, or for people who are suffering from arthritis or joint pains. It is really quite therapeutic, and one thing I noticed after taking three shells of this was that the numbness on my lips, in my throat, and around my jaw didn't slip away. After three hours, it is still there. Extremities will become numbed - fingers, toes, and ears all tingling in bliss. Really, really satisfying.
I would picture the ideal evening to drink Solomon Kava as such: you have been working hard all day and you are very sore, but you want to go out with some friends anyhow. You are a bit tired and need a bit of a pick-me-up, but nothing that will make you irritable or anxious. You don't feel like sleeping anytime soon, but want to take the edge off. Drink three shells of Solomon Kava and you will be set.
For Solomon Kava I want to start a new trend - Taste, Psychoactive (Mind) Effect, and Physiological (Body) Effect.
Taste 8/10
Mind Effect 10/10
Body Effect 9.5/10
Strength - Very strong
Nakamal at Home's Solomon Kava - 9.2/10
The Solomon Islands are comprised of a chain of islands that essentially spill out from the eastern part of Papau New Guinea. During the colonial era, the British called the Solomon Islands "the Happy Isles"because of the graceful countenance of the archipelago's inhabitants (excepting the headhunters, of course) and today one can visit the Solomons and continue to find some of the world's most gentle and friendly people. Kava is not widely consumed in the Solomon Islands and, indeed, when I visited the Solomons to do anthropological research in the summer of 2009, I didn't encounter one single Kava bar. It would be very interesting to know where exactly in the Solomons this Kava comes from.
That being said, I have never seen a more beautiful looking Kava than this Solomon Island's Kava, nor have I ever felt a Kava like this Solomon Islands Kava. As I will describe below, this Kava has a very strong mental impact and a totally different physiological impact. I titled this entry "In a League of Its Own" for a good reason: Solomon Kava feels and tastes like a completely different plant than Piper methysticum. I would invite Kaiden Fox and Anthony LaRusso (regular contributors to this blog) to comment on what the breakdown feels like for this Kava, since they have also drank most of Nakamal at Home's Kavas and commented on their variable chemotypes and their respective effects. I for one am still trying to get into Kava jargon, but as a social scientist most of the complicated terminology flies right over my head.
Before I talk too much about the flavor, I want to say something about how this Kava looks. To me, it looks a lot like hot chocolate that someone has decided to add a lot of creamer to. It has the most calming, appetizing look of just about any Kava I have ever seen. Too bad I never created a category for the aesthetics of Kava. And no, I won't start today. So, let's take a break and take a look at a shell of Solomon Kava.
I, for one, did not find much of the peppery flavor that is described on the Nakamal at Home website and in Kaiden's review from last month. I found the Kava to have more of a general bitterness slowed down by a milkier undertone. Brewed the way I describe above, this Kava definitely didn't give me "Kava anxiety" the way that some stronger-flavored ones like Chief's Jungle do. It tastes like Tongan with perhaps a chunk of ginger and, yes, pepper added to it. But really, the peppery flavor doesn't dominate the way it does in Vanuatu varieties. To me, it is surprisingly mild compared to the euphoric chaos that ensues.
Alas, I can understand why Kaiden commented that this Kava could bring upon an unexpected emotional outcome. It is very cerebral. It has the highest "mind" effect of any Kava I have ever consumed. Most Kavas I have consumed seem to permeate my body but leave my mind relatively untouched. Well, not this Kava. In fact, it is quite close to a medium-strength cannabis buzz, or perhaps even a mild psychoactive hallucinogen. Not entirely relaxing, but more of a "lift" that is combined with a sort of introspective gaze. You could drink this Kava and go watch a jazz quartet play until dawn. It has a stimulating intellectual effect that makes you want to talk a lot, but also makes you want to be conscious of your speech. In some ways, I feel like it is the ideal Kava for me - I like to be inspired and stimulated, but also to have something prepared to hold me back. If I was forced to compare it to any other Kava that Nakamal at Home sells, I would place it somewhere between Niugini and Chief's Jungle, only with a more satisfying flavor than either of those could ever boast. On top of that, it has a longer lasting buzz that throws any notion of sleep in the near future out the door. If you are looking for a Kava that deals with insomnia and restlessness, this won't be the Kava for you.
Another feature of this Kava I want to comment on is its relationship to food. Kaiden claimed that when he drank Solomon Kava he finally discovered the true complexity of the bouquet that is a common banana. Yes, indeed. Drink a few shells of this and take a spoonful of Ben and Jerry's... dear God that tastes complicated, and about ten times better than it normally would. Another quite unusual effect of this Kava is a mild form of dry-mouth. You will feel hungry, parched, and high.
Physiologically, this stuff is a dream. You will melt into your furniture. Every muscle in your body will turn into jelly and you will lose whatever soreness has been bothering you. I can see this stuff being peddled as sports medicine, or for people who are suffering from arthritis or joint pains. It is really quite therapeutic, and one thing I noticed after taking three shells of this was that the numbness on my lips, in my throat, and around my jaw didn't slip away. After three hours, it is still there. Extremities will become numbed - fingers, toes, and ears all tingling in bliss. Really, really satisfying.
I would picture the ideal evening to drink Solomon Kava as such: you have been working hard all day and you are very sore, but you want to go out with some friends anyhow. You are a bit tired and need a bit of a pick-me-up, but nothing that will make you irritable or anxious. You don't feel like sleeping anytime soon, but want to take the edge off. Drink three shells of Solomon Kava and you will be set.
For Solomon Kava I want to start a new trend - Taste, Psychoactive (Mind) Effect, and Physiological (Body) Effect.
Taste 8/10
Mind Effect 10/10
Body Effect 9.5/10
Strength - Very strong
Nakamal at Home's Solomon Kava - 9.2/10
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Kavasseur Is Back Online!
Fellow Kavasseurs,
I have completed my fieldwork in Ghana and will be getting some new Kava reviews out within the week. I will also be updating the website to make it more interactive and helpful. Let me know if you have any comments or suggestions.
Here is what you can look forward to:
Reviews of several Fijian varieties from Pacific Kava, reviews of several Vanuatu Kava Store Kavas, and new reviews of Nakamal at Home's Solomon Kava and fresh shipments of their other varieties.
I have completed my fieldwork in Ghana and will be getting some new Kava reviews out within the week. I will also be updating the website to make it more interactive and helpful. Let me know if you have any comments or suggestions.
Here is what you can look forward to:
Reviews of several Fijian varieties from Pacific Kava, reviews of several Vanuatu Kava Store Kavas, and new reviews of Nakamal at Home's Solomon Kava and fresh shipments of their other varieties.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Nakamal at Home's Solomon Kava - Reviewed by Kaiden Fox
The first thing I noticed about this kava was the smell. It smells pretty much like “WOW” Kava, only with WOW Kava, I have to bring my nose very close to the bowl to smell it. With Solomon, it pretty much smells like pepper. If you don’t like black pepper, don’t drink Solomon kava. If your ideal beverage would be to take a few tablespoons of peppercorns ground up and made into tea, then drink as much of this stuff as possible.
This is pretty much the worst tasting kava I’ve ever had the displeasure of gulping down. Thankfully, it has a rather high quantity of crown roots to help take some of the edge off.
My best advice for anyone trying to drink this kava is to put it in the freezer for about an hour. The colder you come to ice cold, the easier it will be to drink. This is probably true of all kava, but especially true of Solomon Islands Kava. In the Solomon Islands, nakamal owners do serve their kava very cold – probably for that reason.
With that in mind, don’t be fooled. This is strong kava. One of the surprising effects is a rare talkativeness combined with a sort of pseudo-honesty. In situations where I would normally say the polite version of “none of your business,” I said a metaphorically true version of very personal things. I felt like John Cusak’s character in 1408 saying “My brother was eaten by wolves on the New Jersey Turnpike.” Now that I’m aware of the effect, I suspect I can exert more conscious control.
The emotional side of this kava is potentially not fun, depending on stimuli. I’ve found this to be true of other kavas as well, especially Shaman. While I normally take kava to deal with the stresses of daily life (sometimes immediately after) I’ve found that if I drink a bowl of Shaman instant kava and then someone starts doing or saying something that would normally upset me a moderate amount, that I am likely to lash out with what appears to be excessive anger. Solomon kava amplifies the “sad” stimuli more. So far, since I started writing this review, I’ve watched a short news broadcast about the BP spill and how they’re using dispersants to hide the oil, rather than to make any real effort to clean it up, and listened to two rather sad songs.
I’m especially sad because my brother was eaten by wolves on the New Jersey turnpike.
Seriously, this would probably be an excellent kava for bonding with others via self-revelations.
One of the things about this kava that I’ve never really noticed with other kavas is that bananas taste divine. Having never experienced the effects of cannabis, I can only compare it to the food appreciation based on second-hand experience, but it seems pretty close. Music euphoria is also prominent.
The physical effects are also pretty strong. Numb lips, of course, but also it appears to numb the hands with fewer shells than other kavas I’ve drunk, but perhaps I am simply loosing my tolerance. While I’ve heard reports that this kava has a strong stupefacient effect, other than the massive disinhibition, I don’t notice any. Then again, when I first drunk it, I was either too distracted, too demotivated, or perhaps too stupefied to actually write a review.
I didn’t notice any major after-effect like I did with Chief’s Jungle Kava.
My overall impression would be that I would enjoy this kava most while watching a Shakespearean tragedy, as part of a group confessional, or when performing minor surgery on myself.
Taste – 6/10 shells
Effect – 8/10 shells
Overall – 7/10 shells
This is pretty much the worst tasting kava I’ve ever had the displeasure of gulping down. Thankfully, it has a rather high quantity of crown roots to help take some of the edge off.
My best advice for anyone trying to drink this kava is to put it in the freezer for about an hour. The colder you come to ice cold, the easier it will be to drink. This is probably true of all kava, but especially true of Solomon Islands Kava. In the Solomon Islands, nakamal owners do serve their kava very cold – probably for that reason.
With that in mind, don’t be fooled. This is strong kava. One of the surprising effects is a rare talkativeness combined with a sort of pseudo-honesty. In situations where I would normally say the polite version of “none of your business,” I said a metaphorically true version of very personal things. I felt like John Cusak’s character in 1408 saying “My brother was eaten by wolves on the New Jersey Turnpike.” Now that I’m aware of the effect, I suspect I can exert more conscious control.
The emotional side of this kava is potentially not fun, depending on stimuli. I’ve found this to be true of other kavas as well, especially Shaman. While I normally take kava to deal with the stresses of daily life (sometimes immediately after) I’ve found that if I drink a bowl of Shaman instant kava and then someone starts doing or saying something that would normally upset me a moderate amount, that I am likely to lash out with what appears to be excessive anger. Solomon kava amplifies the “sad” stimuli more. So far, since I started writing this review, I’ve watched a short news broadcast about the BP spill and how they’re using dispersants to hide the oil, rather than to make any real effort to clean it up, and listened to two rather sad songs.
I’m especially sad because my brother was eaten by wolves on the New Jersey turnpike.
Seriously, this would probably be an excellent kava for bonding with others via self-revelations.
One of the things about this kava that I’ve never really noticed with other kavas is that bananas taste divine. Having never experienced the effects of cannabis, I can only compare it to the food appreciation based on second-hand experience, but it seems pretty close. Music euphoria is also prominent.
The physical effects are also pretty strong. Numb lips, of course, but also it appears to numb the hands with fewer shells than other kavas I’ve drunk, but perhaps I am simply loosing my tolerance. While I’ve heard reports that this kava has a strong stupefacient effect, other than the massive disinhibition, I don’t notice any. Then again, when I first drunk it, I was either too distracted, too demotivated, or perhaps too stupefied to actually write a review.
I didn’t notice any major after-effect like I did with Chief’s Jungle Kava.
My overall impression would be that I would enjoy this kava most while watching a Shakespearean tragedy, as part of a group confessional, or when performing minor surgery on myself.
Taste – 6/10 shells
Effect – 8/10 shells
Overall – 7/10 shells
Thursday, April 22, 2010
The Effects of Various Kavas
There are different camps of Kava drinkers. Some are into the aesthetics of Kava - the taste, the smell, and the way it tickles the mind and body. Others are into the deep chemistry and medicinal value of the brew - the jargony breakdowns of the chemotypes and their various impacts. These are obviously not mutually exclusive categories, and they definitely intermix - so it seems to come down to those who really like Kava and those who really like Kava and know a ton about it. I drink for smell, texture, and taste and I judge by, well, smell, texture, and taste. But we all feel the same effects of the same Kavas, so what is your favorite Kava when it comes to the effect?
Here, I will group my favorite Kavas into two camps of effectiveness - krunkness and mellowness. Again, these are two categories that I have arbitrarily created. I would like to know what your categories are and how you chose them. One will be the best and five the least (of the best, mind you). So here goes...
Krunkness (heavy, gravity body effect and strong attitude change *excited, sociable, and emotionally liberated*)
1. Nakamal at Home - Chief's Jungle
2. Nakamal at Home - Stone Kava
3. Nakamal at Home - Wow! Kava
4. Nakamal at Home - Shaman Kava
5. Nakamal at Home - Niugini Kava
Mellowness (nice, overall numbing body effect and anxiety-relief, with low pressure in the eyes and increased sociability. In general, you can drink more of these Kavas on a regular basis without going "out of orbit.")
1. Nakamal at Home - Tongan Kava
2. Kona Kava - Mahakea Kava
3. Nakamal at Home - Fiji Kava
4. Nakamal at Home - Black Sand Kava
5. Vanuatu Kava Store - Pentecost Pride
Here, I will group my favorite Kavas into two camps of effectiveness - krunkness and mellowness. Again, these are two categories that I have arbitrarily created. I would like to know what your categories are and how you chose them. One will be the best and five the least (of the best, mind you). So here goes...
Krunkness (heavy, gravity body effect and strong attitude change *excited, sociable, and emotionally liberated*)
1. Nakamal at Home - Chief's Jungle
2. Nakamal at Home - Stone Kava
3. Nakamal at Home - Wow! Kava
4. Nakamal at Home - Shaman Kava
5. Nakamal at Home - Niugini Kava
Mellowness (nice, overall numbing body effect and anxiety-relief, with low pressure in the eyes and increased sociability. In general, you can drink more of these Kavas on a regular basis without going "out of orbit.")
1. Nakamal at Home - Tongan Kava
2. Kona Kava - Mahakea Kava
3. Nakamal at Home - Fiji Kava
4. Nakamal at Home - Black Sand Kava
5. Vanuatu Kava Store - Pentecost Pride
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Nakamal At Home - Fire Island Kava (Reviewed by Kaiden Fox)
Tanna goes by the nickname "the Island of Fire" because of Yasur volcano... the single most accessible live volcano in the world. While Nakamal@home markets Fire Island as a friendly kava for its new kava friends, the serious countenance of the Tam Tam on the cover shows that Fire Island kava is a serious kava and deserves a serious review.
First a quick ethnobotony lesson from Vince Labot, "In countries where kava is prepared from fresh roots, it is rarely prepared from dried roots and vice versa."
Knowing that in North America, it is exceedingly difficult, if not actually impossible to obtain kava from fresh roots. (Hawaii, while being one of the United States of America politically, is not part of North America geographically)perhaps the next best thing actually is Fire Island kava.
Some Kavasseurs may dismiss this kava out of hand, but I think that is premature. The marketing of this product as ‘newbie kava’ may turn off some people. I would advise giving this kava a try, though.
As a newbie kava, it does its job wonderfully. I remember the first time I tried to turn dried kava roots into an infused psychoactive beverage. I wound up with a very muddy kitchen and no drinkable kava. True, it was due to a blender malfunction, but these things happen. Fire Island Kava is wonderful for a first-time drinker because it’s no where near as messy as hand straining and blendering, and it produces a consistent beverage. (One “kaviet” – due to the nature of the different cultivars of kava, one cannot simply speak of a single beverage called “kava,” but rather we are discussing a class of beverages, each with different properties). One can know right away if, and how much, one likes kava.
The taste is unlike the dried kava infusions, although there are some similarities. Kava, as a beverage, ranges from slightly spicy to very bitter. Fire Island Kava is not on the bitter end at all. One of the reasons for this is the bitterness comes primarily from bark material, which is rich in tanins and polyphenols. Fire Island Kava comes from the juice of fresh kava roots.
I find it hard to describe the taste. The underlying medium plays an important role in this. This morning, I sampled Fire Island in Fiji bottled water, electrolyte-enhanced water, Yogi Aztec Sweet Chili tea, Bon-Dai pomegranate- açaí water, and apple juice. Usually, when I mix a shell of it, I also add a scoop of Life Extension Foundation’s “CocoaGold with Beta-Glucan Unsweetened powder.” I purchased some after I noticed eating chocolate improved my fiancée’s health and energy levels. The predominant taste is “numb.” Of all the things I mixed with it, the sweet chili tea was the only one that tasted horrible. Nakamal@Home’s website also recommends against orange juice. If you’re used to mixing a much thicker kava, the fact that this kava is powder one adds water to might turn some people off. I usually mix about an eighth of a cup of water with the powder to form a thick paste, and then fill up the rest of the shell once I see it’s dissolved. The texture of that thick paste is probably what many people are used to. Joseph, who started me on the path of detailed kava reviews, compares it to the textural differences of normal soda and diet soda. If you’ve ever been to a large picnic with a barrel of soda cans, the diet floats because it’s less dense than water, while the “real” soda sinks to the bottom. A more apt comparison might be skim milk to eggnog, if you can forget about the flavor and focus ONLY on the texture.
The effects are what one would expect from fresh kava. The onset is immediate. I felt a relaxed excitement wash over me, and became more talkative. It usually doesn’t produce the euphorias of other kavas I’ve sampled, but it does give some degree of bodily pleasure. I also tried using Fire Island kava instead of prescription painkiller after a surgery a few months ago. I enjoyed the analgesic effect for about three hours before I couldn’t sleep and needed to reach for a Percocet. The effects are relatively short-lived compared to say Chief’s Jungle Kava, but with a duration more-or-less on par with the other Nobel varieties I’ve tried.
Even if one is an experienced kava drinker, I would sill recommend trying Fire Island kava at least once. To quote Vince Labot, ”Drinkers who ingest fresh kava juice, notice a rapid and sudden high that dry kava cannot produce. There are obviously many compounds that are interacting together to induce this subtle physiological effect. For a given cultivar, two very different brews can be prepared with dried or fresh roots of the same plant. The taste is different as is of course, the total kavalactone concentration and chemical composition.” I regret that I do not have the experience to compare Fire Island to fresh kava that has not been dehydrated for export, but I have been shocked at times when I’ve made Fire Island at how immediate the onset is compared to Black Sand or White Sand kava.
Besides the much faster onset, I noticed the effects are also different as compared to the dried root beverages of the same cultivar. The photophobic effects are less, and the talkativeness is much more pronounced. My suspicion is that Fire Island kava either has more kavain, or that something else is boosting the effects of the kavain. Another aspect that supports this is that I often become very excited after a shell or two of this. Despite my physical relaxation, my mind takes on a sense of clarity and eagerness that I would normally associate with caffeine. Unlike caffeine, there is no urgency or stress in this, simply a giddy “can do” feeling when it comes to mental tasks, and feel a mental clarity as if someone has lit a tiki-torch in the dark. Perhaps this is why the kava is "Fire Island."
Before I conclude with the rating, I must let you know that because Fire Island is the first kava I tried, the rating is an artifact of the scaling system. On a “ten scale,” only a 9 or 10 would be “enthusiastic,” while 7 or 8 is passive. It does not follow a bell-curve where most things fall on a 5. On the “ten scale,” 6 is functionally little different than 1. (Would you buy a kava I rated as a 6)? Because Fire Island is my first “real” kava, anything else has to beat it to warrant repurchasing. Even though it is more expensive per shell, the fact that I can simply mix up a shell in a few minutes which will give me a pleasant high was enough to warrant upgrading my initial 55g order to a 500g order the next time I stocked up.
Taste – 8/10 shells
Effect – 8/10 shells
-Review written by Kaiden Fox
First a quick ethnobotony lesson from Vince Labot, "In countries where kava is prepared from fresh roots, it is rarely prepared from dried roots and vice versa."
Knowing that in North America, it is exceedingly difficult, if not actually impossible to obtain kava from fresh roots. (Hawaii, while being one of the United States of America politically, is not part of North America geographically)perhaps the next best thing actually is Fire Island kava.
Some Kavasseurs may dismiss this kava out of hand, but I think that is premature. The marketing of this product as ‘newbie kava’ may turn off some people. I would advise giving this kava a try, though.
As a newbie kava, it does its job wonderfully. I remember the first time I tried to turn dried kava roots into an infused psychoactive beverage. I wound up with a very muddy kitchen and no drinkable kava. True, it was due to a blender malfunction, but these things happen. Fire Island Kava is wonderful for a first-time drinker because it’s no where near as messy as hand straining and blendering, and it produces a consistent beverage. (One “kaviet” – due to the nature of the different cultivars of kava, one cannot simply speak of a single beverage called “kava,” but rather we are discussing a class of beverages, each with different properties). One can know right away if, and how much, one likes kava.
The taste is unlike the dried kava infusions, although there are some similarities. Kava, as a beverage, ranges from slightly spicy to very bitter. Fire Island Kava is not on the bitter end at all. One of the reasons for this is the bitterness comes primarily from bark material, which is rich in tanins and polyphenols. Fire Island Kava comes from the juice of fresh kava roots.
I find it hard to describe the taste. The underlying medium plays an important role in this. This morning, I sampled Fire Island in Fiji bottled water, electrolyte-enhanced water, Yogi Aztec Sweet Chili tea, Bon-Dai pomegranate- açaí water, and apple juice. Usually, when I mix a shell of it, I also add a scoop of Life Extension Foundation’s “CocoaGold with Beta-Glucan Unsweetened powder.” I purchased some after I noticed eating chocolate improved my fiancée’s health and energy levels. The predominant taste is “numb.” Of all the things I mixed with it, the sweet chili tea was the only one that tasted horrible. Nakamal@Home’s website also recommends against orange juice. If you’re used to mixing a much thicker kava, the fact that this kava is powder one adds water to might turn some people off. I usually mix about an eighth of a cup of water with the powder to form a thick paste, and then fill up the rest of the shell once I see it’s dissolved. The texture of that thick paste is probably what many people are used to. Joseph, who started me on the path of detailed kava reviews, compares it to the textural differences of normal soda and diet soda. If you’ve ever been to a large picnic with a barrel of soda cans, the diet floats because it’s less dense than water, while the “real” soda sinks to the bottom. A more apt comparison might be skim milk to eggnog, if you can forget about the flavor and focus ONLY on the texture.
The effects are what one would expect from fresh kava. The onset is immediate. I felt a relaxed excitement wash over me, and became more talkative. It usually doesn’t produce the euphorias of other kavas I’ve sampled, but it does give some degree of bodily pleasure. I also tried using Fire Island kava instead of prescription painkiller after a surgery a few months ago. I enjoyed the analgesic effect for about three hours before I couldn’t sleep and needed to reach for a Percocet. The effects are relatively short-lived compared to say Chief’s Jungle Kava, but with a duration more-or-less on par with the other Nobel varieties I’ve tried.
Even if one is an experienced kava drinker, I would sill recommend trying Fire Island kava at least once. To quote Vince Labot, ”Drinkers who ingest fresh kava juice, notice a rapid and sudden high that dry kava cannot produce. There are obviously many compounds that are interacting together to induce this subtle physiological effect. For a given cultivar, two very different brews can be prepared with dried or fresh roots of the same plant. The taste is different as is of course, the total kavalactone concentration and chemical composition.” I regret that I do not have the experience to compare Fire Island to fresh kava that has not been dehydrated for export, but I have been shocked at times when I’ve made Fire Island at how immediate the onset is compared to Black Sand or White Sand kava.
Besides the much faster onset, I noticed the effects are also different as compared to the dried root beverages of the same cultivar. The photophobic effects are less, and the talkativeness is much more pronounced. My suspicion is that Fire Island kava either has more kavain, or that something else is boosting the effects of the kavain. Another aspect that supports this is that I often become very excited after a shell or two of this. Despite my physical relaxation, my mind takes on a sense of clarity and eagerness that I would normally associate with caffeine. Unlike caffeine, there is no urgency or stress in this, simply a giddy “can do” feeling when it comes to mental tasks, and feel a mental clarity as if someone has lit a tiki-torch in the dark. Perhaps this is why the kava is "Fire Island."
Before I conclude with the rating, I must let you know that because Fire Island is the first kava I tried, the rating is an artifact of the scaling system. On a “ten scale,” only a 9 or 10 would be “enthusiastic,” while 7 or 8 is passive. It does not follow a bell-curve where most things fall on a 5. On the “ten scale,” 6 is functionally little different than 1. (Would you buy a kava I rated as a 6)? Because Fire Island is my first “real” kava, anything else has to beat it to warrant repurchasing. Even though it is more expensive per shell, the fact that I can simply mix up a shell in a few minutes which will give me a pleasant high was enough to warrant upgrading my initial 55g order to a 500g order the next time I stocked up.
Taste – 8/10 shells
Effect – 8/10 shells
-Review written by Kaiden Fox
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