Bottled Kava

[Bula Kava House]

As some of the more tenured Kava Forums members know, years ago I started informing people of a planned bottled kava beverage release. I even paid a developer to make the recipe. What be came up with was serviceable but I was never very excited about it so I put the project on the back burner.

Recently, I wanted to add a tasty kava to go option to the menu at the kava bar in Portland so I contacted Kalm With Kava to inquire about carrying their product. It's high quality stuff and seems to have a good reputation. After some further consideration though I just felt like it wasn't the perfect fit, (mostly because when you've had an idea in your head for years you kind of get set on that exact product.) and so I figured it was a great time to kick myself into gear to work on my own product again.

So once again I've hired a beverage recipe creator to help develop my product. This woman "gets it". She knows what I'm looking for and is immensely talented and experienced. So unlike the first company I tried this with, I'm quite confident this is going to be amazing. I'm holding some of the specifics pretty close to the chest but I am happy to share the overall vision. This will be a kava beverage that will feel authentic, yet be more palatable for the masses than traditionally prepared kava. I will most likely be using either a co2 or simple h2o extract of noble, organically certified kava. No alcohol or solvents! This product will be potent, although I need to be careful to keep it from being too strong for legal reasons. It should have 150-200 milligrams of kavalactones per serving. My bottled kava is being designed to be chugged, the way it's been done for thousands of years.

Once the recipe is ready, most likely in early winter, we will begin distribution on our website. This will soon be followed by distribution at certain health food and supplement retailers that my beverage scientist has connections with. This part of distribution is where things get a little overwhelming due to cost. Package design, ingredients, and bottling for thousands of units happens to be quite spendy. I'm throwing around the idea of a Kickstarter campaign as opposed to a traditional loan. If that happens I'll post a link to it here. Of course, donating will be worth it because you'll get a great product at a discounted price.

So I just wanted to put that info out there. If anyone has any questions or thoughts I'd love to hear them. The development is still at a pretty early stage where adjustments can be made. Does a new bottled kava appeal to you? What would you look for in a kava drink?

Thanks for reading, and for any input.

Bula!

 

[HeadHodge]

@Judd Rench, sounds great!! Do you have any sort of name for it yet?

 

[Bula Kava House]

@Judd Rench, sounds great!! Do you have any sort of name for it yet?

Nothing set at the moment. Easy answer is Bula Kava, but we may go another route. Yumi (Bislama for us/we) Kava and Bilo (Fijian kava drinking bowl) Kava are names I've considered (and purchased domains for just in case) but there are a ton of great options that really embody kava culture.

 

[Zac Imiola (Herbalist)]

Yeah I was just saying how I wish there was a drink that embodied the experience from a traditional bowl but had the taste of something more palpable... the legality reasons really screw the pooch in my opinion :/. It would be awesome if it could be strong.

 

[Bula Kava House]

Yeah I was just saying how I wish there was a drink that embodied the experience from a traditional bowl but had the taste of something more palpable... the legality reasons really screw the pooch in my opinion :/. It would be awesome if it could be strong.

That's what we're hoping for. A shell of kava usually has between 150 and 500 milligrams of kavalactones. 200 should be enough for a pleasant and noticeble effect without getting people wasted. Three of them and you'd be nicely rooted. It will be labeled as a dietary supplement and will have warnings of course. I'm not sure about putting an age limit on it. That would be the safe thing to do but may dissuade retailers from selling it.

 

[Zac Imiola (Herbalist)]

Isn't there a middle for that. Like not an age limit but more of a reccomendation... I mean personally if your at the age of buying stuff for yourself. Then you have access to cannabis and a whole load of other crap. Kavas not the worse thing that could happen if a kid drank it. Hell with rt being such a thing. I doubt any kid would bother buying 60 just to see what happens

 

[Noble Headed]

That's what we're hoping for. A shell of kava usually has between 150 and 500 milligrams of kavalactones. 200 should be enough for a pleasant and noticeble effect without getting people wasted. Three of them and you'd be nicely rooted. It will be labeled as a dietary supplement and will have warnings of course. I'm not sure about putting an age limit on it. That would be the safe thing to do but may dissuade retailers from selling it.

 

[Noble Headed]

" That would be the safe thing to do '' no that would be the responsible thing to do , if you start getting a bunch of minors loopy with Kava Kool Aid you could very easily create problems for the whole Kava community . A bad tasting drink somewhat limits the number of Kava drinkers these extracts that are coming out increase the number of users and possibly invite abuse from people that would not normally stick around after the first bad taste . You make it too easy and kids start using and abusing it could spell big trouble in this little community . The taste and the process of making the Kava acts in a self limiting way to keep the numbers down to those who are more serious about their Kava drinking ." Be careful what you ask for."

 

[Bula Kava House]

" That would be the safe thing to do '' no that would be the responsible thing to do , if you start getting a bunch of minors loopy with Kava Kool Aid you could very easily create problems for the whole Kava community .

This will not be "Kava Kool-Aid". This will be a bottled kava that stays closer to kava's tradition than any other that has been created. Authenticity is important to us and flavor is a big part of that. The earthiness will be cut a bit, but you'll know you're drinking kava. If a minor wants to get loopy from ingesting kava, a much quicker way will be to head back to the supplement aisle to grab a bottle of Gaia capsules. I can think of five or six kava beverages off the top of my head. Not one of them has an age limit. Ours will not be drastically stronger than some of those.

 

[Bula Kava House]

Isn't there a middle for that. Like not an age limit but more of a reccomendation... I mean personally if your at the age of buying stuff for yourself. Then you have access to cannabis and a whole load of other crap. Kavas not the worse thing that could happen if a kid drank it. Hell with rt being such a thing. I doubt any kid would bother buying 60 just to see what happens

I think you're right. The notices will be on the bottle and should steer people in the right direction. Simply due to the quality ingredients, this drink will be somewhat expensive as well. Four bottles may get close to $20. A $20 bag of weed would be a lot more effective if intoxication is what someone is after. It's also all about marketing. This will be marketed as a health supplement for physical and mental calming. You won't see our kava at a head shop with cartoon chiefs in grass skirts on the labels.

 

[The Kap'n]

I'm sure BKH will find a way to make it as respectful towards tradition as possible. After all, Judd is one of the only kava bars out there that doesn't sell the k-word herb on the side.

 

[verticity]

I don't think it makes much sense to put an age limit on the bottle. I don't know of any other kava products labeled with an age limit. The important thing for avoiding it becoming a "legal high" abused by minors it how it is marketed. If it is marketed as an "authentic" kava beverage, with no cartoon characters (Joe Camel lol) obviously, nothing to make it appealing to kids, and like Judd said, not sold in head shops, and not advertised in publications that also advertise kasterisks, etc, it should be OK. I would say it would be a benefit if it tasted a little bad, but for example a lot of the appeal of Kalm is that it is a kava beverage that does not taste bad, which makes it good for introducing newbies to (newbies who are responsible adults, that is). A good "model" for the taste might be something like Red Bull: it is not a sweet soda like Coke or something, but not awful tasting either..

Just some thoughts. I'm looking forward to trying this when it is available.

 

[Bula Kava House]

" The taste and the process of making the Kava acts in a self limiting way to keep the numbers down to those who are more serious about their Kava drinking

There are quite a few vendors promoting instants and micros designed to remove the prep step, and creating recipes based on using those to make kava palatable. Kava is a special and sacred substance. As long as it's done while respecting tradition, I'm all for widening kava's reach. There are millions of people who could benefit from kava, I don't think we need to shut them out by making kava taste as bad as possible.

 

[TheKavaSociety]

Face it, single malt scotch is NOT very tasty the first time you try it!

The difference is that kava doesn't really get tasty with regular use

 

[Deleted User01]

As kava increases in popularity and people grow to understand its effects, I think we're going to see less objections to the taste. Face it, single malt scotch is NOT very tasty the first time you try it!

Especially Peaty Single Malt Scotches. That's one reason I don't complain too much about the taste of kava. But if Judd is going mainstream, he has to be careful with the dose, the age of the drinker and 1000s of other things if he doesn't want the FDA breathing down his back. Once you go mainstream, then you got a big bullseye on your back. But all these convenient kava drinks and candies are great at introducing people to kava and eventually bringing them to the traditional stuff. Then this forum will have 10s of thousands of people and then I will feel less bohemian or renegade-ish.

 

[Bula Kava House]

The difference is that kava doesn't really get tasty with regular use

So true. When newbies come to the kava bar I tell them that they most likely won't like the flavor, but they'll love the effects. They often come back with something along the lines of "I didn't like IPA the first time I tried it either. Must be an acquired taste." To which I usually tell them, "Not really. Islanders have been drinking for over 3,000 years and they've yet to aquire a taste for kava. They chug it for a reason."

 

[verticity]

...Then this forum will have 10s of thousands of people and then I will feel less bohemian or renegade-ish.

@Deleted User01, you will always be Bohemian as long as you insist on going naked, and wearing your long cave-man hair as clothing...

 

[kava_chief]

I do not feel like the aesthetic of kava matches the aesthetic of bottles, but I'm not one to get in the way of innovation. I think you will have to tone down the earthiness, not only a little, but a lot, to get it to feel like it belongs in that container. That's just my first impression...hope to hear more about this.

 

[Bula Kava House]

I do not feel like the aesthetic of kava matches the aesthetic of bottles, but I'm not one to get in the way of innovation. I think you will have to tone down the earthiness, not only a little, but a lot, to get it to feel like it belongs in that container. That's just my first impression...hope to hear more about this.

Thanks for the input. Kava is best drank straight from a coconut shell, if you ask me. Maintaining an authentic feel will be a challenge with a plastic or glass bottle but we'll do our best. I've been working with an amazing graphic designer for all of our branding since we first entered the business. She's done great work and she'll be designing the bottling as well. Who knows? Maybe we'll make the bottle look like a coconut or something.