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Another piece on the kava bar that encourages mixing booze with kava

TheKavaSociety

New Zealand
Kava Vendor
Interestingly, even the journalist is a bit skeptical about mixing booze with kava: "And while the cafe doesn't serve alcohol, it does encourage patrons to BYOB, suggesting sparkling wine as a pairing with the juices and kava. (Everything I've read online, however, warns against mixing kava with alcohol.)". The owner doesn't seem to be too concerned though:

"Returning to Tropikava a few days later to work on this article, I overhear the owner explaining kava to a potential customer who's asked if it produces hallucinations: It's calming, he says, giving you a sense of euphoria and a little of the buzz you'd get from alcohol, but you can stay focused. He drinks it during the day while working, but at night "a glass of wine or two and a couple shells of kava will treat you real well," he says. "It'll have you floating."

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicag...a-kafe-juice-wicker-park/Content?oid=22233537

This is just crazy.
 

Alia

'Awa Grower/Collector
Interestingly, even the journalist is a bit skeptical about mixing booze with kava: "And while the cafe doesn't serve alcohol, it does encourage patrons to BYOB, suggesting sparkling wine as a pairing with the juices and kava. (Everything I've read online, however, warns against mixing kava with alcohol.)". The owner doesn't seem to be too concerned though:

"Returning to Tropikava a few days later to work on this article, I overhear the owner explaining kava to a potential customer who's asked if it produces hallucinations: It's calming, he says, giving you a sense of euphoria and a little of the buzz you'd get from alcohol, but you can stay focused. He drinks it during the day while working, but at night "a glass of wine or two and a couple shells of kava will treat you real well," he says. "It'll have you floating."

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicag...a-kafe-juice-wicker-park/Content?oid=22233537

This is just crazy.
Yes, big mistake to mix kava with alcohol. Not just poor judgement but potentially bad reaction. Kava will potentiate alcohol effects. A bit more detail on that- Early Polynesian Society member F. W. Christian wrote back in 1899 "If a white trader insists on mixing good kava with bad gin, he has simply to face the consequences. Beer, whiskey and wine are strictly to be avoided ...as incompatible with the true kava frame of mind."
 
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verticity

I'm interested in things
The author sort of did her research ("I devoured articles in the New Yorker and Eater about the experience of drinking kava at New York City's first kava cafe..." Yum.)

"The root of the plant, native to the South Pacific islands, is traditionally ground into powder and mixed with water or eaten as a paste."
????
Toss ... and no wash?
 

Squanch72

Kava Vendor
Alcohol and kava together is like the worst feeling ever IMO. On a few occasions I have drank like one pint of beer to be social at a bar with my brother and because I drink kava daily, kava was in my system. Even small amounts of alcohol makes you feel like bloated and like a hangover is on the way.
 

kastom_lif

Kava Lover
"Wash down" in Fiji and kale in Vanuatu are quite common. Don't overdo it. But a single beer won't kill you.


Afta yumi go kale, kale wetem Tusker
 

TheKavaSociety

New Zealand
Kava Vendor
"Wash down" in Fiji and kale in Vanuatu are quite common. Don't overdo it. But a single beer won't kill you.


Afta yumi go kale, kale wetem Tusker
There's a difference between telling people that "a single beer won't kill them" and encouraging customers to bring sparkling wine to a kava bar as it "nicely pairs with kava" or to promote "having a few glasses of wine with kava".

Also, while kale and wash down might now be quite common, these are not traditional practices and quite a few kava advocates from the islands oppose it. On the one hand it is not very healthy and on the other hand as kava potentiates the effects of booze people get smashed pretty quickly and then do silly things that get blamed on kava. In NZ we've seen articles about dangerous drivers who drive after their "kava sessions" when in fact they drive after having a couple of cans of beer or glasses of wine that they consume after kava: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/63223316/kava-new-risk-on-our-roads
 

TheKavaSociety

New Zealand
Kava Vendor
I think some of the fear over alcohol with kava grew out of the old liver damage paranoia.
Yes, you are probably right. However, it is also true that kava potentiates the effects of booze which is makes it a risky combo.

I personally find it super weird to mix alcohol with kava as they have opposite effects. Kava gives me amazing mental clarity and and allows me to concentrate. Booze dulls my senses, clouds my judgement and makes me distracted. A totally different experience. Mixing kava with alcohol is like drinking coffee with valerian extract.
I suppose some people just want to get totally intoxicated/fucked up. That's what I was told when I was in Vila.
Some people might also want to "wash down" the taste of kava with a a bit of beer.
 

EQ

Atman
When foolishness overtakes a man he drives drunk. Foolishness blinds a man, and he is unable to see Kava, so with wine he washes further from it.
Those who have not been taken by the fools hand are shadowed by it, and have to ignore or battle it.
Foolishness is everyone's enemy.

When I drink Kava alcohol sounds like such a stupid idea. Like why would I do that to myself? I think: Only a fool would do so.

Don't mix your Kava with the booze friends. Foolishness can be addicting. Ignorance is bliss, and the hangover regretful.
 

Zac Imiola (Herbalist)

Kava Connoisseur
I've had a beer or two later on in the day and even pretty close to having kava and its not something I would recomend but it's really subjective, I've had it where I just feel terrible and other times not so bad, I think it's just terrible that it's so reccomended, it's all about the possibility of a bad reaction who would want that for a kava bar ?
 

TheKavaSociety

New Zealand
Kava Vendor
it's all about the possibility of a bad reaction who would want that for a kava bar ?
That's a great point. Perhaps his kava is super weak and he feels that his customers won't experience any of the "floating" he talks about without downing a bottle of wine first? Or perhaps he himself doesn't really understand kava. Or maybe he wants to appeal to the booze drinkers who might be reluctant to visit a dry bar? I don't know. Either way, it's certainly not a great idea to run a kava bar that actively encourages people to mix booze and kava
 

ThePiper

Kava Lover
Im with henry on the idea that any kava and alcohol is bad, especially if its more than a single drink. Alcohol alone causes liver damage in anything above small amounts, throw in the extra organ stress and potentiation from kava and... Your gonna have a bad time.
 
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kastom_lif

Kava Lover
Anything that makes your muscles act weird is a bad idea if you're going to drive later on. Straight kava at high doses is enough to cause rubber legs and double vision. That alone should be enough reason to walk or ride with someone else.

Taem papa blo mi hemi dring, hemi olsem...
 

ThePiper

Kava Lover
the combination being very sketchy is not a stretch either, we all know that there are many drugs and plants that interact very badly with alcohol, such as tylenol. A little tylenol by itself wont hurt you, but add a little tylenol and a "few glasses of sparkling wine" and you are definitely at risk for liver damage. Or combining alcohol with sedative drugs of al kinds, 1+1 can equal 4 or more. Really, 90% of substances are probably unwise to mix with alcohol. Sorry, this stuff pushes my buttons. I can't believe this kava bar owner!
 
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