Sitting inside a new Kava Bar in the Bay Area named "Kava Bar"

[starscolliding]

Glad you guys like the pics. The owner was very nice, and he liked that I knew so much about kava. Came over several times and we spoke for a bit about various things.

I had the question above that may have been overlooked the chips - he showed me root and 'chips' - what are the chips? And he said he sometimes does 50/50 but you can ask for root-only. I asked for root-only and was very confused by the chips. They were around 2 inches by 2 or 3 inches and a half cm thick or so. Is that the stump cut up in different ways?

I wanted to try his normal drink so I went with the Fijian. It was very moderate for me in effect. Not bad at all, just low/moderate effects. I think from what I've read that this is common for Fijian, it is weeaker and they drink more volume. He had Vanuatu as well and I did have a cup of that, but the cost effective way to buy there is that you get a Tanao that is something like 8 shells. So I had to drink 8 shells of Fijian and didn't have much room left for anything else! But it really was cost-effective to just get the large one vs one shell at a time.

Next time I'll get the large size of Vanuatu.

What I really like is that he gets actual root and pounds/grinds it himself. Very impressive. I think that makes it a 'real' Nakamal, versus a storefront where they mix older powdered root. I can do that at home, though of course it takes the work away. But it makes it more special because there is no world where I see myself getting Kava roots and making it from there at home.

 

[starscolliding]

Headhodge - he mentioned there is a place near Sacramento. He said he liked it a lot and suggested I go try it.

 

[sɥɐʞɐs]

The place looks cool, I like what the guy's doin' there.
@starscolliding root chips are the upper stump part..."lawena" typically higher in kavain, but not as strong in overall kavalactone percentage.
When you buy root only, it's probably 'waka'. Kava is usually sold with some mixture of the two ground up together.

 

[starscolliding]

Shakas - whether right side up or upside down I always appreciate your comments.

(What you said is what I was hoping. Great.)

 

[Jonathan]

Fluorescent lights though? Looks like a nice place otherwise... I just feel like the fluorescent lights would be really antithetical to a kava-friendly atmosphere...

 

[starscolliding]

Hey everyone. I'm back, sitting in the Kava bar. Doing the Vanuatu, thought this will be more of a one-off. This one is a bag he had around. He ordered a bunch and it hasn't arrived yet, so anything I say here wouldn't apply to the Vanuatu he is going to get. Through his contacts what is coming is powder, not root. I encouraged him to keep getting root and pounding it here as that is so fun and unique. He said he knows them well, and thinks it was probably powdered only a few days ago. Still, he agreed fresh is the best and said the taste is noticeably different.

Also very interesting - he said he did get his Kava tested when MeloMelo (Berkeley Kava bar) did, the two of them talk and are very friendly. He said it tested great, and actually had a very high percentage of Kavalactones. @Deleted User - if you want you may still call him. He wasn't strongly familiar with the Noble/Tudei/Witchmanni breakdown of Kava. And if he is going to consistently get a Vanuatu we should get that tested as well.

We talked about strengths and he said that the Fijians do drink more Kava of less potency. He said he has a few people that come from the neighborhood almost every day. In Fiji some drink a lot of the day. One fun thing he said is there is one Island outside Fiji (but very close, part of Fiji still) that has the best Kava in Fiji, but is very expensive. He said that one, while stile Fijian, is quite strong. All very interesting. I encouraged him to get some so we could try it.

 

[starscolliding]

All right. You guys are going to be very jealous. This is fun. He has a micro with ginger and I asked him about maka's and he wasn't as familiar with that so much. He wanted me to try the micro and I said I'm scared of them except GHK because of all of this Maka talk.

So he brought a fairly fresh root over and we are sitting here together cutting it up and looking for the Makas. My wife is eating some Maka-free root directly right now. I'm about to try it.

I'll say this for GHK - he makes it look easy. It would probably take me 30 minutes to de-maka a root. It is not a cross, it is a star, and there is like 1mm between the ends and some small amount of kava inbetween. So whatever the people who de-maka Kava do, it is worth the price. It is crazy.

 

[starscolliding]

 

[starscolliding]

Okay guys.... I mean.... A lot of you probably already know this..... Geez.....

1 cm of root (and maybe 1/10th of the way around) - between lets say 2 of the maka's in the star pattern - just blew away almost all of the kava I've ever had. I cut the maka's out as best as I could and chewed on a small section of root for 3 min and spit out the fibers after. A ridiculously tiny amount really has a kick, much more than 3 or 4 shells.

 

[nabanga]

One fun thing he said is there is one Island outside Fiji (but very close, part of Fiji still) that has the best Kava in Fiji, but is very expensive. He said that one, while stile Fijian, is quite strong. All very interesting. I encouraged him to get some so we could try it.

Kadavu island (pronounced kandavu) is famed in Fiji for having the best kava, and if you are buying in Suva market all the sellers tell you that their kava is from Kadavu, even if it is just ground stems from the back of a truck.

 

[starscolliding]

Sure, I'll PM it to you.

 

[kasa_balavu]

One fun thing he said is there is one Island outside Fiji (but very close, part of Fiji still) that has the best Kava in Fiji, but is very expensive.

It's possible he was talking about Rotuma. Rotuma is the only island that is "outside" Fiji but still in Fiji. There are other countries closer to Fiji than Rotuma is.
https://encrypted.google.com/maps/p...2!3m1!1s0x6e31bc97cc765cd9:0xad4e7ee2e2643b79

The people of Rotuma are Polynesian, as opposed to the majority of Fijians who are Melanesian.

Rotuma is legendary for it's incredible black soil. In Rotuma, one must always take care when gardening or tilling the fields. Leave your implement too long in the ground and it will grow roots. It is known.

The cost of Kava (or anything, really) from Rotuma is too damn high™️ because of the cost of shipping. I believe the island only gets one flight a week and one ship a month.

 

[kasa_balavu]

Kadavu island (pronounced kandavu) is famed in Fiji for having the best kava, and if you are buying in Suva market all the sellers tell you that their kava is from Kadavu.

The reality though is that there is no difference between kava from Kadavu, Taveuni, and Koro. All three islands have the same soil type, rainfall, and general climate, and the farmers all grow the exact same varietals of kava.

There was a kava symposium of some sort at USP (Suva, Fiji) back in... hmm... the late 90's. I believe Dr. Lebot was there. Growers were invited to take their kava for testing. I was a wee boy and could not attend, but my father made the long journey from Taveuni Island with our best waka. I was confident. Taveuni kava is world famous in Taveuni, so of course we were going to win. I'd spent many a Saturday morning having fun(not really) weeding that kava patch, and deserved some recognition.

My father returned with a certificate. Second place. Woo hoo! Better than third!!

The winner (damn him!) was from Kadavu. *shakes fist in general direction of Kadavu*.

-----------

Anyway, I wonder if that's where Kadavu got its reputation. This was one Kadavu root, from one patch of soil, against another from a patch of soil in Taveuni. The plants adjacent to these two might have tested the opposite. It wasn't a large scale scientific analysis... just a bit of fun for the growers and kava lovers at this symposium. Or at least that's how 11yr old me rationalised away that terrible, terrible defeat.

 

[starscolliding]

Yes, the Vanuatu is much stronger, very good. Not super strong. Like I said this was just random powder he had around. His first shipment comes tomorrow actually. And I told him that his real unique stance is that he has a grinder, so I suggested he get root and grind it the same day for people. He said that makes sense and he can do it. He said even the powder that is coming he is sure is much stronger than what I had today. I look forward to it.

On another note, he has something called "Kava Filter" which is a super-fine mesh. Looks like lab equipment. He said Kava is much safer if you use this filter and has sold it to other American Nakamals. So if anyone wants one I'm sure you can call him and order. I've heard though, that Kava is less strong if you don't let 'some' of the stuff come through, so not sure of the balance there. My strongest experience ever was with a weaker filter when I was just starting out. People might know of other sources for this. I'm sure he doesn't want 100 orders of a 5 dollar item. I didn't look at the price, but it couldn't be too expensive.