Anyone who’s ever studied kava or tried to find any scholarly materials on kava inevitably encountered the name of Dr Vincent Lebot*. Dr Lebot has authored or co-authored a great number of scholarly publications dedicated to the kava plant, including the famous “Kava: The Pacific Elixir” (co-authored with Lamont Lindstrom and Mark Merlin and published in 1997) and “Buveurs de Kava” (co-authored with Patricia Siméoni and published in 2019), i.e. the two most comprehensive publications on kava ever written.
Not surprisingly, Dr Lebot is often seen the father of modern kava science. It would be difficult to find anyone who has done more to help broaden the Western understanding of both the plant and the beverage. His work on kava and his insights into kava’s history, biology, chemistry and pharmacology have not just inspired multiple other researchers, but also helped and informed government officials, journalists, as well as countless kava drinkers, growers and entrepreneurs.
One of our founding members had the pleasure of sharing some fresh, green kava with Dr Lebot in Port Vila, Vanuatu a while ago. Since then we’ve stayed in touch and occasionally discussed various aspects of kava science and kava industry. After one of the recent interactions, an idea was born to conduct an interview that would allow us to share some of Dr Lebot’s insights with a wider audience. In this interview we discuss such topics as improvements to kava via cultivar selection, challenges to kava becoming more mainstream outside South Pacific, the differences between kava and kava extracts, and many others. We hope you enjoy it.
Read moreA couple of weeks ago we went to one of the Pacific islands that lost its kava culture 150 years ago with the arrival of the European missionaries. But while nobody drinks kava there today, we have good reasons to believe that their forests still have some of the ancient local cultivars and hence we wanted to try to find them. We weren't very successful (i.e. didn't manage to find the actual plants), but found people who might be able to assist us with future searches and/or even send us some samples. On the way back to Auckland I had a bit of time so I finally managed to read a series of articles by Kirk Huffman, a prominent anthropologist and a respected expert on kava's history, culture and modern use. Kirk presents a very interesting overview of kava's history and effects as well as a thought-provoking account of the developments that led to kava's increasing popularity and the so-called "ban" in Europe (now lifted).
I thought you might find some of his observations interesting, so I've collected a few longer quotes:
Read moreA guest post by Garry Stoner from TK Labs
Does kava get you "high"?
An often asked question, but one that requires some definitions. Most people have no qualms about applying the term to the use of controversial substances like marijuana or to the abuse of common substances (such as sniffing glue), but hesitate to use the word when describing the effects of legally prescribed drugs which induce similar effects. To me, this carries the implication that if you're ingesting a substance under the direction of a "doctor", what you are feeling isn't "high".
Read moreA guest Post by Garry Stoner of TK Labs.
As its popularity increases, you don't have to look very far to find someone who's "tried" kava. Both in person and online, many are giving their account of kava experiences. But the sad thing is, many are wrong - they haven't actually tried kava. Kava, in one form or another, is available from a vast number of sources, but a surprisingly small percentage of products actually qualify as true kava, at least in the South Pacific sense.
Read more
