The Kava Blog

When less is more: making the most of your kava with the right ratio and pace

How you prepare and drink your kava can matter as much as which kava you choose. The same powder, prepared at a different ratio and consumed at a different pace, can produce very different experien...

Kava and caffeine

Kava and caffeine share a metabolic pathway in the liver (CYP1A2). Kava slows the rate at which the liver clears caffeine, so a coffee you would normally tolerate can hit harder and last longer if ...

Different ways of drinking kava and the art of "listening to the kava"

There's more than one way to drink kava. We look at the social, dilute style favoured in Tonga and Fiji, the stronger and more contemplative style of Vanuatu, and the practice of "listening to the ...

Best kava chasers

Most kava drinkers find the taste challenging. The traditional answer is a chaser, a drink or snack consumed between quick shells of kava rather than mixed into the drink itself. Our picks: fresh f...

What is the right amount of kava?

How much kava should you drink? Most people respond well to 10g to 15g of instant kava or around 35g of traditional grind per session. The longer answer covers where the "250mg maximum" actually ca...

How to make your evening kava session great

A practical guide to a relaxed evening kava session at home: which cultivar to pick, how to prepare it (with reference to R&P's research on water temperature, kneading time and fats), pacing th...

Can kava get you high?

A 2015 guest post by Garry Stoner of T.K. Group Labs. Does kava get you "high"? Garry walks through what "high" actually means and why kava sits in a category of its own among psychoactive plants.

Nakamal diaries

In late December a few of us travelled to Port Vila to spend time in the local nakamals and talk to Vanuatu's drinkers, farmers, and vendors. A short travel diary about kava bars, fresh-root kava, ...