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Varietal opinions for my business

Bigkarma

Kava Curious
Hey everyone, i hope you all are having a great start to your day! I am looking to make a menu per-say of common varietals and needing you all's input. I will try to explain this as easy as possible to relay as to what i am asking of you, so let me say it like this.

Say you have never drank a beer and you wander into a local pub just curiously and sit down at the bar. The bartender asks you "what can i get you?" and then proceeds to rattle down a list of domestic beers such as Coors Light, Bud Light, Budweiser, Michelob Ultra, Miller etc and then begins adding the Import options in such as Corona, Corona Light, Modelo, etc. etc. Basically at that point you find yourself overwhelmed. So what i am looking to put together is a simple menu for someone who knows nothing about kava. People here in Oklahoma pretty much know beer, but Kava is a weird word to them especially around these parts.

The easiest possible way that i can think of doing this is like this:

Kava#1- House (most affordable, but still smooth tasting)
Kava#2-Social, alert,motivating
Kava#3-Stoned, heavy, sedating
Kava#4-Top Shelf, Special in some way

I need the "House" to be easily available that way i am not rotating stock every few months on a new blend of affordable Kava.
The rest i am curious as to what your input would be? Thank you for any help with this!
 

The Kap'n

The Groggy Kaptain (40g)
KavaForums Founder
House: Borogu / Boroguru / Borongoru
Social: Moi / Pouni Ono / Nambawan
Stoned: Hiwa / Papa Kea / MeloMelo
Top Shelf: 5 Star or Wow! Kava. Something with a distinct taste. Possibly nambawan would work in this position too.
 

sɥɐʞɐs

Avg. Dosage: 8 Tbsp. (58g)
Review Maestro
House kava - would probably be Borogu or a Borogu blend. That's the most common variety out of Vanuatu, so usually the easiest to find and cheapest...not that any are cheap these days.

Social kava - High kavain, low DHM....most tongan kavas, many hawaiian kavas, like Mo'i and proper Samoan kava fit this. There are fijian and Vanuatu kavas that fit this bill as well though.

Stoned kava - Relatively high DHM and or Methysticin. It's possible to find noble cultivars that have this quality, but it's not as easy as naming a cultivar and then going out and buying it. Non-noble varieties do allow you to do this though, Isa, 'iwi, tudei kavas...are all stoney and sedating. (I'd stick with Isa or an Isa blend if you have to go this route)

Top shelf - Fresh undried kava root juice or Klin Kava's 5 star powder.


the truth is, if you're not out there traveling the pacific islands and making your own kava connections, you're gonna end up sourcing most or all of your kava from the same major wholesalers that most people in your position end up using.
 
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Krunkie McKrunkface

Kava Connoisseur
If I were you I would just stick with your 4 desired effects and master blending towards those effects, so you aren't a prisoner of availability. As for the top shelf, I'd make those not a blend but just go with the market and call it : Top shelf of the month, so you can be free to, e.g. take advantage of unusual sudden availability, like when Ambae sadly blew up and they had no choice but to sell their melomelo. They did need to sell it, they also needed the money, and it's something we rarely see here, except in blends. That the top shelf changes would be a selling point, at least for connoisseurs.
 
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Bigkarma

Kava Curious
House: Borogu / Boroguru / Borongoru
Social: Moi / Pouni Ono / Nambawan
Stoned: Hiwa / Papa Kea / MeloMelo
Top Shelf: 5 Star or Wow! Kava. Something with a distinct taste. Possibly nambawan would work in this position too.
Thank you i appreciate the input.
 

Bigkarma

Kava Curious
House kava - would probably be Borogu or a Borogu blend. That's the most common variety out of Vanuatu, so usually the easiest to find and cheapest...not that any are cheap these days.

Social kava - High kavain, low DHM....most tongan kavas kavas, many hawaiian kavas, like Mo'i and proper Samoan kava fit this. There are fijian and Vanuatu kavas that fit this bill as well though.

Stoned kava - Relatively high DHM and or Methysticin. It's possible to find noble cultivars that have this quality, but it's not as easy as naming a cultivar and then going out and buying it. Non-noble varieties do allow you to do this though, Isa, 'iwi, tudei kavas...are all stoney and sedating. (I'd stick with Isa or an Isa blend if you have to go this route)

Top shelf - Fresh undried kava root juice or Klin Kava's 5 star powder.


the truth is, if you're not out there traveling the pacific islands and making your own kava connections, you're gonna end up sourcing most or all of your kava from the same major wholesalers that most people in your position end up using.
I thank you for your information, and yes you are correct about sourcing my kava from the same major wholesalers as the rest. That is about the only option i have as of now. I guess the only issues i have received lately is getting a hold of some wholesalers that seem to be MIA as of now. Isa sounds like an option for sure mainly because a lot of these people around here are on Methamphetamine severely bad, so something heavy hitting might just help them with their recovery. I am around people of all types: The people who have, the people who don't, the happy, and the severely hurting. We Country Brother...Thanks again!
 

Bigkarma

Kava Curious
If I were you I would just stick with your 4 desired effects and master blending towards those effects, so you aren't a prisoner of availability. Learn to blend a variety of kavas for those effects and then you aren't at the mercy of out of stock situations. As for the top shelf, I'd make those not a blend but just go with the market and call it : Top shelf of the month, so you can be free to, e.g. take advantage of unusual sudden availability, like when Ambae sadly blew up and they had no choice but to sell their melomelo. They did need to sell it, they also needed the money, and it's something we rarely see here, except in blends. That the top shelf changes would be a selling point, at least for connoisseurs.
That is an excellent idea! i applaud you my friend. Rotating stock about once a month on top shelf would be a brilliant idea. Blending will take some time, but i am up for the challenge. Big ups for the idea
 

Bigkarma

Kava Curious
Could you all recommend a good Isa' or tudei to try (meaning what supplier should i order this from)? I have already ordered three different varietals to test out and have no real idea what vendor to look for isa's.
 

Krunkie McKrunkface

Kava Connoisseur
That is an excellent idea! i applaud you my friend. Rotating stock about once a month on top shelf would be a brilliant idea. Blending will take some time, but i am up for the challenge. Big ups for the idea
here's something to try: two of the cheapest kavas around are only really sort of so-so on their own but put them together and they are very very good, if not excellent. I am speaking of a 50-50 blend of Best Fijian Waka and Tikaram's Kava Tonga from FijiMarket in Hawaii. Makes for a delicious blend, easy to drink at any time of the day, mildly euphoric but very balanced. Worth a try, IMO. And they seem to be available in extremely consistent supply and in large quantities.

PS my wife is really fond of a blend of the Best Fijian Lawena with Tikaram's Kava Tonga which makes for a very tasty and very light blond grog, for when you want something that tastes light but kicks in quick. I prefer the blend with the waka, but her's is a very good blend. I think people who have never tried these would be pleasantly surprised. Also, for a nakamal, it's cheap kava that tastes and feels like expensive kava.
 

fait

Position 5 Hard Support
While a lot of kava varieties are well-known for having sedating or social effects, a lot of kavas are balanced between the two. Your house kava will fit this category but it may be good to keep a higher-end balanced kava that's not quite "top shelf" just in case people want to either try something new or don't feel a great need to have a mostly heavy or a mostly heady variety.

Some balanced kavas include Kalm with Kava's Fiji Loa Waka and Gourmet Hawaiian Kava's Mahakea. There are no shortage of other kavas that offer typically balanced effects.
 

Palmetto

Thank God!
For the stoned effect, I would avoid tudei, but that's just me coing off more than a year of too much heavy roots. That being said, I'm trying to finish up the last pound of gifted Isa. For house, I'd definitely say borogu. Stoned, maybe Papa Ele Ele or a Vanuatu 243xxx. Social would be a high kavain Polynesian or Fijian.
 

Bigkarma

Kava Curious
here's something to try: two of the cheapest kavas around are only really sort of so-so on their own but put them together and they are very very good, if not excellent. I am speaking of a 50-50 blend of Best Fijian Waka and Tikaram's Kava Tonga from FijiMarket in Hawaii. Makes for a delicious blend, easy to drink at any time of the day, mildly euphoric but very balanced. Worth a try, IMO. And they seem to be available in extremely consistent supply and in large quantities.

PS my wife is really fond of a blend of the Best Fijian Lawena with Tikaram's Kava Tonga which makes for a very tasty and very light blond grog, for when you want something that tastes light but kicks in quick. I prefer the blend with the waka, but her's is a very good blend. I think people who have never tried these would be pleasantly surprised. Also, for a nakamal, it's cheap kava that tastes and feels like expensive kava.
Have you by chance ever tried their Vanuatu? I contacted them yesterday and he sent me a price list over. The minimum order is almost 7 Kilos. You are right about it being affordable, but I don't know anything about the company at all. Honestly I am scared to drop that much coin on a product that I don't know much about even though it is "cheap" persay.

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Krunkie McKrunkface

Kava Connoisseur
Have you by chance ever tried their Vanuatu? I contacted them yesterday and he sent me a price list over. The minimum order is almost 7 Kilos. You are right about it being affordable, but I don't know anything about the company at all. Honestly I am scared to drop that much coin on a product that I don't know much about even though it is "cheap" persay.

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Which company? One is in Cali and the other in Hawaii, and they both sell a Vanuatu variety. The Best Fijian Vanuatu is not one I usually recommend. The Tikaram's Vanuatu is better, but they are both very strong and decidedly heavy, I mean stronger than the usual or what one expects, and neither tastes especially good. But that blend I was recommending tastes great and is neither too strong nor too weak for average daily use.
 

Bigkarma

Kava Curious
Which company? One is in Cali and the other in Hawaii, and they both sell a Vanuatu variety. The Best Fijian Vanuatu is not one I usually recommend. The Tikaram's Vanuatu is better, but they are both very strong and decidedly heavy, I mean stronger than the usual or what one expects, and neither tastes especially good. But that blend I was recommending tastes great and is neither too strong nor too weak for average daily use.
Ah I must have missed that for some reason. I thought you were just talking about the place in Hawaii. I will have to check out the other place to see what they have to offer. Thanks again for your help.


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