Hi everyone, I wanted to find out a bit more about the different grinds that are on the market and how much we really get from it, I have a lot of data to calculate and go through so I will post that tomorrow but here are the pictures of the different kava grinds.
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This is the Tongan Micronized kava I sell---
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This is the Vanuatu med. grind, I was surprised that I got 3 separate particle sizes with this kava.
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This is a micronized Mahakea from a local Hawaiian seller, (not mine).
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This is a Fiji kava, med. grind
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This is a Fiji kava in the coarse grind.
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This is my Vanuatu instant kava.
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This is a picture of some Moi' extract, this is a CO2 extract, nice and yellow.
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I hope you enjoy the pictures, aloha.
Please let me know if you have any questions or if you would like to see certain pictures. Aloha
Chris
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Hi everyone, it seems that I had too much kava to drink when I did my math on this first post, it is still there and has all the pictures but this post will only have the correct data and not the pictures, please refer to the old post for the pictures.
What I wanted to do in this experiment was to see how much kava we actually use and actually throw away based on the different grinds and how fine the powder was, in microns. Some examples of micron size's are, Mold Spores are 10-30 microns, the eye of a needle is 1,230 microns.
We know that traditionally they did throw away the fibers after getting all the kavalactones out. So are the coarse fibers supposed to be thrown away, do they cause unwanted effects like stomach discomfort?
The average shell of kava in Vanuatu has about 1-1.5g of psychoactive resin in the emulsion of kava juice (Lebott 1988).
We know that a average person will drink about 2-6 shells or more, I am going to base this talk on only 2 shells of kava.
With 2 shells of kava you will have an average of 2-3g of psychoactive resin or kavalactones. Keep in mind that this information from Dr. Lebot was obtained using fresh kava root beverage like you would find in the nakamal's of Vanuatu.
The dry powder will be about the same amounts of kavalactones per serving I would think, depending on how strong you make it. It takes about 1 pound of fresh root to make 6 cups of fresh kava like in Vanuatu, it takes 5 pounds of fresh root to make 1 pound of powder kava.
I decided for the kava powder experiment that I would go with the measurement of a tablespoon and not an exact weight like 50 grams or something like that, I did this because each different grind has a different density and most people will measure there kava with a tablespoon anyway.
In this experiment I used the weight of 1 teaspoon of each kind of kava and then I screened the kava through several different micron screens so I can see the size of the particles.
Most of the time, for regular kava I will use 2 tablespoons per cup of water and I will add 2 cups of water so that means I use 4 tablespoons per cup of water, sometimes it will be more or less depending on how strong the kava is.
I tested 6 different kava and several different grinds, these are the results---
#1--Micronized kava--4 tablespoons used, weight of 4 tbsp = 23.2g
When I screened this it came out with 2 different particle sizes, 1 was 16g less than 40 microns and the other was 7.2g just over 120 microns, so that means that we throw away 7.2g of the coarse kava and we would get 19.5 2 cup drinks from this kava. Note that the 7.2g of kava that was just over 120 microns, that will still go through your strainer, so you could drink the (true micronized) kava with no filtering so that means you would get 195, 2 cup servings.
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#2 Vanuatu Med. grind---
4 tbsp = 25.2g of kava, I use 4 tbsp of kava per cup of water and I add 2 cups of water.
When I screen this kava I came up with 3 different size particle, 1 was 6g less than 40 microns, 1 was about 6g 100 microns and 1 was 13.2g of about 350 microns, this is the stuff we throw away.
So if we are throwing away 13.2g of kava we are using 12.g of kava with this grind so we can get about about 37.8, 2 cup drinks from this grind, per pound of dry powder using 4 tablespoons of kava.
This kava was great, I like it a lot, This was a good kava, and 2 cups does the job just fine
#3 Micronized Mahakea ---
4 tbsp = 24g of kava, I use 4 tbsp of kava per cup of water and I add 2 cups of water.
When I screen this kava I came up with 2 different size particle, 1 was 14g less than 100 microns, and 1 was 10g of about 220 microns, this is the stuff that gives the micronized the gritty taste, also note that this says is was micronized but because of the particle size it is not a true micronized kava, it is just a fine grind.
So if we are throwing away 10g of kava we are using 14.g of kava with this grind so we can get about about 32.4, 2 cup drinks from this grind, per pound of dry powder using 4 tablespoons of kava.
This kava was not that good, it seemed weak and I was disappointed in the grind, I was hoping for it to be a finer grind.
#4 Fiji Med. Grind ---
4 tbsp = 32.8g of kava, I use 4 tbsp of kava per cup of water and I add 2 cups of water.
When I screen this kava I came up with 2 different size particle, 1 was 18.8g less than 100 microns, and 1 was 14g of about 500 microns, this is the stuff that gets thrown away.
So if we are throwing away 14g of kava we are using 18.8g of kava with this grind so we can get about about 24.1, 2 cup drinks from this grind, per pound of dry powder using 4 tablespoons of kava.
This kava was a good kava and it was nice and strong, be aware that there are some Fiji kava that because of the high content of DHK and DHM it will cause some stomach discomfort but not all, so it is important to buy your Fiji kava from someone who knows about it and has even tried it and can tell you if it does have that undesired effect.
#5 Fiji Coarse Grind ---
4 tbsp = 28.8g of kava, I use 4 tbsp of kava per cup of water and I add 2 cups of water.
When I screen this kava I came up with 2 different size particle, 1 was 6g less than 100 microns, and 1 was 22.8g of about 2000 microns (that is big), this is the stuff that gets thrown away.
So if we are throwing away 22.8g of kava we are using 6g of kava with this grind so we can get about about 75.6, 2 cup drinks from this grind, per pound of dry powder using 4 tablespoons of kava.
This kava was not very good because there was not enough powder making it to the drink, so the drink was very weak, this makes more servings but it is more weak servings and this is only because the grind was not finer, it was too coarse.
#6 Vanuatu instant kava---
Vanuatu instant--- I use 2 teaspoons not table spoons for this kava, I add 2 cups of water. 2 Teaspoon of this weighs 6g and since it is less than 25 microns it is very fine and does not have any larger particle size so you just mix with the water and drink. You get to use all the powder, so you get 75.6, 2 cup servings from 1 pound of Vanuatu instant.
I like this kava, it is strong and works well, I like the fact that it is instant, it is finer than the micronized and you get no stomach discomfort ( I think because you are not drinking more of the fibers like in the micronized).
This powder is as close as your going to get to drinking the fresh root like in Vanuatu or even here in Hawaii.
The CO2 Extract was just a bonus, I wanted to add the picture to show you what the color of the kavalactones are, when I harvest the kava plant, if it is yellow instead of white, then we know it is going to be good.
I hope you all enjoyed the pictures and that you can all see how much of the kava you are really getting, I understand how the micronized can cause stomach discomfort but after I strained out the 120 micron particles, I could no longer taste the grittiness and I did not have any stomach discomfort with this.
Again that is why traditionally weather it was fresh root or dry kava powder, they would always strain it.
The Vanuatu instant is made from the dehydrated fresh drink so there is no fibers in there, they throw it away, I think that could be the key to stopping or reducing the stomach problems with the fine grind kava. Please let me know if you have any questions or if you would like to see certain pictures. Aloha
Chris
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This is the Tongan Micronized kava I sell---
-
This is the Vanuatu med. grind, I was surprised that I got 3 separate particle sizes with this kava.
-
-
This is a micronized Mahakea from a local Hawaiian seller, (not mine).
-
-
This is a Fiji kava, med. grind
-
-
This is a Fiji kava in the coarse grind.
-
-
This is my Vanuatu instant kava.
-
-
This is a picture of some Moi' extract, this is a CO2 extract, nice and yellow.
-
-
I hope you enjoy the pictures, aloha.
Please let me know if you have any questions or if you would like to see certain pictures. Aloha
Chris
_____________________________________________________________________
Hi everyone, it seems that I had too much kava to drink when I did my math on this first post, it is still there and has all the pictures but this post will only have the correct data and not the pictures, please refer to the old post for the pictures.
What I wanted to do in this experiment was to see how much kava we actually use and actually throw away based on the different grinds and how fine the powder was, in microns. Some examples of micron size's are, Mold Spores are 10-30 microns, the eye of a needle is 1,230 microns.
We know that traditionally they did throw away the fibers after getting all the kavalactones out. So are the coarse fibers supposed to be thrown away, do they cause unwanted effects like stomach discomfort?
The average shell of kava in Vanuatu has about 1-1.5g of psychoactive resin in the emulsion of kava juice (Lebott 1988).
We know that a average person will drink about 2-6 shells or more, I am going to base this talk on only 2 shells of kava.
With 2 shells of kava you will have an average of 2-3g of psychoactive resin or kavalactones. Keep in mind that this information from Dr. Lebot was obtained using fresh kava root beverage like you would find in the nakamal's of Vanuatu.
The dry powder will be about the same amounts of kavalactones per serving I would think, depending on how strong you make it. It takes about 1 pound of fresh root to make 6 cups of fresh kava like in Vanuatu, it takes 5 pounds of fresh root to make 1 pound of powder kava.
I decided for the kava powder experiment that I would go with the measurement of a tablespoon and not an exact weight like 50 grams or something like that, I did this because each different grind has a different density and most people will measure there kava with a tablespoon anyway.
In this experiment I used the weight of 1 teaspoon of each kind of kava and then I screened the kava through several different micron screens so I can see the size of the particles.
Most of the time, for regular kava I will use 2 tablespoons per cup of water and I will add 2 cups of water so that means I use 4 tablespoons per cup of water, sometimes it will be more or less depending on how strong the kava is.
I tested 6 different kava and several different grinds, these are the results---
#1--Micronized kava--4 tablespoons used, weight of 4 tbsp = 23.2g
When I screened this it came out with 2 different particle sizes, 1 was 16g less than 40 microns and the other was 7.2g just over 120 microns, so that means that we throw away 7.2g of the coarse kava and we would get 19.5 2 cup drinks from this kava. Note that the 7.2g of kava that was just over 120 microns, that will still go through your strainer, so you could drink the (true micronized) kava with no filtering so that means you would get 195, 2 cup servings.
.
#2 Vanuatu Med. grind---
4 tbsp = 25.2g of kava, I use 4 tbsp of kava per cup of water and I add 2 cups of water.
When I screen this kava I came up with 3 different size particle, 1 was 6g less than 40 microns, 1 was about 6g 100 microns and 1 was 13.2g of about 350 microns, this is the stuff we throw away.
So if we are throwing away 13.2g of kava we are using 12.g of kava with this grind so we can get about about 37.8, 2 cup drinks from this grind, per pound of dry powder using 4 tablespoons of kava.
This kava was great, I like it a lot, This was a good kava, and 2 cups does the job just fine
#3 Micronized Mahakea ---
4 tbsp = 24g of kava, I use 4 tbsp of kava per cup of water and I add 2 cups of water.
When I screen this kava I came up with 2 different size particle, 1 was 14g less than 100 microns, and 1 was 10g of about 220 microns, this is the stuff that gives the micronized the gritty taste, also note that this says is was micronized but because of the particle size it is not a true micronized kava, it is just a fine grind.
So if we are throwing away 10g of kava we are using 14.g of kava with this grind so we can get about about 32.4, 2 cup drinks from this grind, per pound of dry powder using 4 tablespoons of kava.
This kava was not that good, it seemed weak and I was disappointed in the grind, I was hoping for it to be a finer grind.
#4 Fiji Med. Grind ---
4 tbsp = 32.8g of kava, I use 4 tbsp of kava per cup of water and I add 2 cups of water.
When I screen this kava I came up with 2 different size particle, 1 was 18.8g less than 100 microns, and 1 was 14g of about 500 microns, this is the stuff that gets thrown away.
So if we are throwing away 14g of kava we are using 18.8g of kava with this grind so we can get about about 24.1, 2 cup drinks from this grind, per pound of dry powder using 4 tablespoons of kava.
This kava was a good kava and it was nice and strong, be aware that there are some Fiji kava that because of the high content of DHK and DHM it will cause some stomach discomfort but not all, so it is important to buy your Fiji kava from someone who knows about it and has even tried it and can tell you if it does have that undesired effect.
#5 Fiji Coarse Grind ---
4 tbsp = 28.8g of kava, I use 4 tbsp of kava per cup of water and I add 2 cups of water.
When I screen this kava I came up with 2 different size particle, 1 was 6g less than 100 microns, and 1 was 22.8g of about 2000 microns (that is big), this is the stuff that gets thrown away.
So if we are throwing away 22.8g of kava we are using 6g of kava with this grind so we can get about about 75.6, 2 cup drinks from this grind, per pound of dry powder using 4 tablespoons of kava.
This kava was not very good because there was not enough powder making it to the drink, so the drink was very weak, this makes more servings but it is more weak servings and this is only because the grind was not finer, it was too coarse.
#6 Vanuatu instant kava---
Vanuatu instant--- I use 2 teaspoons not table spoons for this kava, I add 2 cups of water. 2 Teaspoon of this weighs 6g and since it is less than 25 microns it is very fine and does not have any larger particle size so you just mix with the water and drink. You get to use all the powder, so you get 75.6, 2 cup servings from 1 pound of Vanuatu instant.
I like this kava, it is strong and works well, I like the fact that it is instant, it is finer than the micronized and you get no stomach discomfort ( I think because you are not drinking more of the fibers like in the micronized).
This powder is as close as your going to get to drinking the fresh root like in Vanuatu or even here in Hawaii.
The CO2 Extract was just a bonus, I wanted to add the picture to show you what the color of the kavalactones are, when I harvest the kava plant, if it is yellow instead of white, then we know it is going to be good.
I hope you all enjoyed the pictures and that you can all see how much of the kava you are really getting, I understand how the micronized can cause stomach discomfort but after I strained out the 120 micron particles, I could no longer taste the grittiness and I did not have any stomach discomfort with this.
Again that is why traditionally weather it was fresh root or dry kava powder, they would always strain it.
The Vanuatu instant is made from the dehydrated fresh drink so there is no fibers in there, they throw it away, I think that could be the key to stopping or reducing the stomach problems with the fine grind kava. Please let me know if you have any questions or if you would like to see certain pictures. Aloha
Chris
Ohhh extract ohh fiji ohhh moi where do i swipe my card
Where there''s a will there's a way when it comes to kava..lol..I made my bag of bundled root go bye-bye, and it wasn't by means of the sanitaton dept, I assure you
And that yellow extract..
