Ok... carbonated 'awa really doesn't work out very well. I found its ok to carefully add a few ounces of 'awa to come good carbonated mineral water occasionally, but adding carbonated water to 'awa can cause an eruption of foam. While carbonating dilute 'awa works, and looks a little like beer, I didn't find it adds anything to the experience.
Also, although citric and ascorbic acids can highlight the mild fruity favor of fresh high quality Hawaiian 'awa, I found malic acid makes the 'awa taste old and musty.
I tried increasing the temperature of the water it seemed that something was missing in the resulting 'awa compared to keeping the maximum temperature below 115 F or 45 C. The enzymes seemed to work fine at those temperature, making the 'awa easier to filter and getting more kavalactones out in the first wash. For me the biggest benefit to using the enzymes was that it relieved me of the stomach irritation that used to interfere with enjoying a strong batch of 'awa. I stopped using the dextrin in my 'awa for awhile but found using 1/8 to 1/4 tsp with a one or two enzyme caps per 2 Tsp
Medium Grind Awa and
a pint of water stirred for at least 20 minutes results in a smooth and satisfying 'awa beverage which begins to noticeable in five to ten minutes.
This whole process takes a little time to prepare so I make little batches throughout the day and let it all chill in the fridge in a glass pitcher so I can just relax in the evening and always have some left over that keeps getting smoother in the pitcher overnight. It was interesting to hear from
Henry that a kava bar in ny uses a process like this too.
UPDATE: After a week I started to get some uncomfortable effects (tension and agitation) from consuming 'awa beverages made with the broad spectrum enzymes, so I reverted back to using just dextrin and right away returned to good effects and a very weak second wash. I'm getting the idea that the starch in the chewed 'awa converted to dextrin which supported a natural and very specific extraction similar to chromatography, and the broad spectrum digestive enzymes introduced other things that would be best discarded with the makkas.
I also noticed that when I accidentally bumped the
gold stainless steel mesh coffee screen a couple times, the 'awa filtered through it faster, so I tried touching the rim of the screen cup with weak vibrating sander and the 'awa filtered through really fast! I checked the second wash from the vibration filtered batch and found that the it didn't have much potency so reduced the overall filter time to less than a minute. I went back to using just a pint cold well water with the 1/4tsp dextrin and 2 Tsp
Medium Grind Awa stirred until very little floats, then pour through the vibrated coffee screen which resulted in about four cold strong four ounce drinks in just a couple minutes, which I usually take a few hours to consume. I now collect all the second wash in a clean two liter soda bottle in the fridge and carbonate when the bottle is full, which resulted in an interesting soft drink.