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Kava Preparation Batches

Hello! New to Kava. I have tried it twice now. The first 15 minutes-hour, I've felt relief from anxiety and felt good, but it does not last long. I used Kalm with Kava - about 3 TBS. I had another small cup about 2 hours later both times which had the same effect. I enjoyed it, but it was a lot of work for a short amount of relief. I've read on this site to have a second shell 15-20 min after the first. Is that the best plan for an evening? Two shells - about 20 min. apart? How long would the effects of that generally last?

Secondly, does it need to be prepared immediately prior to consumption? Could you make up a batch of like a gallon for the week?

Thanks for any help!
BN
 
Also, I am getting familiar with quantities and prices of kava, but wondering what's a good price/brand for micronized options?
 

The Kap'n

The Groggy Kaptain (40g)
KavaForums Founder
Hello! New to Kava. I have tried it twice now. The first 15 minutes-hour, I've felt relief from anxiety and felt good, but it does not last long. I used Kalm with Kava - about 3 TBS. I had another small cup about 2 hours later both times which had the same effect. I enjoyed it, but it was a lot of work for a short amount of relief. I've read on this site to have a second shell 15-20 min after the first. Is that the best plan for an evening? Two shells - about 20 min. apart? How long would the effects of that generally last?

Secondly, does it need to be prepared immediately prior to consumption? Could you make up a batch of like a gallon for the week?

Thanks for any help!
BN
Hi there. Welcome!

First, glad to have you with us. Second, the 20 minute suggestion is a great one. It helps a person new to kava find their "sweet spot".

One special thing about kava is what we call a "reverse tolerance" effect. It's debated as to whether the initial difficulty to feel effects that some experience is due to this or not, but as you drink kava you'll notice the same amount giving you stronger and stronger effects lasting a bit longer each time. I drink noble kava (specifically Kalm with Kava Borongoru) and there are many days of the week I can still feel the kava clinging on when I wake up the next morning. I personally like it. It gives what our users have dubbed as a "shield effect", helping to continue fight anxiety even into the next day.

On making a gallon, you could, but by the end of the week you'd be giving your bucket a few select explicates due to the....less than unappealing taste. Kava gains a sour flavor after it's been stored for a long time. What you can do is pour the kava into ice cube trays and freeze them for later use or to kick up an already prepared batch.

Kava will keep in the fridge for a few days. By day 3 or 4 the texture and taste start to take a turn. Any kava at room temp should be consumed immediately.
 

fait

Position 5 Hard Support
Hello! New to Kava. I have tried it twice now. The first 15 minutes-hour, I've felt relief from anxiety and felt good, but it does not last long. I used Kalm with Kava - about 3 TBS. I had another small cup about 2 hours later both times which had the same effect. I enjoyed it, but it was a lot of work for a short amount of relief. I've read on this site to have a second shell 15-20 min after the first. Is that the best plan for an evening? Two shells - about 20 min. apart? How long would the effects of that generally last?

Secondly, does it need to be prepared immediately prior to consumption? Could you make up a batch of like a gallon for the week?

Thanks for any help!
BN
@Kapmcrunk 's post above my own is good advice.

About pacing your cups of grog, 15-20 minutes is a good frequency. You can drink more at once or you can space it out a little more, but you definitely want to have more than two cups. I'd say on a low-key evening by yourself, 3 cups of about 5 fl oz per cup is a good volume. You can always drink more volume over time or at once, that's the nice thing about kava is the pacing is variable. As a newbie, the most burdensome task of drinking kava besides the prep is figuring out what is a good pace for you. Stick with it and you'll figure out how much kava to drink per cup and how many cups per session.

Once you get the swing of doing kava with traditional prep, it ceases to be burdensome. Turn on some tunes while you knead and it's the prelude therapy to your first cup. If you don't have time for traditional prep, give the Aluballs a try. For decent potency with the Aluball method, I recommend having 2 of them instead of one. If you go with more Aluballs than 2, you'll want a higher-capacity shaker to fit them all. They need room to move around.
 
These are great suggestions, thank you so much!! The ice tray is genius and I like the idea of kneading as calming/meditative. I don't know that I kneaded enough the first time. I did read about the reverse tolerance, but there is SO much info about the various aspects of kava, it's really nice to have the forums to help prioritize what to focus on learning.
 

Edward

Aluballin' in the UK
Kava Vendor
Don't be put off instant kava powder by the price. I find it works out very similar in the long run. I mean true instant though, not micro. It's easy to prepare and you can't go far wrong with them in general. Two stand out options are the instant from Root of Happiness and the Vanuatu Instant Green from Bula Kava House. GHK have some nice instants too. Instants are worth a try to add something different to your experience. I'm a big fan of them.
 

Edward

Aluballin' in the UK
Kava Vendor
Awesome, thanks, Edward. I also had to look up the difference between micro and instant. Golly, there's a lot to learn!
Well then there's "fresh" frozen which you can sometimes get from Root of Happiness and occasionally others. Also dried kava roots for chewing that realkava.com sometimes have!
 
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