Caveman attempts tasty kava smoothie, is unsuccessful.

[Blomdor]

In my excitement to get in on the recent burst of kava recipe creation here on the forums, I decided to try blending three tablespoons of straight up, ground Fijian waka from Bula Kava House (thankee much, BTW, Judd; this stuff is great!) directly into a combination of soy-based vanilla ice cream, milk and frozen mixed berries. This is clearly not the best idea I've ever had, but I thought that perhaps it was worth a shot.

The resulting smoothie tasted...like kava. It overpowered almost every other flavor that could come from a blend of vanilla ice cream, milk, and berries. I successfully made the concoction somewhat more palatable by pouring a large amount of sugar into it, but it never approached anything resembling tasty. On a more successful note, it was a dark and murky shade of purple rather than simply being brown.

My experiment leads me to conclude that I must be patient and wait until I can order instant before I am fully able to join the head mixologist and crew in finding delicious kava kombinations which can be sipped and actually savored for their flavor as well as effects.

My apologies if this is not thread-worthy, but I wanted to at least vent my disappointment. Perhaps ye all will have some ideas, but really I think that the standard root powder is just too overpowering, taste-wise.

 

[kavadude]

Yeah, drinking straight kava is a bad idea for a variety of reasons.

 

[Blomdor]

Hmm...

I have been worried about that. Canst thou elaborate? Is it more taxing on the liver? I can tell from this and previous foolery that it's harder on the stomach, but I am a caveman and am not afraid of consuming almost anything.

 

[HeadHodge]

If you're into experimenting, I've had good luck with using ripe bananas with my Kava. They add a strong sweet flavor to your grog that makes it pretty tasty . The only reason I don't do it more often is that I'm on a low carb diet and bananas aren't particularly low-carb. (Oh and I added some Splenda for extra sweetness).

 

[Gourmet Hawaiian Kava]

Hi Blomdor, thanks for sharing this with us, that way we do not have to make the same mistake, not that drinking kava is a mistake.
But I like vanilla for it's flavor so if the kava overpowers it then I would say I would want it separate but you are right the instant kava will enable you to create more and not worry about the flavor too much. Keep trying. Aloha.

Chris

 

[Deleted User01]

Blomdor, mixing instant Kava in a smoothie or a Kava Kocktail is a a sure thing. Powder is very difficult. You need to use a very melllow tasting powder to do this. Also you might think about getting some of those mixers in the frozen section of the grocery store and experiment with them. They are concentrated. Ex: I mixed a tablespoon of a frozen Pina Colada mix from Barcardi with some very mellow Hawaiian from GHK. I was able to sip it instead of gulp it. I also highly recommend you strain your Kava. If you don't have time, then do what I do. Make a big batch, bottle it, and put in the fridge. It takes just as much time to strain 5 tablespoons as it does to strain 2 cups of powder.

 

[Blomdor]

I fully agree with ye; proper straining, in my experience, produces an altogether much better, more agreeable, and more palatable drink than simply throwing kava and liquid together. Let's just say that I do silly things at times...thankee for suggesting the mixers; will certainly look into them.

@HeadHodge: I've been wanting to try a banana/kava mix for a while, now. For some reason it just sounds good.

When I can finally order some good instant, I'll be trying all sorts of things. Fresh oranges, limes, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, pineapple, cranberry, apple, pear, etc. Very excited. Yarr!

 

[TidyMinion]

From what i've read, isn't it kind of a traditional thing to have fresh fruit while having shells of kava? So a good fruit and kava smoothie would be a modern take on that tradition. I also notice that having something like fresh cut mango pieces in between bowls is really enjoyable and also think it boosts the effects in some way.