methysticin in Fijian kava

[verticity]

No offense taken. I am a kailoma.
"A kailoma (‘others’ in the census classification), also known as a Part-European or half-caste, is “someone descended from a European man married to an Indigenous Fijian or Rotuman woman [from Fijian]” - Macquarie Dictionary of English for the Fiji Islands.
My ancestor arrived here in 1820. I look "whiter" than most kailoma though, because my grandfather went off to war and returned with an aussie girl he met in Sydney on the way back.

I see. My apologies. I just thought your avatar photo of yourself looked like you were Indian. That'll teach me to make assumptions based on appearances.

 

[verticity]

I am surprised that @verticity doesn't care about taste/smell etc. When I started my kava adventure I assumed that every kava tasted the same (i.e. like crap) and just focused on the effects. But with time I started appreciating the importance of flavour. It's not like I drink kava for its taste or sip it slowly, but I just know that some kavas are so mild/sweet or a bit nutty that I can drink them without getting my stomach and face twisted.
When we were looking for our Tongan kava I got around 15 samples of kava from the same village but grown and processed by different farmers. Before sending samples to Garry we did our own organoleptic tests. There were a few kavas that we didn't even touch simply because they had a very unpleasant smell. One kava looked dirty so we didn't touch it either. The sample that we sent to Garry was actually the mildest tasting, easiest to drink one. It felt a bit stronger than the other ones, but its key advantage was how smooth tasting it was. We later found out that the difference wasn't due to cultivar, but the fact that most farmers didn't clean or dry their kava properly.

Yup. I have not achieved true kava connoisseur status as far as taste goes. I do drink a lot of kava, and I guess I am a connoisseur of the effects, and enjoy the subtly different psychoactive effects of different varieties. As far as the taste: I do definitely notice that different kavas have different tastes. I just don't like any of them. lol. There is a certain amount of, not enjoyment of the taste, but sort of like Pavlovian conditioning: when I taste kava I anticipate the pleasurable effects, but that's a very different thing than savoring the flavor.

And your "Mighty Tongan" was indeed one of the mildest kavas I have ever tasted (with great effects I might add). But that's kind of like saying "this particular breed of goat balls is one of the mildest goat ball varieties". It still tastes like goat balls.