Wondering how our vendors kava compares to fresh kava on the islands
- Thread starter wormwood
- Start date
I can't speak to the real deal in Vanuatu like shakas can, but I've had "green" kava (kava prepared with defrosted frozen fresh root) and it tastes completely different. Like earthy-tasting cucumber water. Not bitter and dirty like dried.
Earthy tasting cucumber water. That's perfect.
kavadude
❦ॐ tanuki tamer
Aye, fresh frozen kava is like drinking a different thing entirely. @Kapmcrunk described it as "anesthetic green tea" which I thought was about right.
Kavafied
Kava Vendor
I was in 'Eua, Tonga this past summer for the Coronation of their new King and drinking the Kava fresh there was remarkably better than what even we can offer here in the states. Nothing like having something that hasn't had to travel thousands of miles to get to your cup. It would be great to get a big focus on agritourism down there as the Kava market grows.
Fresh kava tastes better and can easily be much stronger. I still remember my first big shell in Vanuatu. An immediate and very strong reaction. However, while it tastes a bit better, even fresh kava can cause some serious nausea (I assume that's because of the effect of kavalactones on the stomach).
kasa_balavu
Yaqona Dina
When you say fresh kava, do you mean that it was made from dried kava that had only just been harvested and dried, or do you mean fresh as in straight-out-of-the-ground (green) undried kava? I've been under the assumption that drinking fresh/green kava was no longer done anywhere outside of Vanuatu.
Kavafied
Kava Vendor
Not green, freshly harvested and dried
kasa_balavu
Yaqona Dina
Nice. Never been to Tonga myself, though it's such a short distance away.
BTW we should lock down the terminology. Kavaforums being *the* home of kava online, let's once and for all decide what to call undried kava.
Clearly as shown in this thread, "fresh" isn't good enough, simply implying that it's freshly harvested or recently dried.
The next best alternative seems to be "green". It certainly isn't ideal though. Any other suggestions? Once we have a few, we should create a vote thread and choose a name for undried kava.
BTW we should lock down the terminology. Kavaforums being *the* home of kava online, let's once and for all decide what to call undried kava.
Clearly as shown in this thread, "fresh" isn't good enough, simply implying that it's freshly harvested or recently dried.
The next best alternative seems to be "green". It certainly isn't ideal though. Any other suggestions? Once we have a few, we should create a vote thread and choose a name for undried kava.
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nabanga
Kava Enthusiast
Well prepared fresh ( green) kava is way better than dried powder, in terms of texture, taste and effects, but also, the quality of dried powder available on the mail- order market is getting better and better. I no longer think of dried powder as a poor substitute, a "better than nothing", as I used to 10 years ago.
Having said that I'd gladly saw off my thumb with a rusty penknife for a month on Tanna right now.
Having said that I'd gladly saw off my thumb with a rusty penknife for a month on Tanna right now.
@Kavafied I thought some people also green kava during big events in Tonga, dont they? Have you ever tried green kava?
In general, I struggle to understand why Tongans and Fijians insist on drinking dried kava even on their own island and even when they grow their own kava. @kasa_balavu ?
Btw, freshly dried kava is imho also potentially better than old powder. A study from the 1980s indicates that kava can lose up to 90% of kavalactones in just 3 years when it is stored in a non airtight container! Note that many vendors import their kava from the Pacific in simple sacks that spend months in transit and then more time in storage. It is likely that in the whole process it loses quite a lot of potency
In general, I struggle to understand why Tongans and Fijians insist on drinking dried kava even on their own island and even when they grow their own kava. @kasa_balavu ?
Btw, freshly dried kava is imho also potentially better than old powder. A study from the 1980s indicates that kava can lose up to 90% of kavalactones in just 3 years when it is stored in a non airtight container! Note that many vendors import their kava from the Pacific in simple sacks that spend months in transit and then more time in storage. It is likely that in the whole process it loses quite a lot of potency
I have recently tried some tongan kava that the grower finished processing literally a couple of days before I got it (straight from a farmer, brought to me by a friend visiting the islands). Just one big shell and my ears where full of kava ringing. Perhaps it was just some potent kava, but I am sure its "freshness" also mattered
kasa_balavu
Yaqona Dina
The big drinkers don't mind the taste of kava, which is one of the biggest reasons one might choose green over dried. If taste isn't an issue, than it just comes down to convenience. You harvest your kava and store the dried waka and lawena. Then you simply pound it into a powder when you're ready to drink it.
I guess people aren't motivated enough to go out and harvest their kava (which requires quite a bit of elbow-grease) every time they want to have a tanoa.
It doesnt seem to be a problem for kava drinkers in vanuatu.. I assume every day a diffetent guy harvests kava for their local nakamal.
kasa_balavu
Yaqona Dina
True. But in Vanuatu the local Nakamal is a business and has an incentive to obtain green kava. If there was no Nakamal, and everyone had to harvest their own kava for their own consumption every night, it'd be a PITA and the benefit of drying it first quickly become apparent.
That's another linguistic confusion
i think nakamal means "a meeting place"/community hall. I guess it is a bit like nz marae? But there are also urban nakamals, which are simply commercial bars. @nabanga please correct me if I am wrong.
nabanga
Kava Enthusiast
No, you're pretty much spot on there Henry.
In Vanuatu there are commercial "nakamals" in Port Vila, Luganville, Lenakel and Lakatoro, and a very few scattered in the smaller provincial centres. The Malvatumari council of Chiefs doesn't like these being called Nakamals, and rightly says they should be referred to as 'kava bars', reserving the name "nakamal" for the traditional village meeting place.
The traditional nakamal certainly serves as a place to drink kava, but has many other uses too - new yam festivities, circumcision ceremonies, dispute resolution etc. The traditional nakamal is very different in appearance in different parts of Vanuatu - it is a bush clearing in Tafea province, usually around a nabanga tree, with logs to sit on dotted around fireplaces, in Penama province it is a bamboo walled long house with chambers divided by rank, in Malekula & Ambrym a small bush clearing often with a collection of ancestral slit gongs.
In Vanuatu the commercial kava bars in the 2 towns buy in bulk from a dealer or have it shipped from outer islands themselves, and store it usually under damp sand, which keeps it from going rotten for a few weeks. They don't harvest themselves.
In the villages someone will go and pull a 30-40kg root, cut it up into 1-5kg pieces, and that will last a week or so for regular nightly drinking.
If it wasn't for the thriving (green) kava bar culture in the 2 main urban centres in Vanuatu, and people mostly just drank at home like they do in western Polynesia, I think the people in urban Vanuatu would be drinking a lot more dry powder too. There is no kava grown near the towns and as Kasa says, to prepare your own green kava every evening at home is a challenge. Wash, chop, scrape skin, dice, pound or machine-grind, mix & sieve. Prep of dry kava is far more suited to the few-people-drinking-at-home scenario.
In Vanuatu there are commercial "nakamals" in Port Vila, Luganville, Lenakel and Lakatoro, and a very few scattered in the smaller provincial centres. The Malvatumari council of Chiefs doesn't like these being called Nakamals, and rightly says they should be referred to as 'kava bars', reserving the name "nakamal" for the traditional village meeting place.
The traditional nakamal certainly serves as a place to drink kava, but has many other uses too - new yam festivities, circumcision ceremonies, dispute resolution etc. The traditional nakamal is very different in appearance in different parts of Vanuatu - it is a bush clearing in Tafea province, usually around a nabanga tree, with logs to sit on dotted around fireplaces, in Penama province it is a bamboo walled long house with chambers divided by rank, in Malekula & Ambrym a small bush clearing often with a collection of ancestral slit gongs.
In Vanuatu the commercial kava bars in the 2 towns buy in bulk from a dealer or have it shipped from outer islands themselves, and store it usually under damp sand, which keeps it from going rotten for a few weeks. They don't harvest themselves.
In the villages someone will go and pull a 30-40kg root, cut it up into 1-5kg pieces, and that will last a week or so for regular nightly drinking.
If it wasn't for the thriving (green) kava bar culture in the 2 main urban centres in Vanuatu, and people mostly just drank at home like they do in western Polynesia, I think the people in urban Vanuatu would be drinking a lot more dry powder too. There is no kava grown near the towns and as Kasa says, to prepare your own green kava every evening at home is a challenge. Wash, chop, scrape skin, dice, pound or machine-grind, mix & sieve. Prep of dry kava is far more suited to the few-people-drinking-at-home scenario.
Kavafied
Kava Vendor
Only time I ever tried green Kava was on an elementary field trip to the University of Hawaii back in the 90s and they gave us all samples of Green Awa. Specifically remember it because I thought it was weird at the time that they didn't dry the roots and returned home to ask my dad about why they did that lol.
@kasa_balavu convenience forsure.