Just my two cents but until you're adapted internally to kava, until your receptors are functioning, my guess is it doesn't matter what kind of kava you throw at yourself, no matter how good it is, if your receptors aren't working, you'll respond the same to great (and expensive) kava as you will to cheap mediocre kava. And the same with the prep, it doesn't matter what prep you use or what variety, the result will be the same until your body is ready for the good stuff. However, this is just my opinion and I could be wrong.