- cpReview
- {"Grade":8,"Potency":8,"Mind":7,"Body":8,"Anxiety":8,"Sedative":8,"Taste":"-3","Preparation":"Traditional prep. 3 cups hot water : 8 Tbsp Kava. Consumed over 90 min.","Duration":"","SideEffects":"","Headline":""}
Dry powder aroma: Pungent, herbal, sweet and piney. A distinctly Vanuatuan kind of scent.
Beverage aroma: Ground spices. The scent of a spice market or a nature/herb store.
Appearance: Slightly yellowish, medium/light tan with oily swirls.
Flavor: Peppery and aromatic with a slight prickly heat. Some numbing and fairly bitter...but not lingering or revolting.
Effects: Deep, balanced but somewhat heavy-leaning kava with a heady swirl.
This kava is fairly reminiscent of the relatively potent and balanced/heavy Vanuatu kavas I used to drink in the pre-2015 era. Mixing this root left some stickiness on my fingers and the beverage was fairly numbing, which I believe are both signs of there being a lot of kavalactones in the mix. The oily swirl and yellow tinge might be an indicator of potency as well...or perhaps just a property of the cultivar...or a sign of it's freshness. I've seen it in a few kavas over the years.
The effects are deep, sedative and gradually spellbinding. The more it builds, the more obvious the swirly mind-massage effect becomes and it begins enticing you to 'listen to the kava'. When this happens, you will feel the urge to close your eyes, go inward and enjoy the full effects within this slightly inebriated meditative state. You can still choose not to 'listen', but at the cost of missing the full potential of the experience. Both ways are enjoyable though. You probably wouldn't want to make this your daily root if you make strong batches, the morning sleepiness can linger a little bit more with this one and high doses everyday could easily turn you into a slug.
I'm not sure what the chemotype is, but it seems to be high in something that makes it more vibey and balanced/heavy than most of the other stuff out there. It's not too heavy though, not as nauseating as the true heavy cultivars. But it does sit in the belly a little heavier than stuff like WOW! & Nambawan...both of which feel like beginner baby kavas compared to Temo. I've actually been using WOW! to "water down" my Temo for work nights. I'm guess the Temo chemotype probably starts with '2', DiHydroKavain...and likely has a relatively high showing of something like Methysticin or DiHydroMethysticin. It's highly unlikely that this chemotype starts with '4' and ends with '5'.
This cultivar is said to come from the Solomon Islands and the name Temo is a description of it's stems; being dark purple/red. As far as I've ever heard, the kava from Solomon Islands originates from Vanuatu's Borogu and Melomelo cuttings that were brought over at some point. However, those cultivars typically have green or green/brown stems. It's not surprising that other cultivars would find their way to the Solomons though, since it's worth as a cash crop shot up so much in the last several years. Or perhaps it is a version of Borogu, one that's described in Dr. Lebot's book The Pacific Elixir. Here's my hypothesis: If Temo means 'Purple' in the Solomon Island's...that word might be linguistically related to the Ni-Vanautu word 'Tememe', which means 'red'. There is a version of Borogu in Vanuatu, according to The Pacific Elixir, called 'Borogu Tememe' (Red Borogu) which is also reported to be stronger than the regular Borogu. Depending on the region, kava stems that are dark purple may also be referred to as red or black. Since Temo and Tememe are both describing dark kava stems, it's safe to assume the words mean the same thing. And thus, perhaps this Solomon Island 'Temo' is actually Borogu Tememe from Vanuatu...or was standard Borogu but mutated into Borogu Tememe on it's own, while being cultivated in the Solomon's. I may be completely off on this and it all might be pointless speculation, but I thought I'd try to think it out a little bit.
Anyway, it's good strong nighttime kava, with effects that have been increasingly hard to come by in the kava world. It ships to me within 3 days, so I'm glad it's available and I'm already about to buy my 3rd bag of it.
(Starwest is always my darkest, WOW/Nambawan are always the lightest. SavuSavu and Temo are nearly identical, even more so in person.)
Beverage aroma: Ground spices. The scent of a spice market or a nature/herb store.
Appearance: Slightly yellowish, medium/light tan with oily swirls.
Flavor: Peppery and aromatic with a slight prickly heat. Some numbing and fairly bitter...but not lingering or revolting.
Effects: Deep, balanced but somewhat heavy-leaning kava with a heady swirl.
This kava is fairly reminiscent of the relatively potent and balanced/heavy Vanuatu kavas I used to drink in the pre-2015 era. Mixing this root left some stickiness on my fingers and the beverage was fairly numbing, which I believe are both signs of there being a lot of kavalactones in the mix. The oily swirl and yellow tinge might be an indicator of potency as well...or perhaps just a property of the cultivar...or a sign of it's freshness. I've seen it in a few kavas over the years.
The effects are deep, sedative and gradually spellbinding. The more it builds, the more obvious the swirly mind-massage effect becomes and it begins enticing you to 'listen to the kava'. When this happens, you will feel the urge to close your eyes, go inward and enjoy the full effects within this slightly inebriated meditative state. You can still choose not to 'listen', but at the cost of missing the full potential of the experience. Both ways are enjoyable though. You probably wouldn't want to make this your daily root if you make strong batches, the morning sleepiness can linger a little bit more with this one and high doses everyday could easily turn you into a slug.
I'm not sure what the chemotype is, but it seems to be high in something that makes it more vibey and balanced/heavy than most of the other stuff out there. It's not too heavy though, not as nauseating as the true heavy cultivars. But it does sit in the belly a little heavier than stuff like WOW! & Nambawan...both of which feel like beginner baby kavas compared to Temo. I've actually been using WOW! to "water down" my Temo for work nights. I'm guess the Temo chemotype probably starts with '2', DiHydroKavain...and likely has a relatively high showing of something like Methysticin or DiHydroMethysticin. It's highly unlikely that this chemotype starts with '4' and ends with '5'.
This cultivar is said to come from the Solomon Islands and the name Temo is a description of it's stems; being dark purple/red. As far as I've ever heard, the kava from Solomon Islands originates from Vanuatu's Borogu and Melomelo cuttings that were brought over at some point. However, those cultivars typically have green or green/brown stems. It's not surprising that other cultivars would find their way to the Solomons though, since it's worth as a cash crop shot up so much in the last several years. Or perhaps it is a version of Borogu, one that's described in Dr. Lebot's book The Pacific Elixir. Here's my hypothesis: If Temo means 'Purple' in the Solomon Island's...that word might be linguistically related to the Ni-Vanautu word 'Tememe', which means 'red'. There is a version of Borogu in Vanuatu, according to The Pacific Elixir, called 'Borogu Tememe' (Red Borogu) which is also reported to be stronger than the regular Borogu. Depending on the region, kava stems that are dark purple may also be referred to as red or black. Since Temo and Tememe are both describing dark kava stems, it's safe to assume the words mean the same thing. And thus, perhaps this Solomon Island 'Temo' is actually Borogu Tememe from Vanuatu...or was standard Borogu but mutated into Borogu Tememe on it's own, while being cultivated in the Solomon's. I may be completely off on this and it all might be pointless speculation, but I thought I'd try to think it out a little bit.
Anyway, it's good strong nighttime kava, with effects that have been increasingly hard to come by in the kava world. It ships to me within 3 days, so I'm glad it's available and I'm already about to buy my 3rd bag of it.
(Starwest is always my darkest, WOW/Nambawan are always the lightest. SavuSavu and Temo are nearly identical, even more so in person.)
