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Fresh Kava Root Review Hiwa

kavakarma

Kava Enthusiast
cpReview
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The frozen fresh Hiwa is the retreat my taste buds have been longing for. I love the smell of this kava, and the taste to follow matches appropriately.

I smell it first opening the bag and placing the frozen root in my strainer. It smells inviting, and powerful, similar to a flowering tree designed to attract pollenators. After all, we are the pollenators (propogaters) of kava.

The smell is clear cucumber. Celery and parsley as well. It smells refreshing and clean, like water or finely mineralized water. With distinct floral and vegetal notes.

I squeezed this in water for a few minutes and had a shell. I saved the roots to squeeze again in fresh water another time. I find that I am making eight shells from half a pound of Hiwa, and yesterday I realized my ability and willingness to drink all that and then some. I had a pound of this kava spread out over nine hours. I slept great and woke without trouble. I feel the Hiwa is a restorative cultivar with a high level of the spiritual overtones which kava can be known for. I asked for as much Hiwa as the ranch could offer and they gave me all Hiwa! Each time I flipped through the packages when the mail came in it was like winning a prize five times in a row. I was outside playing ukelele for a couple shells and got to some gardening in the yard. Very pleasant experience overall, and I have some apple bananas to pair with the shells.

The last pound of Hiwa I will save for a kava ceremony with a very good friend of mine. He has tried fresh frozen kava before, we had the Hanakapi'ai and Nene together, I believe.I also will offer to taste what is seen in these photos tonight at work, since it is my passion to do so.

I received Hiwa harvested in February and in April, two different batches. The Feb. seems lighter in color and the April has a slightly different smell, I believe having a couple batches is always a good thing.

thank you Pu'u O Hoku ranch, very satisfied. I even got some Hawaiian newspaper to read, which I do believe helped keep everything cold. For your own reference, it arrived thawed and slightly cold still. I appreciated reading about the Community Garden in the newspaper. Bula!
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kavakarma

Kava Enthusiast
I did complete the review, let me do it in plain text since it is not showing up for me.
Overall: 5 shells.
Potency: 4
Mind/heady: 2
Body/heavy: 5 (it is Hiwa after all.)
Anxiety relief: 4
Sedative effects: 4
Prep details: Traditional style, roots kneaded in a cloth in a bowl of water.
Effect duration: Hiwa effects last a long time.
Side effect: Sensitive to sun light.
Headline: Fantastic kava!
and on the scale from bitter to smooth this has my highest ever rating in the Smooth category, being nearly a ten.

definitely stir well before drinking. I noticed a corn-starch effect on the bottom of my tanoa, where the kava acted like a hard surface and was easily redistributed into a suspension. Fresh root kava seems to take on a more sensitive suspension and settles more rapidly, though the fresh smell and taste is preserved throughout the whole evening.
 

Alia

'Awa Grower/Collector
I did complete the review, let me do it in plain text since it is not showing up for me.
Overall: 5 shells.
Potency: 4
Mind/heady: 2
Body/heavy: 5 (it is Hiwa after all.)
Anxiety relief: 4
Sedative effects: 4
Prep details: Traditional style, roots kneaded in a cloth in a bowl of water.
Effect duration: Hiwa effects last a long time.
Side effect: Sensitive to sun light.
Headline: Fantastic kava!
and on the scale from bitter to smooth this has my highest ever rating in the Smooth category, being nearly a ten.

definitely stir well before drinking. I noticed a corn-starch effect on the bottom of my tanoa, where the kava acted like a hard surface and was easily redistributed into a suspension. Fresh root kava seems to take on a more sensitive suspension and settles more rapidly, though the fresh smell and taste is preserved throughout the whole evening.
Wonderful, thoughtful review. Hiwa, as you know, is a highly esteemed, unique, Hawaiian cultivar of 'awa.
Had many uses besides people drinking the beverage, it was among the 2 favorite 'awa cultivars of volcano
goddess, Pele. She preferred Hiwa and Mo'i. Sadly the practice of offering 'awa beverage to Pele changed
in 1953 to offerings of Gin! even full bottles of Gin up there at the caldera! Today even native speakers are
often clueless to proper gifts to Pele. Hawai'i Public Radio -- a few months ago-- interviewed someone
who spoke some Hawaiian language and insisted Gin was the chosen offering.
 
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