@Steve Mariotti , I 'm curious if you have digestive issues with kava, 100% of the time?
also, is it exclusive to kava or anything, for that matter....?
From the esophagus downwards, it's just a nightmare over here. Lactose intolerant, hyperacidic, IBS has almost put me on medical leave a couple times, I'm sensitive like a soft cushion.
When I first started drinking kava, I was using paint strainer bags and it was making me gurgle all night long with gas and commotion going on downstairs that prevented sleep. It was pretty bad. But I liked the feeling of kava. So I got progressively finer and finer straining bags until the gut torment went away. I stopped at 25 micron nylon monofilament mesh, after seeing that nut milk bags are just nylon monofilament mesh. This worked! I could enjoy kava without gurgling like a pachinko parlor for hours.
Then there's the ongoing and persistent low-level gas situation that's kind of always there. Not that I'm super gassy ALL the time, but I'm at least a little gassy pretty much throughout my day. It's never super bad, and it's never painful, it's just kind of always there.
Bloating and gas are usually the result of digestion happening in the large intestine where it's really supposed to be about water extraction. I've found that certain things "late digest" and end up giving me gas. Some fruits, cruciferous vegetables, some sugary things... they feed the bacteria in the large intestine. I think kava takes up residence in the same neighborhood, late in the session, during the night, the next day.
I'd love to know what the bacteria are working on so that I could find a way to remove it.