Vanuatu kava store
- Thread starter Abbas
- Start date
If I am not mistaken some of their kavas have been known to be less than 100% pure and noble.
Yea, few vendors are certified noble. I suppose most simply don't care (there aren't that many dedicated kava vendors - kava is often sold by people selling heaps of other botanicals and they cannot be bothered to do proper research on every single plant they sell), others are simply unable to guarantee noble/pure kava. There might also be some who have their own testing policy that they see as better than getting third-party certificates.
Obviously if you go to a reputable kava farm in Samoa or Tonga and buy kava from them you can be pretty sure you are getting noble and pure kava even if it doesn't come with any certificate or test results. The problem is when you cannot go to Samoa and have to trust one of the middlemen.
I think so. I think one of their kava turned out to be a blend of noble and tudei. But I am not sure as I cannot find some of those old test results.
I could be wrong. But I still wouldn't recommend them as I disliked the kava I purchased from them a couple of years ago.
Last edited by a moderator:
Global Kava Exports aka Kava Europe sell their products. I really like Quick Kava Powder instant and Pentecost Pride. I used to really like Malekula Magic but have gone off it a bit recently. There are question marks over Tanna Marang and Tanna Kaolik. I felt funny on both and there are others who have mentioned the same. That doesn't mean they are definitely tudei or mixed with tudei but I don't drink them, all I'm saying.
nabanga
Kava Enthusiast
I can vouch for Vanuatu Kava Store. I have known 2 of the partners a long time, and as well as being resident in Vanuatu (one is an aussie but Vanuatu citizen, the others ni-Vans), they are lifelong kava drinkers and know their kava. They do not use middlemen or agents and source their kava in person. One of them travels up to Santo & Pentecost regularly to try & buy.
Their advertising claims their kava is noble, but I don't know if they bother with certification. They would certainly know a non-noble on trying it, and I doubt very much they would try to include it in the mix on purpose. At nearly $100/kg they are already making a high enough markup (and no middlemen to pay) without having to cheat I would have thought.
Their advertising claims their kava is noble, but I don't know if they bother with certification. They would certainly know a non-noble on trying it, and I doubt very much they would try to include it in the mix on purpose. At nearly $100/kg they are already making a high enough markup (and no middlemen to pay) without having to cheat I would have thought.
If you look at these discussion and test results http://kavaforums.com/forum/threads/revised-kava-test-results.3195/page-3 you will see that according to a number of tests at least some of their kavas were (are?) spiked with tudei. I don't think anyone is claiming that they do it on purpose, but I think they themselves admitted that they get their kava from 100s of farmers and they know some of the kava they get can be tudei. So their blends aren't 100% tudei, but it is possible that they were (are?) noble-tudei blends. I have once tried one of their kavas and it had a very piney smell and tudei-like heaviness.
But again, this was a few years ago when the world didn't know about adultaration. Everyone assumed kava can be either 100% noble or tudei. Now we know that some farmers/vendors used to (or still do) blend these two types. Perhaps VKS has changed their suppliers and now everything is noble. But then some people have indeed recently complained about tudei-type characteristics of tanna marang and kaolik (I think).
So from the view BKH showed up as Tudei as well?...
That was years ago. BKH has made a huge and impressive effort to ensure noble only since those results were published. I think GKE might have done the same, but I am not sure if VKS has changed anything as they are not active on this forum.
So it is now tested for nobility?
I think they do their own tests more rigorously now and have secured better suppliers. As far as I know they are not certified or regularly tested by any third part, independent organisation. But I do know that Judd (the owner) is now committed to selling noble only.
ta-va
Earth Bound
Unless you go to the farmers at source and follow the "audit" trail of all transactions, where the root winds up, see what happens in 2nd or 3rd party processing and packing plants, see what tests are done locally and "at the other end", see if kavas are mixed or blended with other kavas en route, you'll never get to the bottom of things.
At the front end you'll probably need to know some botanical DNA. Anything *could* happen after the root leaves place of origin before it ends up in our kava bowls or girlfriend's stockings.
To get down to the bottom of everything would be a mighty task and I wish you luck.
This forum consists of probably some of the best informed Kava lovers and protectors online (also in the world outside of the Island producers, themselves.)
All I can say is read what others post and you'll get the best and most objective assessment of different kavas and vendors that you can currently get online right here.
Edit "best" and "most objective" isn't an oxymoron here because it is generally true. (Says I)
At the front end you'll probably need to know some botanical DNA. Anything *could* happen after the root leaves place of origin before it ends up in our kava bowls or girlfriend's stockings.
To get down to the bottom of everything would be a mighty task and I wish you luck.
This forum consists of probably some of the best informed Kava lovers and protectors online (also in the world outside of the Island producers, themselves.)
All I can say is read what others post and you'll get the best and most objective assessment of different kavas and vendors that you can currently get online right here.
Edit "best" and "most objective" isn't an oxymoron here because it is generally true. (Says I)
Makes sense but there is a lot of misinformation and contradicting ideas. It's not as easy as it seems. Again I'm not defending atone it's just difficult to find validity amongst all the varying opinions
Zac Imiola (Herbalist)
Kava Connoisseur
What exactly are you confused about?
I think you will find all the info you need here. The story is simple. People used to drink noble only, then there was a big kava boom (late 1990s), companies started buying whatever they could find. S Pacific dealers started exporting peelings, moulded crap, etc. Farmers started planting palisi (tudei) as it grew faster and had a high kl %. Other tudei varieties were also planted, including Isa in hawaii. Then the market totally collapsed due to (now debunked) fears over kava's effects on the liver. Some scientist argue that while those fears were terribly exaggerated there is a small possibility that tudei varieties might be potentially a bit heavier on the liver. In any case they argue that tudei have never been seen as recreational kavas for daily consumption as they generally produce very unpleasant side-effects (nausea, lethargy, etc). The only reason why they got planted in such large numbers was that the pharmaceutical companies wanted them. The farmers didn't care as they wouldn't be drinking them and they were happy to be planting tudei as it is easier to grow. Once the market collapsed they were left with mountains of tudei that no local person would drink. So they started selling to to the Westerners as "extra strong" or "special" kava. A few years ago more people started realizing that tudei was not pleasant and that it had little to do with the beautiful noble kava effects (people simply started comparing different kavas, the forum was getting bigger and more people had access to good info). So they started demanding noble only. But the farmers still had heaps of that tudei crap, so in order to get rid of it they would start blending it with noble kavas. A few scientists and forum members then figured out how to detect adulteration and pointed out that many Western vendors were being sold tudei-spiked kavas labelled as "noble". Several vendors have made huge changed to ensure that their suppliers stop selling them such mixes and many vendors have discontinued selling obvious tudeis. Still, there are quite a few companies that sell these crappy kavas because they either don't care or they don't know about the issue.