A brief overview of our history, aims and activities

[TheKavaSociety]

We are a rather informal group of Auckland-based kava enthusiasts. We started drinking kava around 2011 and soon decided that it would be a good alternative to beer and generally a very pleasant after work/school beverage. Throughout the last couple of years, we've been meeting regularly (once or twice a week) to drink our favourite kava cultivars, sample new kava types, experiment with various preparation techniques, engage in spirited discussions about anything from politics to movies to sports, eat light snacks and generally have a good time. We've tried kavas from various NZ and US based vendors, as well as from around the islands of the South Pacific. I think we have probably tried over a hundred different kavas! In addition to learning about the plant itself (through publications, documentaries, our private trips around the Pacific, following discussions here, etc.) we've been trying to promote kava as a good alternative to alcohol and generally a beautiful, relaxing beverage. Our goal is to defend kava's good name and to both introduce new people to kava and to encourage the existing kava drinkers to pay more attention to the quality and purity of the kava products they consume. As we couldn't find any NZ-based suppliers that could satisfy our demand for high quality, consistently pure and noble kava, in 2014 we started importing more kava from overseas, directly from GHK. In late 2014 we opened a little online store, mainly to promote the consumption of very high quality kavas in NZ. Many of the seasoned kava drinkers are literally amazed when they compare these kavas with the no label crap they've been buying for years. It is a tiny shop, but we will try to make sure we never run out of our flagship kavas. Let me know if you have any questions, suggestions or comments.

Cheers,

Henry

 

[Steve Mariotti]

I think that's awesome, Henry. Reading your post makes me want to start a kava drinker's group here in Marin County, California.

I lived in NZ for a year (in Wellington--dreary place) and got a lot of exposure to Maori culture while I was there. I'm curious if the Maori ever cultivated or drank kava. They share a lot of culture with other *-nesian islands, so it seems like something like that would be popular there too. Especially up north in Aukland in the the islands where it's more tropical.

 

[TheKavaSociety]

According to some sources, it is very likely that the Maori brought kava to NZ, but were unable to grow it here (climate, soil, etc).

According to wikipedia "It has also been surmised that when Māori first came to New Zealand, they named the plant 'Kawakawa' because they recognised that the plant was a close relative ofPiper methysticum, the plant from which kava is made in the tropical Pacific. However, given that Piper species also occur in tropical Polynesia, it is more likely they simply applied the name of those plants to the New Zealand variety. In the Cook Islands and the Marquesas for instance, M.latifolium is known as 'Kavakava-atua'; in Samoa it is called 'Ava'ava-aitu'. M. latifolium is very similar in appearance to the New Zealand species, and is also used in traditional medicine in the Cook Islands."