Blue Green Algae and Kava? Anyone done this?

[Pounigirl]

My inner mad scientist's brain wheels are spinning. Here is what I keep coming up with....
1) Dark kavas taste like witch's brew.
2) Blue green algae (which has to be dissolved in a large quantity of water overnight) tastes like disgusting pond water witch's brew.
3) Kava is dehydrating and makes you pee a lot possibly making you lose some nutrients.
4) Blue Green algae is a "super food" containing 20 antioxidants, 68 minerals, and 70 trace elements, all amino acids (essential and non-essential), as well as important enzymes. It also contains 68% protein (glycoprotein), which is 98% assimilable by the body.
5) One has to fast to get the most out of kava which, for me who would rather drink kava than eat, it's tricky for me to then get enough nutrition each day if I don't eat enough.

Solution: Why not use blue green algae water to make up my kava and kill two disgusting tasting birds with one stone?

Anyone else done this? I'm going to try it. I wonder if it would help allay dermo symptoms as well? Wheels are spinning!

 

[ThePiper]

It would probably make kava go from fairly pleasant to being nasty as hell... But even if you consider kava disgusting, it is still probably a grosser combo. Kind of like how the idea of mixing ketchup in your chocolate milk would be horrible, but if you poured relish into the mix it would actually be muuuch worse

I do take spirulina sometimes. Some brands when fresh give me a nutritional boost or so it seems, probably the aminos, if I eat a tablespoon or so. You need to be sure that it's been processed properly without heat etc to get the best product. It's pretty overpriced for what it gives you nutritionally though. I had a friend who told me he survived an entire summer by eating only 4 eggs and an ounce of spirulina every day... I don't know if I believe him, it has very few calories.

I would recommend getting a protein/food shake you like with good flavor, and if you want you can mix a scoop of spirulina into it so the flavor gets covered.

 

[lonnyzone]

Totally speculating here, but maybe the blue green algae in the water would reduce its holding capacity for Kava particles, resulting in weaker brew. Maybe. Just something to consider.

 

[Zac Imiola (Herbalist)]

I would just consume them seperatley.

But yes it would help you get a lot of nutrients you need without suppressing your hunger.
I do like really nice fat rich smoothies with kava for them his his reason or soup!

 

[Pounigirl]

It would probably make kava go from fairly pleasant to being nasty as hell... But even if you consider kava disgusting, it is still probably a grosser combo. Kind of like how the idea of mixing ketchup in your chocolate milk would be horrible, but if you poured relish into the mix it would actually be muuuch worse

I do take spirulina sometimes. Some brands when fresh give me a nutritional boost or so it seems, probably the aminos, if I eat a tablespoon or so. You need to be sure that it's been processed properly without heat etc to get the best product. It's pretty overpriced for what it gives you nutritionally though. I had a friend who told me he survived an entire summer by eating only 4 eggs and an ounce of spirulina every day... I don't know if I believe him, it has very few calories.

I would recommend getting a protein/food shake you like with good flavor, and if you want you can mix a scoop of spirulina into it so the flavor gets covered.

I don't really find kava to be disgusting tasting at all. It's my rather lame attempt at humor which obviously fell flat! Oh well! hehe Some kavas actually taste downright nice, but I was thinking particularly about the really dark kavas that make you grimace and blarg out a little bit after going down that they (for me) are typically stronger in effects and more dehydrating and that is what got me thinking of mixing the two since it's going to be blargy anyway. it probably will make it even more disgusting to combine the two, but I'm willing to try it at least once FOR SCIENCE! I'll just make it up with the aluball and a kava that I know already pretty well so it can be a small batch and see how it goes. I figure then I can test to see if the blue green algae water changes the effects of the kava at the same time, since it will be a kava that I use often. I'll report back my findings to this thread in case anyone wants to know.

 

[Pounigirl]

Totally speculating here, but maybe the blue green algae in the water would reduce its holding capacity for Kava particles, resulting in weaker brew. Maybe. Just something to consider.

Yeah I thought of that too. I will use a kava that I know well so I can gauge if the blue green algae changes the effects.

 

[Pounigirl]

I would just consume them seperatley.

But yes it would help you get a lot of nutrients you need without suppressing your hunger.
I do like really nice fat rich smoothies with kava for them his his reason or soup!

That's a good thought too. I just really really hate blue green algae even though it's supposed to be so good for you. But I love drinking kava so I was thinking it might be a way to force me to drink the algae water if I mix it in there and since the kava's taste is so strong that it might mask the algae taste. Although it could just as easily become a horrible mistake that I will regret for the rest of my days too. hehe I'll try it at least once for the sake of science and I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Pounigirl]

Initial Update:
Just made up a shell's worth of Kava Supreme with 300mls of the blue green algae water. The kava's flavor seems to be masking the blue green algae taste. It does not seem to have affected the potency of the kava either. It feels like a proper first shell of Supreme. I don't feel any particular blargyness (yet). I will give it awhile and see how I feel and if I feel like I can make a session out of it. So far so good though.

 

[Zac Imiola (Herbalist)]

I wouldnt recommend consuming to much of anything if it doesnt taste good to you.
If it has that many nutrients it should be delicious if it fits your energetics .
Some stuff is strong because you need it like sour flavors and bitter.
But you should be releasing the salivary enzymes with your food .. when you gulp stuff down it doesn't digest as well

 

[Intrepidus_dux]

I tried a similar less awesome experiment today. I made kava with an electrolyte packet. What a waste of kava! It tasted so gross I had to toss it, and I'm no flavor pansy.

 

[Pounigirl]

I tried a similar less awesome experiment today. I made kava with an electrolyte packet. What a waste of kava! It tasted so gross I had to toss it, and I'm no flavor pansy.

Oh nooooooooo! I'm so sorry your experiment didn't work out. It's good though that you took one for the team and reported back to us so we can learn from your experience. It's always sad to see kava wasted (sniff), but just think now of all the people that won't do this now because of your reporting on it so you may actually have saved more kava for the future!

The algae water actually was disguised pretty well by the kava taste. I am experimenting with it still, but I think it may have a place with kava. At the least it doesn't seem like it hurts. I will do a separate post after this one updating my experiences so far.

 

[Pounigirl]

Update for anyone who is interested...
First experiment: My initial experiment with the algae water was with a single 300ml shell with Kava Supreme and I did not notice any adverse effects from the single shell with the algae. I wanted to not take any more until I had gone through a whole night and see how I felt the next day so after the single shell with the algae water I did a session with Papa Ele Ele using traditional prep and normal water with a splash of almond milk as I usually do and did not notice any effect on my session from the algae water being in my stomach nor did I have any adverse effects through the night or the next day and I had no more algae water after that first shell.

I did notice the next day that I didn't feel "wrecked" at all for lack of a better word as I sometimes can feel after a heavy sesh with a strong kava, but didn't know if that was attributed to the algae water or not, but the lack of any adverse effects encouraged me to go ahead and try it with a full session.

Second experiment: For my second attempt, I did traditional prep using about 2/3 cup Dua na Bilo and about 2 cups or so of cold blue green algae water (sorry I don't ever measure it so I am just guessing, but it is the same amount that I always make for a session so I just eyeballed it to make it uniform to how much I typically make) with a splash of almond milk. I kneaded it til it felt "done" maybe 10-12 minutes. I did not notice the algae water making a difference in how the kavalactones were being released either good or bad. It just seemed like a normal batch of grog.

Taste: I typically can notice a chocolatey taste in the Dua na bilo that I did not notice with the algae water, but in fairness this was a brand new bag that I just opened so I haven't had it with just plain water to compare this particular batch, I will have to update later after having a session with just plain water and the Dua na bilo to know for certain, but IF this batch is the same as my last batch, then I would say that the algae water does mask the more subtle flavors of the kava to where I could not distinguish them even if I couldn't distinguish that pond watery taste of the algae itself.

Strength: I could discern no difference in the session itself either positive or negative for having used the algae water instead of plain water. The kava hit me and felt exactly as it always does and for the same length of time. It seems like the algae water is pretty neutral and neither helps nor harms the effects of the kava.

The next day: This part was interesting to me. I am a Vegan so if I don't eat enough I can get weak pretty quickly. This is actually the reason I thought about experimenting with the blue green algae in the first place because I love kava so much and I want to drink it all the time and as a result I haven't been eating enough and have been feeling myself getting weaker because I am not eating enough or not eating properly when I do eat and it was beginning to take a toll on me and I was feeling just a general weakness and run down feeling. A lot of times too after a heavy session with a waka in particular, I can feel absolutely ravenous the next day. This is where I think the algae water really made a difference.

The next day I wasn't starving when I woke up in the morning and I felt energetic and "nourished" instead of worn out and "wrecked". I wish I could say that it helped with the dehydration part of kava, it didn't, but I definitely noticed a difference otherwise in how I felt. It certainly was enough of a difference to make me want to explore it further.

Bottom line: I will continue to experiment with it with different kavas in different sessions over different days and see if my initial observations are true or just a one off, but so far I can say that it did not seem to hurt and did make a difference in how I felt the next day. And if you've read this far you really deserve a medal!

 

[Pounigirl]

*update* I have since tried the Dua na bilo with plain water and I did not notice the chocolately flavors with this new bag so I don't think the algae water took anything away from it.

I have also continued using blue green algae water with traditional prep and other kavas and it has not made the kava weaker or effected my session and I do definitely feel better the next day. I'm going to continue on with it.

 

[Krunkie McKrunkface]

I tried a similar less awesome experiment today. I made kava with an electrolyte packet. What a waste of kava! It tasted so gross I had to toss it, and I'm no flavor pansy.

in your picture you look like a flavour pansy, tho

 

[Intrepidus_dux]

in your picture you look like a flavour pansy, tho

Bahaha! I am not.
Also my friend who used to gag on kava no longer does because he loves the effects so much.

 

[verticity]

Pond scum + kava. Sounds good to me...

 

[Pounigirl]

Pond scum + kava. Sounds good to me...

ROFL