knifebunny
Newbie
Hi all,
I would like to post my review of Blue Lagoon Kava ( www.bluelagoonkava.com.au ). This comes as Australia has just begun allowing the commercial sale of Kava in drinking form, whereby previously the only way to get it in Australia was if you were bringing it in yourself on a flight for personal use (upto 4kg), or you could get it over the counter in a tablet form. This now allows sellers to commercially sell Kava of the powdered, milled form which is how it is traditionally enjoyed in cultures such as Fiji.
About The Seller
Blue Lagoon Kava is one of the few vendors that are currently selling kava in Australia in this form currently, and with very few options to choose from it is hard to know what kind of quality or type of product you are likely to get, and as there is a certain amount of scarcity, the pricing of the product is still quite high. Upon reading opinions and thoughts amongst others who have tried what is available on the market right now, as someone who is quite the newbie to Kava I decided to purchase my first lot of kava from Blue Lagoon.
On the Blue Lagoon website they currently only offer one variety of kava, labelled as " loa kasa leka ", which in my research seems to suggest is the the type of cultivar used in the crop. It seems a fairly common strain, as it is easy to grow, and may be the type of cultivar we are likely to see pop up, and is considered "balanced" in its effects. Blue Lagoon state on their website that they source this from one specific farm in Fiji, so obviously they have a relationship going with the grower and it is good to see that our purchases here are supporting a specific family rather than a corporation.
The Product
I purchased the starter kit for $229.99 which includes 1kg of the 'loa kasa leka' kava, a nylon strainer bag for kava preparation, as well as a bilo, which is simply a coconut shell that traditionally kava is consumed out of. Blue Lagoon included free express shipping and it was only a few days to receive it. You may purchase the standalone kava if you do not want or need the extras that come in the starter kit, and they are optionally sold separately if you wanted to replace them or needed them in the future.
Upon inspecting the product, it looks like almost every other kava I have seen on the internet before, a light khaki colour that is in what is called a "medium grind", and I suppose it probably has about the same consistency as ground coffee beans, and it definitely has a distinctive smell - quite like grass clippings. Although the smell might be considered to be pleasant, your first reaction certainly isn't the impulse to drink it
Preparation
Upon the advice on the Blue Lagoon website, it is suggested that an average kind of serving is "approximately 40 grams", and between 400 - 600ml of water. Recommended as well, that the water be warm at around 35-40 degrees to help with the extraction of the kavalactones we want to consume. So I brought out my kitchen scales and carefully laid out my strainer on top, and then put a couple of scoops in and landed on around 50grams, so I went with that. I then adjusted my tap water to warm and went to around the sort of temperature you'd feel comfortable putting a young child into a bath with and filled up a 500ml water bottle I had handy. I then tied the knot on my strainer bag with the kava inside, put it in my bowl and started pouring the warm water over the entire thing until I was sure everything in the bag was soaked. I then gave it a small massage and let it sit for around 8-10 minutes to allow the roots in the bag to expand and relax before starting the kneading process.
As I began kneading I would rotate the bag around to create a bit of leverage so that I could squeeze tightly and try to extract as much of the 'juice' as possible, repeating the process several times by relaxing the clumps in the bag in the water by submersing it and going again. Much like wringing out a soaking wet towel I suppose. As I was proceeding with the process, the kava water got slightly darker and looked a little bit oily which is how I knew I was on the right track. Once I felt like I had done as good as a job that I could, I removed the remaining kava from the strainer bag and put it into a tupperware container and into the freezer. It seems like some people do this in my limited experience in the community, you can come back later for a 'second wash' with your leftovers, depending on the quality of the roots and how well you extracted the kavalectones the first time, so i'll save this for now and come back to it another day.
I have a large glass pitcher which I filled with some ice, and poured from my bowl into the pitcher ready for drinking. I think the ice is a good idea to cool the drink, although most of the heat was gone from the water by the time my preparations had completed, the ice also adds a bit of extra hydration. Drinking kava is known for its dehydrative properties so this may help with consumption.
The Experience
It is said that kava can give a euphoric experience, promote sleep and in general relax you. It also is known for its reverse tolerance whereby if you are new to drinking kava it may take some time to get the feeling of the full effects and that they will build over time. It is also recommended to drink kava on an empty stomach. As I fast for 18 hours a day due to my intermittent fasting lifestyle, I was able to enjoy to enjoy this at 2pm today, where my last meal was at 8pm the previous night.
I think some people may struggle with the taste at first, which is why it usually is consumed in a couple of gulps I think. It definitely has a grassy, dirty sort of a taste and quite soapy. There is a small amount of bitterness, but not really something that is the most prominent about the taste. I actually don't mind the taste overall. After my first bilo, or "shell", I could instantly feel my lips and my tongue begin to numb so I knew it was working and I only waited another 5 minutes or so to pour another.
It wasn't until my third shell about 10-15 minutes later did I begin to experience the full effect. When people say that kava is calming, I can absolutely attest to that. I feel super relaxed, and any aches and pains that I would be used to just living with seem to have gone. I really feel just chilled out. I perhaps didn't realise how anxious I must be all the time, because it all slowly seemed to drift away. There was a certain euphoria about it, which is sort of hard to describe to another, but the relaxation had me with an inner peace with myself. I think sometimes I listen to to many thoughts at the same time, but now I am ultimately focused and not as easily distracted. I think this particular drink would be really good for gaming, so I decided to fire up dark souls. I was surprised at how well my gameplay improved, I was definitely in the zone, focused, more patient and tactical.
I really feel carefree, and I don't have a hundred things going on in my mind, I think maybe my motivation has gone down a little bit to get up and do things, but sitting here typing this I feel like my whole attention is dedicated to the task. This could be something productive in small amounts if you wanted to study, but I will confess I finished off what was left in my pitcher which was about 6 shells in total and I am feeling exceptionally good right now, I think id rather go back to playing video games than studying necessarily. In the future, I will probably prepare it with less water, but it may take a bit of experimenting to find that perfect amount.
Afterthoughts
Remarkably, I don't really feel tired, I don't really feel any more energised than before, I just feel really calm and relaxed. This isn't the typical "I've got the day off work" type of relaxed. I don't know the exact feelings I was expecting to get, even though these words are the same words I have heard others repeat when describing their experiences. It has definitely met my expectations, but I do understand that different varieties of kava give you different experiences, and so while I will enjoy this product from Blue Lagoon, I am keen to try other varieties that may become available in Australia and try to really fine tune exactly the type of experience I am looking for.
The numb tongue wears off fairly quickly, and the euphoric feeling drifts away over time, but I still feel super relax. I think this would be a really good social variety of kava, to just kick back and chat with friends.
As a newcomer, I did do quite a bit of research into kava before jumping in so I already was aware of roughly what to expect, but in my limited experience I can tell this is a high quality product and I would highly recommend it to others, especially if you are new to kava!
I would like to post my review of Blue Lagoon Kava ( www.bluelagoonkava.com.au ). This comes as Australia has just begun allowing the commercial sale of Kava in drinking form, whereby previously the only way to get it in Australia was if you were bringing it in yourself on a flight for personal use (upto 4kg), or you could get it over the counter in a tablet form. This now allows sellers to commercially sell Kava of the powdered, milled form which is how it is traditionally enjoyed in cultures such as Fiji.
About The Seller
Blue Lagoon Kava is one of the few vendors that are currently selling kava in Australia in this form currently, and with very few options to choose from it is hard to know what kind of quality or type of product you are likely to get, and as there is a certain amount of scarcity, the pricing of the product is still quite high. Upon reading opinions and thoughts amongst others who have tried what is available on the market right now, as someone who is quite the newbie to Kava I decided to purchase my first lot of kava from Blue Lagoon.
On the Blue Lagoon website they currently only offer one variety of kava, labelled as " loa kasa leka ", which in my research seems to suggest is the the type of cultivar used in the crop. It seems a fairly common strain, as it is easy to grow, and may be the type of cultivar we are likely to see pop up, and is considered "balanced" in its effects. Blue Lagoon state on their website that they source this from one specific farm in Fiji, so obviously they have a relationship going with the grower and it is good to see that our purchases here are supporting a specific family rather than a corporation.
The Product
I purchased the starter kit for $229.99 which includes 1kg of the 'loa kasa leka' kava, a nylon strainer bag for kava preparation, as well as a bilo, which is simply a coconut shell that traditionally kava is consumed out of. Blue Lagoon included free express shipping and it was only a few days to receive it. You may purchase the standalone kava if you do not want or need the extras that come in the starter kit, and they are optionally sold separately if you wanted to replace them or needed them in the future.
Upon inspecting the product, it looks like almost every other kava I have seen on the internet before, a light khaki colour that is in what is called a "medium grind", and I suppose it probably has about the same consistency as ground coffee beans, and it definitely has a distinctive smell - quite like grass clippings. Although the smell might be considered to be pleasant, your first reaction certainly isn't the impulse to drink it
Preparation
Upon the advice on the Blue Lagoon website, it is suggested that an average kind of serving is "approximately 40 grams", and between 400 - 600ml of water. Recommended as well, that the water be warm at around 35-40 degrees to help with the extraction of the kavalactones we want to consume. So I brought out my kitchen scales and carefully laid out my strainer on top, and then put a couple of scoops in and landed on around 50grams, so I went with that. I then adjusted my tap water to warm and went to around the sort of temperature you'd feel comfortable putting a young child into a bath with and filled up a 500ml water bottle I had handy. I then tied the knot on my strainer bag with the kava inside, put it in my bowl and started pouring the warm water over the entire thing until I was sure everything in the bag was soaked. I then gave it a small massage and let it sit for around 8-10 minutes to allow the roots in the bag to expand and relax before starting the kneading process.
As I began kneading I would rotate the bag around to create a bit of leverage so that I could squeeze tightly and try to extract as much of the 'juice' as possible, repeating the process several times by relaxing the clumps in the bag in the water by submersing it and going again. Much like wringing out a soaking wet towel I suppose. As I was proceeding with the process, the kava water got slightly darker and looked a little bit oily which is how I knew I was on the right track. Once I felt like I had done as good as a job that I could, I removed the remaining kava from the strainer bag and put it into a tupperware container and into the freezer. It seems like some people do this in my limited experience in the community, you can come back later for a 'second wash' with your leftovers, depending on the quality of the roots and how well you extracted the kavalectones the first time, so i'll save this for now and come back to it another day.
I have a large glass pitcher which I filled with some ice, and poured from my bowl into the pitcher ready for drinking. I think the ice is a good idea to cool the drink, although most of the heat was gone from the water by the time my preparations had completed, the ice also adds a bit of extra hydration. Drinking kava is known for its dehydrative properties so this may help with consumption.
The Experience
It is said that kava can give a euphoric experience, promote sleep and in general relax you. It also is known for its reverse tolerance whereby if you are new to drinking kava it may take some time to get the feeling of the full effects and that they will build over time. It is also recommended to drink kava on an empty stomach. As I fast for 18 hours a day due to my intermittent fasting lifestyle, I was able to enjoy to enjoy this at 2pm today, where my last meal was at 8pm the previous night.
I think some people may struggle with the taste at first, which is why it usually is consumed in a couple of gulps I think. It definitely has a grassy, dirty sort of a taste and quite soapy. There is a small amount of bitterness, but not really something that is the most prominent about the taste. I actually don't mind the taste overall. After my first bilo, or "shell", I could instantly feel my lips and my tongue begin to numb so I knew it was working and I only waited another 5 minutes or so to pour another.
It wasn't until my third shell about 10-15 minutes later did I begin to experience the full effect. When people say that kava is calming, I can absolutely attest to that. I feel super relaxed, and any aches and pains that I would be used to just living with seem to have gone. I really feel just chilled out. I perhaps didn't realise how anxious I must be all the time, because it all slowly seemed to drift away. There was a certain euphoria about it, which is sort of hard to describe to another, but the relaxation had me with an inner peace with myself. I think sometimes I listen to to many thoughts at the same time, but now I am ultimately focused and not as easily distracted. I think this particular drink would be really good for gaming, so I decided to fire up dark souls. I was surprised at how well my gameplay improved, I was definitely in the zone, focused, more patient and tactical.
I really feel carefree, and I don't have a hundred things going on in my mind, I think maybe my motivation has gone down a little bit to get up and do things, but sitting here typing this I feel like my whole attention is dedicated to the task. This could be something productive in small amounts if you wanted to study, but I will confess I finished off what was left in my pitcher which was about 6 shells in total and I am feeling exceptionally good right now, I think id rather go back to playing video games than studying necessarily. In the future, I will probably prepare it with less water, but it may take a bit of experimenting to find that perfect amount.
Afterthoughts
Remarkably, I don't really feel tired, I don't really feel any more energised than before, I just feel really calm and relaxed. This isn't the typical "I've got the day off work" type of relaxed. I don't know the exact feelings I was expecting to get, even though these words are the same words I have heard others repeat when describing their experiences. It has definitely met my expectations, but I do understand that different varieties of kava give you different experiences, and so while I will enjoy this product from Blue Lagoon, I am keen to try other varieties that may become available in Australia and try to really fine tune exactly the type of experience I am looking for.
The numb tongue wears off fairly quickly, and the euphoric feeling drifts away over time, but I still feel super relax. I think this would be a really good social variety of kava, to just kick back and chat with friends.
As a newcomer, I did do quite a bit of research into kava before jumping in so I already was aware of roughly what to expect, but in my limited experience I can tell this is a high quality product and I would highly recommend it to others, especially if you are new to kava!
