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Powdered Kava Review Bula Kava House - TEMO

sɥɐʞɐs

Avg. Dosage: 8 Tbsp. (58g)
Review Maestro
cpReview
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· TEMO ·
(Solomon Islands)
Dry powder aroma: Pungent, herbal, sweet and piney. A distinctly Vanuatuan kind of scent.
Beverage aroma: Ground spices. The scent of a spice market or a nature/herb store.
Appearance: Slightly yellowish, medium/light tan with oily swirls.
Flavor: Peppery and aromatic with a slight prickly heat. Some numbing and fairly bitter...but not lingering or revolting.
Effects: Deep, balanced but somewhat heavy-leaning kava with a heady swirl.

This kava is fairly reminiscent of the relatively potent and balanced/heavy Vanuatu kavas I used to drink in the pre-2015 era. Mixing this root left some stickiness on my fingers and the beverage was fairly numbing, which I believe are both signs of there being a lot of kavalactones in the mix. The oily swirl and yellow tinge might be an indicator of potency as well...or perhaps just a property of the cultivar...or a sign of it's freshness. I've seen it in a few kavas over the years.

The effects are deep, sedative and gradually spellbinding. The more it builds, the more obvious the swirly mind-massage effect becomes and it begins enticing you to 'listen to the kava'. When this happens, you will feel the urge to close your eyes, go inward and enjoy the full effects within this slightly inebriated meditative state. You can still choose not to 'listen', but at the cost of missing the full potential of the experience. Both ways are enjoyable though. You probably wouldn't want to make this your daily root if you make strong batches, the morning sleepiness can linger a little bit more with this one and high doses everyday could easily turn you into a slug.

I'm not sure what the chemotype is, but it seems to be high in something that makes it more vibey and balanced/heavy than most of the other stuff out there. It's not too heavy though, not as nauseating as the true heavy cultivars. But it does sit in the belly a little heavier than stuff like WOW! & Nambawan...both of which feel like beginner baby kavas compared to Temo. I've actually been using WOW! to "water down" my Temo for work nights. I'm guess the Temo chemotype probably starts with '2', DiHydroKavain...and likely has a relatively high showing of something like Methysticin or DiHydroMethysticin. It's highly unlikely that this chemotype starts with '4' and ends with '5'.

This cultivar is said to come from the Solomon Islands and the name Temo is a description of it's stems; being dark purple/red. As far as I've ever heard, the kava from Solomon Islands originates from Vanuatu's Borogu and Melomelo cuttings that were brought over at some point. However, those cultivars typically have green or green/brown stems. It's not surprising that other cultivars would find their way to the Solomons though, since it's worth as a cash crop shot up so much in the last several years. Or perhaps it is a version of Borogu, one that's described in Dr. Lebot's book The Pacific Elixir. Here's my hypothesis: If Temo means 'Purple' in the Solomon Island's...that word might be linguistically related to the Ni-Vanautu word 'Tememe', which means 'red'. There is a version of Borogu in Vanuatu, according to The Pacific Elixir, called 'Borogu Tememe' (Red Borogu) which is also reported to be stronger than the regular Borogu. Depending on the region, kava stems that are dark purple may also be referred to as red or black. Since Temo and Tememe are both describing dark kava stems, it's safe to assume the words mean the same thing. And thus, perhaps this Solomon Island 'Temo' is actually Borogu Tememe from Vanuatu...or was standard Borogu but mutated into Borogu Tememe on it's own, while being cultivated in the Solomon's. I may be completely off on this and it all might be pointless speculation, but I thought I'd try to think it out a little bit.

Anyway, it's good strong nighttime kava, with effects that have been increasingly hard to come by in the kava world. It ships to me within 3 days, so I'm glad it's available and I'm already about to buy my 3rd bag of it. ::shaka::
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(Starwest is always my darkest, WOW/Nambawan are always the lightest. SavuSavu and Temo are nearly identical, even more so in person.)
 
Would you recommend this for sleep like KWK's borongoru? Or would you say this is something where you can get some work done after ingestion and then sleep?
 

sɥɐʞɐs

Avg. Dosage: 8 Tbsp. (58g)
Review Maestro
Would you recommend this for sleep like KWK's borongoru? Or would you say this is something where you can get some work done after ingestion and then sleep?
You can get some work done and then sleep...but when I drink it, I can tell it would be more suitable to just kick back and vibe with it, and it really encourages me to do that.

I don't personally find KWK's Borongoru to be very heavy, Temo is quite a bit stronger and heavier in my experience. But, sometimes people experience the same kava fairly differently, so it could be different for you. ::shell::
 

Groggy

Kava aficionado
Admin
You can get some work done and then sleep...but when I drink it, I can tell it would be more suitable to just kick back and vibe with it, and it really encourages me to do that.

I don't personally find KWK's Borongoru to be very heavy, Temo is quite a bit stronger and heavier in my experience. But, sometimes people experience the same kava fairly differently, so it could be different for you. ::shell::
Someday my Temo will get released from Nevada, lol, can't wait. I usually by 1/2 lbs to try but picked up a pound, I am pretty certain I won't be disappointed.
 

sɥɐʞɐs

Avg. Dosage: 8 Tbsp. (58g)
Review Maestro
Someday my Temo will get released from Nevada, lol, can't wait. I usually by 1/2 lbs to try but picked up a pound, I am pretty certain I won't be disappointed.
Mine is usually shipped from Nevada and gets to me quick from there, but my most recent order is in Georgia for some reason (?!) so it's taking longer. I'm stuck with Wakacon Lawena til it arrives -_-
 

Groggy

Kava aficionado
Admin
Mine is usually shipped from Nevada and gets to me quick from there, but my most recent order is in Georgia for some reason (?!) so it's taking longer. I'm stuck with Wakacon Lawena til it arrives -_-
I desperately ordered some Boro from KWK, through Amazon. Gets here today.
 

The Kap'n

The Groggy Kaptain (40g)
KavaForums Founder
Mine is usually shipped from Nevada and gets to me quick from there, but my most recent order is in Georgia for some reason (?!) so it's taking longer. I'm stuck with Wakacon Lawena til it arrives -_-
He's got a new shipping partner in Georgia.
 

kasa_balavu

Yaqona Dina
Great review as always from @sɥɐʞɐs.

The Fijian kava with the rep of being the strongest (at least in the north of Fiji), is called Damu. Damu means red. It's one of the dark cultivars but is the only one with a purple/red tinge, especially in the younger stems. Sadly it isn't all that common. One of the harder to find cultivars in my experience.

Tememe, temo, damu.
 

Groggy

Kava aficionado
Admin
I am going to piggy back off of your review Shakas, for now. So far so good, it's probably too strong for me and the taste, oh boy! No bueno.

Effects are everything to be expected with a kava like this, it's so strong, I was cutting it with Waka from wakacon. Anyone looking for something to knock them out, look no further.
 

marksmyspot

Kava Curious
I received my half lb of TEMO.
I have a large professional size shaker for allubals and 3 alluballs to use at once.
Makes very strong kava
Anyway, I mixed 1 alluball of TEMO, 1 alluball of Fiji Vanu old roots and 1 allubal of Fiji Vanu'Vanuatu.
Shooke it for 6 minutes really good.
Grog is strong and sort of oliy.
I noticed the taste of the TEMO. It was not terrible, but strong.
Effects are very strong. After an 8 once glass my face felt numb. And I felt uplifted for about half an hour then relaxed like I just wanted to watch shows on couch while watching movies. I'm a little sleepy and I believe I will sleep well tonight
 

PsyGuru

Kava Enthusiast
It looks like it may be sold out (it shows it afterwards in the cart). I was having some great Santa Cruz and wanted some other Solomon root. @Bula Kava House , will there be more Temo?
 
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