Decided to try Kava

[Dan!]

Guys I decided to try Kava. I bought the starter pack from the kava roots and received the noble warrior & Tonga choice.

I’ve done about 6-7 sessions with varying amounts of powder.

Each time I drink I get about 5-10 minutes of an extreme stimulant effect. After that nothing.

My wife tried the first few times and experienced the same.

Nothing remotely mellow or relaxing. Indeed quite the opposite.

Curious if others have had the same experience.

 

[AlexisReal]

Guys I decided to try Kava. I bought the starter pack from the kava roots and received the noble warrior & Tonga choice.

I’ve done about 6-7 sessions with varying amounts of powder.

Each time I drink I get about 5-10 minutes of an extreme stimulant effect. After that nothing.

My wife tried the first few times and experienced the same.

Nothing remotely mellow or relaxing. Indeed quite the opposite.

Curious if others have had the same experience.

You just might need a longer period of daily use, for the kavalactones to build up in your system, and for your body and consciousness to acclimate to the Kava.

And keep trying different kavas. I had some Tongan Choice today myself. To me it is strong, but a subtle one, neither noticeably heady or sedative.

The Kava Depot offers some fantastic kava, the Kadavu Waka is very strong and effective.

Also recommended mostly is an empty stomach, but including some source of suffucient, healthy fat will make a big difference in terms of potentiation.

Like a warm, fatty meal after your session, to really kick in those effects.

But also, OCD me lol- I work in weight and numbers. And I feel there is a threshold with kava- a certain amount needs to be drunk, per individual, to reach that lovely kava utopia.

Most days I use 30 to 50 grams worth, double washing all.


I would carry on longer, trying a variety of different kavas, to see if you are currently being affected by the proclaimed reverse tolerance Factor of kava.

You also might like WoW kava from Nakamal@home. Excellent mood boosting qualities.

I actually, personally found the effects of the tongan choice difficult to place and recognise exactly but with the experience I have had overall in the past year now I can really enjoy and appreciate it for or the quality.

That Kadavu Waka is very strong though, as are their others. Vanuatu Waka from there may also be worth a try, it may be more heady but still very strong.

They also have an instant kava called ceremonial which is similarly potent but also on the heavy side like Kadavu.

Sorry I'm only mentioning all of this because I have only just tried their products the past week after a year of many different sources and it just felt appropriate to at least mention them to you but I think you should definitely stick with it for a little while and make sure that you are taking enough kava overall, in the necessary timeframe to actually achieve that breakthrough most of us do.

And if you can please keep us posted on what the final turnout is of your experiment and trial with kava I will watch this thread for any updates and would be very interested to know of further developments which hopefully will be positive.

 

[ThatDankK]

Welcome to the infamous reverse tolerance stage my friend. Best way to get through RT is to make a batch once a day with one of the tested/proven prep methods for a few weeks. You'll begin to notice the other effects once you start to "break-through" the RT. The effects you've felt when you've tried it are more than likely from one of the kavalactones "kavain".
This is what causes what we call a "heady" effect, which is stimulation and mild euphoria, or better put a sense of well being.
Also, the cultivars youve chosen are heady varieties, the tongan kavas are well known for being mostly heady without much body load. If youre looking for a body load, kalm with kava is a good starter company and they have some balanced ones such as borogu which is 50/50, or borongoru which for me tends to be 30/70 heady/heavy. Another good one from them and a great starter kava with more of a body load is melo-melo (hence the name)
Make sure your prep is something around 3-4tbs to start and increase it if you begin to feel your desired effects until you're satisfied with how you're feeling. If traditional prep is too time consuming for you, a great alternative is using a "protein/drink mix blender bottle" its battery operated (such as a jawku bottle, which is what I use) and I do 3 washes with 5-6tbs each wash I fill the bottle within 1-2 inches from the top and run it for 3 minutes per wash and knead for about 1 minute after the 2nd and 3rd wash. It gets it just as strong as traditional prep for me. If you have any questions feel free to reply or PM me!

 

[Edward]

Guys I decided to try Kava. I bought the starter pack from the kava roots and received the noble warrior & Tonga choice.

I’ve done about 6-7 sessions with varying amounts of powder.

Each time I drink I get about 5-10 minutes of an extreme stimulant effect. After that nothing.

My wife tried the first few times and experienced the same.

Nothing remotely mellow or relaxing. Indeed quite the opposite.

Curious if others have had the same experience.

As mentioned above you've got more balanced to heady kavas there, excellent though they are. I would suggest trying a heavy kava and see how that goes. Plenty to choose from but amongst my many favourites are Hiwa from GHK, Stone or Wow from N@H, Kavafied Supreme, the Kadavu or Ambae's from Kava Time.

 

[ofaskava]

I'm always excited for people trying kava out for the first time. Double the amount of kava or use some warmer water to get the kavalactones more active in your mix. Sometimes the environment which you drink can add a little to the affects. A suggestion is to listen to some laid back aternative music or some reggae and dim the lights too.

I'm a happy Kava enthusiast that enjoys sharing the experience with all...playing cards or doing trivia questions can also make it fun and relaxing

Cheers to you guys

 

[Artofkava]

Guys I decided to try Kava. I bought the starter pack from the kava roots and received the noble warrior & Tonga choice.

I’ve done about 6-7 sessions with varying amounts of powder.

Each time I drink I get about 5-10 minutes of an extreme stimulant effect. After that nothing.

My wife tried the first few times and experienced the same.

Nothing remotely mellow or relaxing. Indeed quite the opposite.

Curious if others have had the same experience.

Just curious, what are the quantities you're using now and what does your prep look like?

 

[kavakarma]

@Artofkava For me I'm using at least half a cup of fiji'an waka and lawena mixed however I feel like - sometimes it's mostly lawena, sometimes I go for the waka, and when I want a balanced mix, I do 30:70 of one and the other. After drinking straight waka for a consecutive year I appreciate having the lawena on hand, it's added another element of control to the overall flavor of my kava. Similar to how brewing or drinking it at a hot or cold temperature definitely effects flavor. I would drink waka every day and be happy with no lawena, although lawena is very nice. I like to get my water warmed up, ready the strainer, finally get the roots in there before squeezing. Once the roots go in I'm ready to wash my hands and squeeze. For as long as I can, then, shells up - Bula!

 

[kavakarma]

Kava brewed very hot and served so: Creamy, textured, thick sipper.
Kava brewed very hot and served cold: awkward. heat it up.
Kava brewed cold and served cold: refreshing
Kava brewed cold and warmed up: (+disinfected)
Kava brewed warm and served so: Beautiful, just right
Kava brewed warm and caused to cool down: uh oh, time's running on
Kava brewed warm and heated: to a certain point, about 150*F, freshness is restored. Hotter, and you risk starching the flavor and sliming or even burning your brew.