Bula! Billings' first kava bar brings a taste of the Pacific Islands to town
Kava Roots owners Shane and Thunder Fichter drink kava at their bar after a traditional toast of "bula!" in Billings.
RYAN BERRY, Billings Gazette
Thunder Fichter doesn’t mince words about the cloudy, slightly warm drink she sets down on the bar.
"We are basically serving people dirt water," she said.
A year ago, Thunder and her husband, Shane Fichter, along with business partner Koby Jeffers, opened Kava Roots at 928 Broadwater. It's the first establishment in the region dedicated to serving kava, a beverage made from roots of the Piper methysticum, a plant that originated in the Pacific Islands.
Heading into the New Year, they are already planning to expand the business, which opened in December 2020 in a small office space converted to a lounge with a tiki-bar vibe. It’s a tight space that does what kava is purported to do: bring people together.
“We knew the product well,” said Thunder, who is the brew master and concocts many of the drink options available. “It was just a matter of time before it spread.”
Thunder Fichter prepares a kava-based drink Tuesday, Nov. 2, at Kava Roots in Billings.
RYAN BERRY, Billings Gazette
Kava’s roots
Kava originated as a ceremonial drink in the Pacific Islands, often served by a chief, head of household, or high authority. The plant’s roots are ground up and mixed with water, then strained to produce a drink. The liquid numbs the tongue and has been touted for its calming properties.
“It’s definitely an acquired taste,” added Shane. “It’s earthy, and a lot of people really enjoy it.”
To cut that gritty and bitter flash that kava produces, the Fichters recommend chasing it with chunks of pineapple. Behind the bar, "kava tenders" offer "mixed" drinks too, pairing the sparkling canned drinks Leilo, made with kava, along with some whipped topping to sweeten things up.
Shane Fichter pours kava into a coconut shell at Kava Roots in Billings.
RYAN BERRY, Billings Gazette
Fou Mamea, who was born and raised in Oahu, is a regular at Kava Roots. “I call this the well,” said Mamea. “People come here to get a refresher, a reset. Their ego and judgment is left at the door.”
Mamea left Hawaii at age 15 and moved to California. In 2002 he came to Montana to join the Billings Outlaws and also played indoor football for the Wyoming Cavalry.
“I come here at least three times a week,” said Mamea. “Kava is my medicine.”
Mamea, who is of Samoan descent, grew up with the drink and recalls five-gallon buckets of kava being a staple in households, gathering places, and community events.
“It’s at every hut. Each household, it’s already there. It’s at weddings, graduations. It’s a ceremonial drink that brings people together, just like music.”
Of finding a kava bar in Billings, he said it “was a shock,” but feels that kava is for everyone.
“It’s just funny that it had to be a Caucasian person to bring it here, but more power to you. Not a lot of people know about it … if it’s not for you, it’s not for you.”
Shane Fichter prepares pineapple as a chaser for kava Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021, at Kava Roots in Billings.
RYAN BERRY Billings Gazette
Discovering kava
Shane and Thunder have been regular kava drinkers since Shane discovered a Kava bar in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when he was there training as a mixed martial arts fighter in 2019.
“Just the way it made me feel … it gives that social talkativeness that alcohol will give you, but none of the impaired or drunk feelings at all. You will actually feel more focused. Your cognitive abilities will open up when you have kava.”
And, getting that social buzz was something that Shane and Thunder found helped them stay sober. The two met 10 years ago behind Bar 9 in Bozeman and became literal partners in crime.
“I was in a bad way, selling drugs and doing stupid things,” said Shane. “We met and we were just linked. We were stuck together forever.”
Three weeks later, they ended up in California, sleeping in their car. “We had basically nothing — just caught up in our addictions,” said Thunder.
For Shane, opioids were his drug of choice, and he started using at age 17. Thunder began drinking in her 20s and quickly began blacking out and struggling with an addiction to alcohol.
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“It was something that picked up very quickly, and I almost became immediately addicted without knowing what addiction was,” said Thunder, who described herself as a high functioning alcoholic.
Shane went from pills to snorting powders and then smoking and injecting drugs, but kept his habits private. “I feel like that’s what made our lows so low,” he said. “We really ran it until the wheels fell off.”
Shane overdosed twice, but his rock bottom didn't come until later. “It got to the point where that feeling of not knowing if I were going to live or die … the teeter totter was the rush I was going for.” Eventually he was imprisoned for possession, where he began a 35-day detox. When it came time for release, Shane decided he wasn’t ready to return to the outside world.
“I start telling the judge she should let me out of jail, and as I’m saying it for the first time I could hear the bulls**t coming out of my mouth. I realized that if they do let me out, I’m going to go right back to the same people and do the same things. If you hang out in a barbershop you’re probably going to get a haircut.”
Shane’s sobriety became tied to mixed martial arts, where his addictive and compulsive behavior became a tool that he could channel in the ring. While he trained to become an MMA fighter, Thunder fought her own addiction.
“Fighting kind of saved my life, too,” she said. During that time, Shane was home more often, able to support her through the tough withdrawals after she decided to quit drinking. She first sought help from Rimrock Foundation — a treatment center in Billings for addictions including alcoholism. Though she was urged not to leave the facility, she checked out within two weeks, and that was when she discovered she was pregnant with their daughter.
“That was probably the most terrifying and exciting part of the whole thing,” said Thunder, who wasn’t confident she could remain sober, but did not want to hurt her unborn baby. “Building my confidence took some time. It was two or three months before I could look at myself and say, ‘I’m OK to be sober.’ Alcohol is such a huge crutch. I woke up every day doing that for a decade.”
From Thailand to Denver to Florida, Shane spent the next five years training to fight, and he was nearly to the coveted finish line of becoming a professional MMA fighter when a blow to the temple forced an early retirement. It wasn’t just the punch, Shane said. Over the course of his life, he’s taken beer bottles to the head, steel toed boots to the skull, and been in countless street fights.
“It’s like a tree. You are just chipping away at it.”
In a moment of universal timing, Shane’s last fight was in Florida, where he would also stumble across a kava bar.
Bringing kava to Billings
Thunder Fichter puts ground kava root into a ball before creating a kava drink Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021, at Kava Roots in Billings.
RYAN BERRY Billings Gazette
Prepared kava in a coconut shell at Kava Roots in Billings.
RYAN BERRY, Billings Gazette
Shane wasn’t the first one to bring kava to Billings, in fact all he had to do was Google “kava near me” and came up with a house in Rehberg Ranch. The business, Kalm with Kava, was founded by Mike Munsel, who launched Monsoon Beverages LLC and the Kalm with Kava brand in 2010.
Born in Billings, Munsel traveled frequently to the South Pacific to meet farmers growing kava, and also had connections with kava bar owners across the U.S. He was just 39 when he passed away unexpectedly on May 1, 2020, according to his obituary.
Shane and Thunder connected with Munsel before his death, and began sharing Kalm with Kava products with their friends and family.
“A lot of people love going to the bar because they get that social feeling, and this is an alternative to drinking alcohol,” described Shane. He opened Kava Roots in late 2020 with business partner Koby Jeffers, also an MMA fighter who was hanging out at that same kava bar in Florida.
The entrance to Kava Roots Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021, in Billings.
RYAN BERRY Billings Gazette
“It was just such a good experience, and I just kept thinking about it,” said Jeffers. “Everyone complains that there is nothing to do here, so I wanted to bring something completely different to the scene.”
Jeffers, who was a student athlete in college and has worked professionally as an MMA fighter, said there was nowhere for him to relax and blow off steam without it involving alcohol. “We have bars and casinos on every corner in Billings. I just thought it was so cool to be able to go out and have that same experience that you do at the bar.”
Kava, for all its benefits, does have some concerning warnings, including liver damage, and like all mood-altering substances, it can be abused. Kava is also a diuretic and can raise the heart rate and interact with other medications. The calming and euphoric properties of the root originate in the kavapyrones, spurring dopamine to release in the brain and triggering muscle relaxation.
“The people who frequent the place, it helps them want to open up,” said Shane. “With Big Pharma companies and how they are passing these chemicals and these pills and these vaccinations, I think this is perfect for what we need. For thousands of years, we have our ancestors and Shaman and Native Americans using these plants.”
Mamea, who grew up in Hawaii, said the product has been normalized in the states and becoming more understood but should be used with caution.
“I know my limits. You can abuse this,” said Mamea.
For Shane, the benefits outweigh the possible side effects. “A lot of people talk about quitting drinking or quitting drugs, because they want to be better. Look into yourself and try to be better, and surround yourself with people who want to put yourself in the same direction.”
Raising a curved coconut to the air, he touches its rim with the rim of Thunder's cup, exclaiming, "Bula," a Fijian word used as a greeting, but can also mean "to live."
