Global Kava Exports Has Relocated

[Global Kava Exports]

Dear Kava Customers,

Due to unfair conditions imposed upon us in Ireland we can no longer operate there. A lack of understanding of Kava and a lack of willingness to try and understand Kava on the part of the foods authority means that Kava can no longer be shipped from there. Kava is acknowledged as a foodstuff in Ireland but with no authority to be exported. It is safe to import Kava as a customer in Ireland and it is not illegal to drink Kava in Ireland but it cannot be exported.

We also suffered a major setback with our Kava stock due to the Cyclone Pam disaster in Vanuatu. Of course, our slight inconvenience is nothing compared to what the people in Vanuatu have suffered and are still suffering but it has compounded our problems and made sure we couldn't operate for the last 6 weeks. We apologise to all our customers for closing without notice and being unable to supply them with Kava and we also thank them for the many emails of support we have received, it is much appreciated.

As of early May we will be in a new EU country, and all strains previously sold by us will be available, including our Vanuatu strains and several Hawaiian strains and there will be more variety to come. Some products will be missing however, sample packs may no longer be available, large bulk deals may also be unavailable and Kava Candy will not be available, it is a fantastic product and we would love to keep selling it but it is not possible unfortunately. On the positive side, we have about 300 packets of Candy at our new location and we will have a bulk fire sale to get rid of the remaining stock when we reopen. There will be changes made to the website but none of this will affect the checkout process or the general layout so you will still find everything where it used to be.

So thank you for your patience, thank you for your support. We will be operational soon in our new home and we can continue the good work helping Europe find happiness and helping to get Vanuatu back on its feet through the magical root that is Kava.

Kind Regards,
Cian, Órla, Saoirse & Aidán.

 

[verticity]

You don't say which country, so I'll assume you're moving to Luxembourg.

 

[Roaddog]

Well, I am wishing you the best. much love Roaddog....

 

[tsobok]

All power to you

 

[Crunked]

Best wishes for the future to all at GKE. I promise not to tell ANYONE that you are relocating to Germany.

 

[yiki]

As of early May we will be in a new EU country

I don't know what to say, but this is the definition of boss level.

 

[Global Kava Exports]

Best wishes for the future to all at GKE. I promise not to tell ANYONE that you are relocating to Germany.

We were actually going to... I'm not joking

 

[Global Kava Exports]

I don't know what to say, but this is the definition of boss level.

Well, it's not exotic but it is a different EU country! It's the good old UK with its clear cut definition of Kava legality. Kava is not allowed as a food or medicine in the UK. We will be selling it for a different use and so it will be entirely legal. The packages will not have to have a sticker describing the contents like they did when we shipped from Ireland (all parcels from Ireland go by air and so must carry a customs declaration) and our return address will not say 'GK Exports Ltd'. So altogether there is more customer privacy. Royal Mail is slower than An Post but only by maybe 24 hours at most so this isn't a huge deal.

We have had 2 solicitors look into the possibility of Kava being added to any Analog Law which the UK might be thinking of introducing in the following months and we are confident Kava is not even being considered as part of this initiative, it's not even on the radar in this regard. So we feel safe to reenter the UK market with Kava now and look forward to supplying our customers again. We have donated as much as we could to Vanuatu after Cyclone Pam and we want to continue doing so, we will be open and trading as soon as we possibly can, we estimate that that should be by the 5th of May but this could fluctuate so lets just say the first week of May.

Thank you to everyone for your patience and your support. Looking forward to emailing all customers in May with the news that we are open again.

 

[Sadie]

Yipee! Welcome to the UK....so glad you found a way of continuing to do business and not surprised the Irish Authorities wouldn't work with you (I'm Irish so I can say that) - booze and head shops very popular and legal there but Kava not allowed...seems crazy to me.

 

[verticity]

Kava is not allowed as a food or medicine in the UK. We will be selling it for a different use and so it will be entirely legal.

Is it like the US where it is a "nutritional supplement"? Or will you be selling it as "fertilizer"?

 

[Sadie]

I've read online that it is very effective when made into a paste and applied to psoriasis which I have so will try that out...it is useful for so many things and I'm so pleased to have a UK vendor

 

[Pacifico]

Do people order GKE products from the United States?

 

[TheKavaSociety]

Is it like the US where it is a "nutritional supplement"? Or will you be selling it as "fertilizer"?

It probably has to be sold as "not for human consumption" or something like that ("for ornamental purposes only" or "pet food"

 

[Global Kava Exports]

Do people order GKE products from the United States?

We had orders at the start to the states and the shipping time was super fast but that was a fluke and it started to get slower and slower so we started pointing any US customers to other suppliers as it wasn't worth the shipping costs and the delays. They could get the Kava much more easily from a US vendor.

 

[Global Kava Exports]

It probably has to be sold as "not for human consumption" or something like that ("for ornamental purposes only" or "pet food"

Yes though there is a functional reason for ordering Kava in Europe now and that would be to test it to see if it is Noble. So Kava enthusiasts and budding botanists can research and test our Kava batches and keep check on Kava quality from Vanuatu, Hawaii and soon enough Fiji also.

 

[Global Kava Exports]

I've read online that it is very effective when made into a paste and applied to psoriasis which I have so will try that out...it is useful for so many things and I'm so pleased to have a UK vendor

Wow, I never thought of that. I know the guys in Vanuatu used it for acne and spots and it was really effective but I never made the link to Psoriasis and my father suffers pretty badly with that. Have you got any more info on that idea or a method for the paste? Much obliged if you do.

 

[Global Kava Exports]

Is it like the US where it is a "nutritional supplement"? Or will you be selling it as "fertilizer"?

No, no supplement. This is why we can't sell the Kava Candy anymore. Any Kava product which is made for consumption is not allowed. No suplements, no herbal remedies, no traditional preparation. Kava can only be sold as a product which cannot be consumed. This is unfortunately the law. But at least we can sell the exact same quality Kava that people drink in Vanuatu/Fiji/USA to customers in Europe who can research it and test it to study Kava quality and increase our knowledge of Kava.

 

[Global Kava Exports]

Yipee! Welcome to the UK....so glad you found a way of continuing to do business and not surprised the Irish Authorities wouldn't work with you (I'm Irish so I can say that) - booze and head shops very popular and legal there but Kava not allowed...seems crazy to me.

You know what it's like there, instead of dealing with the problem directly they just want to sweep it under the carpet. They would rather people lost their jobs and Vanuatu lost an export market rather than have to do some hard work on Kava and face off against Germanies bullying orders. It may only be a couple jobs and a tiny annual export but it was an income for Irish people and Ni-Vans that could have been nurtured and grown into something that really made a difference on both sides of the world. But anyway we will have to operate in the UK now and it should go just fine.

 

[TheKavaSociety]

No, no supplement. This is why we can't sell the Kava Candy anymore. Any Kava product which is made for consumption is not allowed. No suplements, no herbal remedies, no traditional preparation. Kava can only be sold as a product which cannot be consumed. This is unfortunately the law. But at least we can sell the exact same quality Kava that people drink in Vanuatu/Fiji/USA to customers in Europe who can research it and test it to study Kava quality and increase our knowledge of Kava.

Does it mean that you won't be publishing any prep instructions or advice on how to consume kava anywhere on your website? If that is the case, then can you at least provide links to websites that can publish such info.. People might want to know such things, naturally just for educational purposes.