Golden era?

[ThePiper]

So some of you like me probably feel a bit like some of their favorite kava products haven’t hit as well as they used to. Of course I dismissed it as tolerance or lack of novelty.

But I found a maybe 4 or so years old bag of GHK Hiwa and compared it side by side with a recent (maybe not current)batch and my recollection from the previous one… and the old one definitely hit harder and had a more full body to it too. Maybe global weather patterns haven’t been as good recently, maybe some of the old batch kavas were allowed to grow longer due to less demand.

and I absolutely don’t want to call out GHK here, I noticed it with a lot of vendors ( my favorites in fact) but I just wanted to share and hear any thoughts. And there’s still some super strong kava out there but some of it seems a little less full bodied. Another example I’ve noted of this is melo melo from r&p. Still a high quality and super strong product, but some old batches from a few years ago were next level! good.

 

[nabanga]

maybe some of the old batch kavas were allowed to grow longer due to less demand.

I think this is probably it.
Ten years ago, or maybe even less, there was kava in the ground in Vanuatu that was planted for the domestic market and was left to a good old age. With the huge rise in global demand much of the kava now is harvested as soon as it feasibly can be. I even noticed a drop in potency on my last Vanuatu trip - you can see the whole roots for sale in the market are smaller. It is quite rare to get that big kick after drinking the first 200vt shell now.

 

[Palmetto]

Four years or more ago, the availability of quality selections was higher. I've been a bit disappointed for a couple years now. Even the Isa isn't hitting hard enough now. Let alone the availability of quality cultivars from vendors that seem to be barely stocked now.

And the prices have inflated like all foods. I remember getting a good pound of strong kava for $30. I mis the days of having a strong kava that you didn't want to drive after drinking. Now it would take a lot more to reach there.

 

[TheKavaSociety]

It's also possible we are getting older! Past always seems glorious and more intense as you get older. Your body is also aging and getting worse at processing things haha.

I am tempted to say there might be something to it because quantiative data doesn't support the idea that kava is weaker today than a couple of years ago. Indeed, the strongest ever batch of melo we got was maybe 6 months ago. It was a monster batch of instant melo, much stronger than anything we had ever seen.

 

[Alia]

It's also possible we are getting older! Past always seems glorious and more intense as you get older. Your body is also aging and getting worse at processing things haha.

I am tempted to say there might be something to it because quantiative data doesn't support the idea that kava is weaker today than a couple of years ago. Indeed, the strongest ever batch of melo we got was maybe 6 months ago. It was a monster batch of instant melo, much stronger than anything we had ever seen.

All I can add is that next year is 2025 and that will be the 40th anniversary year of my personal history with Kava/ 'Awa. It remains the solid foundation of my life and my evening cups remain always so wonderful! Growing this plant is a big part of the whole story of understanding kava holistically. I have been thinking more about this lately as I age. The subtle and sometimes bolder physiological and morphological variations are a big part of the allure (the quality of being powerfully and mysteriously attractive or fascinating).

 

[ThePiper]

All I can add is that next year is 2025 and that will be the 40th anniversary year of my personal history with Kava/ 'Awa. It remains the solid foundation of my life and my evening cups remain always so wonderful! Growing this plant is a big part of the whole story of understanding kava holistically. I have been thinking more about this lately as I age. The subtle and sometimes bolder physiological and morphological variations are a big part of the allure (the quality of being powerfully and mysteriously attractive or fascinating).

Wish I could grow kava lol… I completely agree though.

 

[sɥɐʞɐs]

So some of you like me probably feel a bit like some of their favorite kava products haven’t hit as well as they used to. Of course I dismissed it as tolerance or lack of novelty.

But I found a maybe 4 or so years old bag of GHK Hiwa and compared it side by side with a recent (maybe not current)batch and my recollection from the previous one… and the old one definitely hit harder and had a more full body to it too. Maybe global weather patterns haven’t been as good recently, maybe some of the old batch kavas were allowed to grow longer due to less demand.

and I absolutely don’t want to call out GHK here, I noticed it with a lot of vendors ( my favorites in fact) but I just wanted to share and hear any thoughts. And there’s still some super strong kava out there but some of it seems a little less full bodied. Another example I’ve noted of this is melo melo from r&p. Still a high quality and super strong product, but some old batches from a few years ago were next level! good.

Have you been buying Kalm's private reserve kavas? That's where I've been finding stuff that still hits for the last couple years. Most of them that I've tried remind me of good effective kava that I used to buy pre-2015. They're doing free domestic shipping this month too, I just ordered some Pentecost Laterals.

​

@Palmetto if your kava purchase history goes back far enough you can see the real major price hike happened around 2015-2018 and you can verify it by searching old e-mail order confirmations or using the Internet Archive. For example, here is my order history of Melo Melo, from the same vendor, from 2013-2024:

1x Melo Melo Kava Powder - 1.1 LB for $29.50 each -- oct 10th 2013​

1x Melo Melo Kava Powder - 1 LB for $60.00 each -- may 14th 2018​

1x Melo Melo Kava Powder - 1 LB for $64.00 each -- march 20th 2020​

1x Melo Melo Kava Powder - 1 LB for $64.00 each -- september 2024​

It hasn't gone up at all in the last 4 years but it doubled between 2013 and 2018.