Hello all, I'm very glad to have found this forum. I first tried Kava a few weeks ago via one of these little vials of "Kava Extract" I bought off Amazon. Boy I wish I would have discovered this forum before making that purchase!
I'm going to be placing my first order for the real stuff from Gourmet Hawaiian Kava shortly. I would like to know if someone can explain to me the difference between Instant, Micronized, and Medium Grind, and which you would recommend for a first-time user of real kava.
Thanks!
Welcome! Glad to have you with us
Instant Kava (Just add water)
Instant kava is kava which is produced from the dehydration of prepared powdered Kava. Either fresh kava juice, or prepared root that has gone through the traditional dry powdered prep is used. This is not to be confused with micronized kava which is simply the root stock which has been ground to a very fine consistency. The resulting Kava is mixed with water and consumed without the need for straining or any type of traditional preparation methods.
Micronized (also referred to as "micro) (Just add water, but is more gritty)
Whole kava root, or processed kava root that has been ground in a way that breaks the particle size down to the micron level. Straining this type of kava is exceedingly difficult with normal preparation materials, and as such is commonly consumed without straining.
Traditional Preparation (Medium Grind) (Normal preparation is required)
This refers to preparing your Kava as closely as possible to the way the Pacific islanders, from long ago, prepared their Kava. There are many variations to preparing Kava, but the most common one, and most "traditional", is to place your Kava in a strainer, in a bowl of fresh water and then for a period of time, continuously knead, massage, and squeeze the Kava that's in the strainer and covered in the water until as many Kava lactones are extracted from the Kava root as possible.
Instant kavas tend to be easiest on first time users. Literally no prep time, and you can control your dosage exactly. Great choice with GHK. You wont be disappointed.