I think I should be past the reverse tolerance phase now as I've been downing Kava the past two weeks. I still haven't felt the big euphoric feeling yet. I have felt some mild sedative effects, like having a strong cup of chamomile tea. It also feels like the kava tea from Yogi.
I have been putting two to four tbsps into a strainer bag with each serving. The water is warm and I let it steep for five mins before straining it for another five.
Is four tsbps not enough? Should I do eight? How many tbsps do you guys add?
I am also having some stomach issues with kava. Will these subside over time?
steeping fresh grind is completely um, optional. However, only kneading it for 5 minutes is not a good idea, IMO. Rather than soak it, try kneading for a good 10 minutes or longer. Diminishing marginal returns set in not long after 12 min, IMO, but 10 min kneading is a lot better than 5 with the first wash of a medium grind.
For stomach issues what worked for me and some other folks is to immediately chase a drink of kava with a swig of ginger beer (not ginger ale but Jamaican style ginger beer). Reeds make's a good one that is commonly available in bigger stores, some liquor stores, and many health food stores where it's usually more expensive. Also, juggling around with water ratios can help fight nausea. There's a sort of continuum between too much water and not enough, either of which could cause nausea, with the sweet spot somewhere in between those extremes.
4 TBS should be certainly adequate not just to have a good feeling but a pretty solid krunk, depending on how it is made. What I do with 4 TBS is use AluBalls to prep that into a litre (in two successive washes which I combine to make up the litre) which I drink with ice over the course of a morning or afternoon and then chuck the makas in the freezer and later I will get at least another 1/2 litre out of it. A lot of grog and a lot of effect, but if I wanted to get krunk, proper krunk, I would cut that water ratio by 50 - 75% . Now I do drink on average 8 TBS of medium grind a day but that's stretched out over the course of the day
Stomach issues might go away with time but I think you can be pro-active with the water ratios to find something that works best while you wait.
Many people, not all, came to even enjoy the taste of kava after some newbie weeks of gagging or worse. It's hard to predict what will happen but usually most people sort of adapt to the flavour so it's not so bad. I was a lucky one who went from dreading the taste of kava to loving it almost overnight, which happened about 6 or 7 months after I started daily or near-daily shelling. I was totally surprised. I also haven't gotten krunk in over a year (haven't felt like I needed to) but I have come very close. Krunk is not obligatory. Not krunk is also non-obligatory.