Informal Mahakea Review

[Steve Mariotti]

Ok, so this is kind of an apples-and-oranges situation since my prep method was very different this time around. I wanted to wait for the weekend to do Mahakea right, but my eagerness to get in there and try it got the best of me.

Prep:

• 1/4 cup of Mahakea medium grind
• 3 cups of warm tap water
• Mixed and steeped for about 30 minutes, maybe a few more.
• Hit it with the 80 micron nut milk bag and squished and squeezed for 10 minutes
• Strained through the nut milk bag.
• Strained again through a 25 micron monofilament nylon fiber filtration bag into the final jar. The superfine strain was to address the second-day gurglies that I usually get, even with the 80 micron nut mlik bag doubled for the final filter.

Observations:

• It's a weaker mix than usual. I normally make 3 cups of water to 1/2 cup ground root and drink 1 1/2 cups of it that night.
• To compensate for the weaker brew, I drank all 3 cups of it tonight.
• The final strain through the 25 micron mesh left a thick putty-like paste in the mesh. I imagine most people drink the root fiber that small (I think GHK's micronized is right around 25 micron grind) but I wanted as root-free an experience as possible.
• I drank 4 oz. cups at 10-20 minute intervals until it was all gone.
• Definite numbing with each cup, though not super intense numbing and I didn't feel it on the back of my throat like stronger brews.
• At about 30 minutes I started to feel something subtle. At an hour, I started getting the warmth in the face.
• At an hour and a half, I finished the batch and picked at food. Some pasta, some olives, a tangerine (not all at once.
• I feel very LEVEL. That's the best word for it.
• Not much giddiness like M'oi. A little restless when the effects came on, but that subsided.
• Almost no dizzy feeling when moving my head from side to side like I would get with the Borongoru and M'oi and to some extent the Nene or Fijian I have.
• Slight "looser" sense of balance. Not stumbly, but a little off kilter like I'm standing on the deck of a very large ship that's rolling side to side very very slowly. The ground is slightly higher or lower when I put my foot down than I'm expecting.

Overall, I'm super relaxed with a slightly heavy-lidded feeling. I'm neither up nor down, just kind of leveled out somewhere in the middle. I pulled a muscle in my neck sleeping two nights ago, and looking to my extreme right has been a little painful, but now I don't feel that pain or limitation of range of motion on the right side. My ears are ringing a little, as if I went to a loud concert a few nights ago. My stomach feels solid and not gurgly.

This is a really chill experience. I know I knocked the potency down by 1) halving the usual amount of root, and 2) straining almost all of the particles out with the 25 micron mesh. But this is a great state of mind to be in on a Wednesday night. Sleep should come easily when I want it, and not before. Typing a review on kavaforums is exactly what I want to be doing right now.

Cheers!

 

[Steve Mariotti]

The morning after report on Mahakea: no stomach churning at all. Really rock solid on the tum tum this morn. I think that's probably the 25 micron bag doing its job.

I'm left with a general happy calmness, and not a residual sleepiness. I look forward to the challenges of my workday. I'm really excited about the new straining, and I'm really excited to try Mahakea again in a stronger mix this weekend!

No gurgling! This is a new kava experience for me.

 

[sɥɐʞɐs]

Definitely try half-cup plus...you'll likely find Mahakea has more going on than Mo'i.
...and as the resident kava snob, I'm gonna correct your 'okina placement in the word Mo'i.
While I'm at it, I guess should let everyone know that an 'okina can only go in between vowels or in the front of a word that starts with a vowel
K, sorry about that, now I'm just making you squint.

 

[Steve Mariotti]

Sorry, my dipthong was on too tight. Thanks for that, I'm not always syntactically accurate, but when I am, I'm correct. So it's MO-EE and not MOY and not M-OY. Yeah?

 

[sɥɐʞɐs]

yup. MO-EE, MOH-ee
Technically, I could be even more of a stickler ...the word also has a Kahakō in it. To show that you lengthen the pronunciation of the vowel. Mō'i. But keyboards don't make that one easy to do...

 

[Steve Mariotti]

Kahako? I barely know her.

 

[Steve Mariotti]

Update!

Tonight I brewed another batch of Mahakea, full strength, using my 25 micron strainer bag only. I kneaded for 15 minutes and worked that stuff real dang hard.

Drank cups at 15 minute intervals. After an hour, I was absolutely swept away.

Observations:

• I feel like I'm moving around underwater. Warm, soothing bathwater.
• Numbing! Each glass gave me significant numbing of the mouth and throat. This batch definitely had a throat hit where the previous one did not.
• Powerful feeling of equanimity overcame me at about an hour.
• Went and bagged bread from Panera for a local church with my daughter. The church collects end-of-day bread from Panera every Thursday, rebags, and delivers to a women's shelter. Felt great doing good things for people in crisis! I'm a lifelong non-practicing atheist, but there's nothing secular or non-secular about helping people in need. Plus, great daughter time and great modeling.
• Finished the full 3 cups of liquid tonight. The 25 micron bag definitely keeps even the tiniest root fibers out. Total tummy win. Makes it less potent, but totally worth it. I did a final strain through the 80 micron bag, and NOTHING was left in the bag. Total tiny particle victory there.

Overall feeling of level headed relaxation and calm. Stronger than the previous night, and just wonderful.

Another Gourmet Hawaiian Kava success!