Shantu
Kava Curious
source: http://tehivarereata.over-blog.com/article-34993904.html
Looks like I just translated it from french to english. Quality not ensured and apologies to anyone if I butchered english and I didn't understand the first sentence very much. Was a fun exercise though, I'm not much of a french speaker.
2 classes of kava
Among the mix of different kava varieties we will take our first step at the roots, having about a dozen varieties that I divide in 2 classes:
1, The avaira'i
2, The ava
The two leaves on the left (taramaete, avini ute) are from the class ava,
while those on the right (orava and avaira'i) are from avaira'i.
Avaira'i kavas can be distinguished by their shiny and less pointy leaves and by the clusters of flowers being on the same side as the leaf:
In this class we can find at least 3 varieties: the avara'i with a green/gray stem, the orava which has a dark violet stem and one that looks like the crossing of the two with slightly pink branches. I found that this last one generates seeds sometimes.
According to the information I can recall, avaira'i kava was only used for medicinal purposes, not for drinking.
Kavas from the ava class have leaves with a matte surface that ends in a sharper tip than those of avaira'i. Unlike avaira'i, the flowers of ava are single and sit opposite to the leaf:
In both classes we can find varieties ranging from green to various shades of purple.
Popular varieties for preparing the "sacred drink" therefore fall into the class ava with matte leaves and single flowers. The best known ones are the avini 'ute (reddish), the taramaete (green stem with dark green spots) and the avini tea....
avini ute
avini tea
taramaete (also called ava puhi because of it's mottled appearance)
The roots of avini ute are ready to be crushed and consumed
Note: each year in July rodents attack kava stems, preferring the most popular varieties. Why is their preference and why in July?
Nice read!
Looks like I just translated it from french to english. Quality not ensured and apologies to anyone if I butchered english and I didn't understand the first sentence very much. Was a fun exercise though, I'm not much of a french speaker.
2 classes of kava
Among the mix of different kava varieties we will take our first step at the roots, having about a dozen varieties that I divide in 2 classes:
1, The avaira'i
2, The ava
The two leaves on the left (taramaete, avini ute) are from the class ava,
while those on the right (orava and avaira'i) are from avaira'i.
Avaira'i kavas can be distinguished by their shiny and less pointy leaves and by the clusters of flowers being on the same side as the leaf:
In this class we can find at least 3 varieties: the avara'i with a green/gray stem, the orava which has a dark violet stem and one that looks like the crossing of the two with slightly pink branches. I found that this last one generates seeds sometimes.
According to the information I can recall, avaira'i kava was only used for medicinal purposes, not for drinking.
Kavas from the ava class have leaves with a matte surface that ends in a sharper tip than those of avaira'i. Unlike avaira'i, the flowers of ava are single and sit opposite to the leaf:
In both classes we can find varieties ranging from green to various shades of purple.
Popular varieties for preparing the "sacred drink" therefore fall into the class ava with matte leaves and single flowers. The best known ones are the avini 'ute (reddish), the taramaete (green stem with dark green spots) and the avini tea....
avini ute
avini tea
taramaete (also called ava puhi because of it's mottled appearance)
The roots of avini ute are ready to be crushed and consumed
Note: each year in July rodents attack kava stems, preferring the most popular varieties. Why is their preference and why in July?
Nice read!
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