My first experience! Advice welcomed

[Zhivili]

Today my order of Nambawan from Bula Kava House came in! I heard it was no first-timer's kava, but I decided to go with a more potent strain considering I have a natural tolerance to mind-altering substance. I prepared some and it seems to work and I enjoy the effects, however I can't bring myself to drink enough for more pronounced effects. The throat numbing & taste are intense!

First, I mixed
-1 cup water with 2 1/2 cups coconut milk (mixture is cold)
-1/3 cup kava
-Hot chocolate mix
-Honey
-Blue agave nectar
-Little bit of sugar
-Powdered ginger
-Cinnamon sugar
Into a blender. I blended it on high in 30 second intervals (important to not blow out your blender's motor!) for about 5-10 minutes. Afterwards, I poured it through a sock intended for the purpose into a large bowl. With the strained material, I kneaded and squeezed the strained powder vigorously. Once the liquid was fully saturated I gave it a quick second wash/knead in another bowl of warm water which turned opaque quickly.

I poured myself a shell and chased it down quickly, using the same technique I use to tolerate cheap liquor - inhale, drink, chase and swish with sweet beverage (apple juice in this case), exhale hard. Holy crap it lingers! I went for the coconut milk, didn't help either! Could've been so much worse.

Who here has experimented with the flavor? I'm a fan of bold tastes, but omg. I'm probably going to end up brewing chai tea and mixing it in with the kava cold, or maybe even making the kava in chai tea brewed in coconut milk/water. Any ideas? This stuff is almost about as bad as ayahuasca!

 

[Kimmer]

I mixed up my first Nambawan this week too. What I'm using for a chaser is Kalm with Kava concentrate (mixed with water). I just use plain water for the kneading.
Yeah, it doesn't taste good but the Kalm seems to break through the yuk.

 

[verticity]

Who here has experimented with the flavor? I'm a fan of bold tastes, but omg. I'm probably going to end up brewing chai tea and mixing it in with the kava cold, or maybe even making the kava in chai tea brewed in coconut milk/water. Any ideas? This stuff is almost about as bad as a********!

I know, asterisks taste terrible. I much perfer the taste of tildes ~~~~~ I like to mix 1 tsp of Crystal Light lemonade mix per 4 cups of kava. The citric acid helps to neutralize the taste somewhat.

 

[Steve Mariotti]

a******** must be:

assholes!
anusjuice
acetylene
apechoads
astroturf
alabaster
asswaters
acidbaths
absinthes
amygdalas
aspartame
agincourt
Americans
autistics​

I'm pretty sure it's "apechoads".

 

[verticity]

Interesting, "apechoad" is not an English word, but if I put it in Google Translate, with autodetect language on, it is apparently the Slovak word for apechoad.

 

[Steve Mariotti]

Interesting, "apechoad" is not an English word, but if I put it in Google Translate, with autodetect language on, it is apparently the Slovak word for apechoad.

Many Slovak words translate to apechoad in English. It's like the Inuit people and their many names for snow.

 

[Runding]

a******** must be:

assholes!
anusjuice
acetylene
apechoads
astroturf
alabaster
asswaters
acidbaths
absinthes
amygdalas
aspartame
agincourt
Americans
autistics​

I'm pretty sure it's "apechoads".

I'm using apechoads in my daily speech from now on. That's awesome.

@Zhivili Unfortunately, I've tried many many things to get the taste to be not so horrendous. Nothing works. My best advice: only drink 4 oz at a time so it's easy.

As mentioned before, Kalm with Kava is the BEST way to get rid of most of the taste. I mix the concentrate in my traditional prep grog.

The second best option is to do a traditional prep with cranberry or grapefruit juice. I also buy fresh ginger root and take a few little bites to numb your tongue/tastes before and after you gulp the kava.

If all else fails, buy instant and fill up some caps to take in pill form if it's that bad.

 

[Steve Mariotti]

It tastes bad. Make peace with that bad taste, and soon you will grow to enjoy it. Mask that bad taste, and you'll only be drinking more crap for the same amount of kava.

If you add enough chili to something, it becomes chili. No matter what it is. If add kava to anything, it just becomes kava. It'll never be anything other than bad-tasting kava with crap in it. I may be wrong, though. I'll have to try some of Kava King's powders and see how those go. It always seemed like flavoring it was a waste of energy.

 

[Zhivili]

Indeed, Steve - any additives only mean I'm drinking more crap for the same amount of kava... that's my dilemma

I've managed to alleviate the situation by blending in a banana and caramel-vanilla creamer after straining/kneading the blended mixture with the usual sugar, honey, and blue agave nectar. Much better! Feeling good right now. As I have with booze and coffee I will eventually catch a taste for the flavor of kava and will be able to reduce the amount of filler over time. That throat numbing sure does last a while though.

By the way, the word that was censored is a substance (or preparation containing the substance) illegal in most jurisdictions. Ayahu...

 

[Steve Mariotti]

analbumcover?

 

[August West]

Don't breathe through your nose until you've chased it. The majority of the taste comes from the olfactory senses. I don't use my nose for easily ten seconds after my water chaser. Also chill the heck out of your grog with a tray of ice cubes. Think warm beer or pop vs cold beer or pop. Cold kills the taste.

Lastly, a big squirt of lemon juice is the only thing that helps for me, which I only add when giving it to first-timers. Otherwise I just drink it straight, ice cold, and tell myself that the reward outweighs the taste. If I add anything else, the result usually just ends up having to drink an even larger, thicker amount of nastiness.

 

[Zhivili]

Cheers, I'll have to try the lemon juice.

The addition of a single banana with sweeteners made a world of a difference, especially in regards to the aftertaste. To those who are gonna try, make sure you blend the banana after you strain the mixture.

 

[Steve Mariotti]

Considered trying a chaser instead of blending? Just gak it down and then bite something yummy and fruity.

 

[Poivrier]

I had good results with coconut oil in a blender, but I noticed that the more "kavaesque" the taste the more kavazified i feel. Learn to embrace the smelly feet of Piper methysticum the Kava God and you will be rewarded !

Or you could snack on apechoads, I heard it has an interesting musky aftertaste.

 

[Zhivili]

Considered trying a chaser instead of blending? Just gak it down and then bite something yummy and fruity.

I tried apple juice first as a chaser. The aftertaste lingered very badly!

I noticed cheese actually worked as one of the best chasers.