New around here. Hi!

[kl.Jon]

Hi everyone! I've been lurking around the forum for a couple of weeks and I decided to start participating.

I've been interested in Kava for a while now. A couple of years ago, I tried some of the pills from Kona Kava Farm, with no results whatsoever. After reading some of the posts on here, I think I know why. Anyway, around a month ago, my interest in kava returned. This time around, I decided to go with a more widely recommended variety. I ended up purchasing the Borogu from Bula Kava House and the kava root powder from Paradise Kava.

Last night, I brewed my first bowl of Borogu. Of course, it took me some time to get things going, but all in all it wasn't that difficult. I drank three servings (4 oz. each) about twenty minutes apart. I felt the slight numbing in my mouth and the weird sensation in my stomach. However, that was as far as it went. However, I've read all about the reverse tolerance, so I'm not losing hope yet. I just brewed a fresh batch a little bit ago and it's chilling now. I plan to try again later on. Hopefully I'll have better results tonight. We'll see.

Anyway, I just wanted to say hi and introduce myself. I like what I've seen of this forum so far and I hope to be posting again soon. Thanks!

 

[kl.stevev]

What was your kava/water ratio? and how long did you strain?

I do 2-5tablespoons to a cup strained to my desired consistency (normally 20min). I'd recommend 3 tablespoons to a cup for 20min, and if that doesn't work titerate the ratio, strain longer, and make a larger batch.

Good luck!

 

[kl.new2kava]

I think a good way to make to kava is making a larger batch and drinking a shell (around 8 ounces) every 15 minutes untill the desired effect is reached. I typically use about a fat cup of root with 2 16 ounce cans of coconut water mixed with 32 ounces of warm water with a few tablespoons of soy lectin. I let the bag sit and soak for half an hour and then knead it and squeeze it as hard as I can with breaking the bag for around 35-45 minutes. Usually 2 minutes of kneading and 1 minute of hard squezzing, the squeeze is when the good stuff leeches out. By squeezing nearly all the moisture out you can see the oiley and thick brown kava juice flow into your bowl. By the time I'm done the water is a nice thick and dark color that looks like chocolate milk with a layer of oils floating on the top.



The best part about making it this way is it's quite alot of work and by the end I'm all sweaty and quite thirsty so I chugg a fat shell and it kicks in almost immediatly. I then will drink a few more untill I'm nice and knunked and store the rest in the fridge in tupperware. It usually enough for a couple days worth of good kava sessions. Just make sure to stir it before pouring it out of the tupperware as it seperates and the sediment goes to the bottom. It sounds like you got some good kava, BKH is great. I havn't tried the borogu but I've used a few kilos of boroguro and love it as well the fu'u and instant green kava. Paradise is awesome as well.

 

[kl.Jon]

The ratio I used for the two batches was 1 tablespoon of root per cup of water. That seemed to be the average ratio suggested to those just starting out. I allowed the root to sit in the water for 30 minutes, then I kneaded it for ten minutes, wringing it out every minute of so.

I felt a little more with today's batch. I had some heaviness in my arms and also a bit of "buzziness" in my head. Neither lasted very long. Hopefully I'll get the reverse tolerance thing kicked soon and really start to feel something. I'm going to try another batch tomorrow. I'll try increasing the root and see what happens.

 

[kl.KarmaG]

Hi Jon and welcome! Don't sweat the lack of effects for now. I remember the first time I really felt kava and it was worth the wait! I'd say it took me about a week of daily kava drinking before I felt the "wow, so this is what everyone's talking about" effect. Kava singlehandedly helped me break my daily drinking (alcohol) habit and now I don't even think about it on most days.



One suggestion I do have is maybe to adjust your ratio so that you're using 2 tbsp of kava to each cup of water. If it's too strong, you can always dilute it. I started out with a 1tbsp:1cup when I was new to kava but have now adjusted and I think it makes quite a bit of difference.

 

[kl.Jon]

Thanks for the tips everybody! I'm brewing up another batch tonight using two tablespoons per cup of water. Hopefully tonight will be the night. I'll keep you posted.

 

[kl.icky]

I appreciate the tips too! Guess it's time to rev up the reverse tolerance..