Problems with 11 Year Old Waka

[Delicate Drunk]

I have been drinking kava for 20 years, and just tried Bula Kava for the first time. I bought 1 pound of their 11 year old micronized waka, and paid 78.00 USD. The potency is pretty good, but the grind of the kava was supposed to be micronized, and instead it is sort of a mixture of medium grind and micronized. I am traveling a lot now, and really need something I can just mix in with water and drink. Unfortunately there is quite a bit of unmicronized root floating around, and that’s not what I paid for, and it’s hard to drink without filtering. I contacted Bula Kava and have been emailing back and forth with them for over a week. They told me I should send the remaining kava back to them, but they expect me to pay return shipping charges and a 15 percent restocking fee, even though they admitted that the kava was not fully micronized as it should be. So just to warn all you guys on this forum, this kava is not fully micronized, and Bula Kava is not standing behind their product. I will now post some pictures of the kava mixed into water so you can see the all unground stuff floating around. My next order is definitely going to Gourmet Hawaiian Kava, which I have always had great luck with, and their quality and potency is second to none.

 

[JonT]

Interesting....your first few pictures I thought "that just looks like micronised to me" but the later ones....there definitely should not be those "long pieces" in micronised kava. I always had good service from BKH but I admit I never ran into a problem like this.

 

[HeadHodge]

You're not the only one here reporting that. Wish judd at @Bula Kava House would address the issue and tell us what's going on.

Some of the people reporting this are new to kava, and it's kinda discouraging watching this add to the normal confusion of trying to understand and use kava.

 

[Mr. Rooted]

First off, the 11 Yr Waka is mind-blowing. It's an amazing kava. That said, it's not really micronized as I've come to understand micronized. 11 Yr Waka was the first micro I ever tried, so I wasn't turned off too much by the large root pieces. I have since seen the light.

When I first received micro Moi and Nene from GHK, I thought Chris had mistakenly sent me instant. It looked so similar to the BKH instant green... at least to my novice eye. GHK sells the best kava money can buy, and it amazes me how Chris can get it delivered it to the mainland in 3-4 days (I was expecting 1.5 wks minimum). Judd may sell the 11 yr as a micronized kava, but it's nowhere near the quality of grind that the GHK micros are. Effects are still outstanding though... gotta give BKH that much.

Side note... micronized Moi may be the best kava. Period.

 

[Rookietwoshoes]

Yep them look like splinters , alright.
Like @HeadHodge said, several complaints like this have come up recently.

Was bkh's micronized different in the past or has it always looked like this?

 

[Bula Kava House]

Hey there, @Delicate Drunk. Sorry about your troubles. We received a few kgs. of micronized 11 Year recently that seemed to be a little less micronized, with some larger chunks mixed in. We tried to sort through it all but some surely made it to customers before we noticed. You are obviously one of those customers. You are right, it's not what you paid for, and you deserve what you paid for. The young woman who does our shipping and answers most emails is very young, and is new to customer service, and learning along the way. I tell her in almost all situations that a customer's satisfaction is the top priority, but she still has a hard time sometimes deciphering who is unreasonably requesting something for free, and who has a legitimate complaint that we need to correct on our own dime. In this case, we owe you a bag of truly micronized kava, and no, you shouldn't have to pay shipping either way. Please send me an email at [email protected] and I'll get you sorted out. I'll also have a chat with Una to make sure she is a little more helpful in any future similar situations.

If any other forum members believe you got kava from the less micronized batch, please contact [email protected]. Other than the random slighlty larger piece or two in there, our micronized is very fine, high quality stuff. It's so fine, it almost dissolves in water. Multiple reviews report how fine the quality really is normally. If what you ordered is not like this, and looks more like the pictures above when you mix, you probably have a bag from the "off" batch (@Mr. Rooted ). We'll take care of you if that's the case.

 

[HeadHodge]

Awesome @Judd Rench !!!

Thank you very much...

 

[HeadHodge]

Yep them look like splinters , alright.
Like @HeadHodge said, several complaints like this have come up recently.

Was bkh's micronized different in the past or has it always looked like this?

I bought a ton of this awhile back. Mine is totally very very fine micronized.

 

[Runding]

Mine definitely is one of the batch with splinters and such, but I just gulp it down anyways. I guess it doesn't bother me as much, since it's possibly my most favorite kava in terms of effects. If you mix it with micro Moi... holy nuts. Try it half and half.

 

[HeadHodge]

Mine definitely is one of the batch with splinters and such, but I just gulp it down anyways. I guess it doesn't bother me as much, since it's possibly my most favorite kava in terms of effects. If you mix it with micro Moi... holy nuts. Try it half and half.

 

[Delicate Drunk]

Judd contacted me and is making things right.
Thank you Judd!

 

[Delicate Drunk]

Mine definitely is one of the batch with splinters and such, but I just gulp it down anyways. I guess it doesn't bother me as much, since it's possibly my most favorite kava in terms of effects. If you mix it with micro Moi... holy nuts. Try it half and half.

This 11 year old waka does have good effects, I agree, it's very nice in that regard. I tend to sip my kava though, rather than gulp, so it needs to be be fully micronized or well filtered.

 

[blindy107]

Yeah the last batch I ordered for my honeymoon was very splintery. It's my 4th or 5th order of this waka and the only one that has been an issue. I'm used to a good deal of sediment but these boogers are a little sharp. I however, have almost none left for proof as the effects of 11 yr outweigh the cactus throat.

I have just taken to pouring the grog through my teeth to filter the branches. Works fairly well but can get messy if you overflow.

 

[HeadHodge]

...I have just taken to pouring the grog through my teeth to filter the branches. Works fairly well but can get messy if you overflow.

You just need to buy one of my patent pending Hump Back Filters. You wear it like a pair of dentures.

 

[blindy107]

Mmmmmmmm...krill...

 

[Nodnav]

I am glad to see that Judd took care of things. I just placed my first order for micronized kava and I chose BKH simply because they paid immediate and the most attention to me. I might need to go to "Gourmet" to get some micronized boro or another type but BKH gets me first. Speaking of Gourmet, "Chris" is very serious about expelling the "makas" from his micro. What do we know about "makas" in the 11 Year from BKH?

 

[Steve Mariotti]

I am glad to see that Judd took care of things. I just placed my first order for micronized kava and I chose BKH simply because they paid immediate and the most attention to me. I might need to go to "Gourmet" to get some micronized boro or another type but BKH gets me first. Speaking of Gourmet, "Chris" is very serious about expelling the "makas" from his micro. What do we know about "makas" in the 11 Year from BKH?

I found a few coarse fibers, so I believe there's at least a small amount present.

 

[kava_chief]

I'm happy with the way Judd resolved this issue and how honest he was. If I were in the position of the person who emails customers, I probably would have not known exactly the right course of action, either. A lot of companies like to pass off stuff like this as something the customer has to deal with. The customer's complaint/request gets drowned out in the cacophony of demand for the product. So the employer, not wanting to incur unnecessary costs, expects the employee to take a hard line, too. Happy to see that this is not the case with Bula.

As far as a temporary solution, I think straining it should not be too time consuming. Maybe get yourself a funnel with a small strainer that sits in it in order to get around it for now.

Also, I think it's a bit weird that another kava producer was mentioned. It could just be strategy to get Judd to pay attention, but the post sort of comes off as a negative ad.

 

[chasemandingo]

I noticed those floaties in my bag as well. I would just stir vigorously and chug them down. However I have been known to take a tablespoon of medium grind down the hatch with little to no difficulties. So I may not be the norm lol. Also potency is tops with Bula. Hey Judd when will you be restocked on Koniak and is it just as potent as ever?

 

[Jayy]

Not to beat a dead horse but recently I unfroze my half finished bag of 11 year old waka and I noticed halfway through chugging a cup there was a decent amount of sediment and even some splinters. The other night I didn't notice but my throat and stomach were def. feeling it.

Yes, this kava is super potent but the splinters really turned me off lol.