Rank Kavas

[kavadude]

Just curious about what everybodys favorite kavas and kava products. are. What is the first kava you would reach for? What are the ones you would never touch again? Feel free to go into as much detail as you want, from most to least favorite.
I'll go first. 
For me: BKH Boroguru, Paradise Kava Extract (I think mine was the 3rd gen chocolate), BKH Vanuatu Instant Green, BKH Fu'u, and (would not order again) KBR Tudei.

 

[kl.new2kava]

I'd say the best would a toss up between BKH nambawen and N@H wow, but those are more "Cadillac" kavas.



My all around favorite is N@H stone and BKH boroguro would be a close second.



With: KBR tuedi, van3 N@H chiefs and BKH fu'u tied for third.



The best instant I've had would be BKH instant green and N@H fire island second, the kavair instant was pretty lame.



I think kava candies deserve their own mention because they are the most inconspicuous and easy way to use kava.



Too bad N@H no longer carries Solomon Islands as that stuff was awesome.

 

[ObiWan]

hm... difficult. Rank about what? feeling? taste?

The best tasting Kava I ever had was Hawaiian Kava's Makahea. It has a taste of  licorice; totally different than Kona's Mahakea.
Their other strains like Nele and Hiwa tastes also geat.

KbR's Vanuatu3 is also a good tasting Kava.

The worst taste for me has BKHs Boroguru.

For best feeling, my favourite is Tongan Pride. Nothing compares to this strain.

 

[The Kap'n]

Nakamal @ Home's Stone is my favorite kava overall. It's texture, strength, and taste differ VERY little if any at all between batches.



Hawaiian Kava Center's Hiwa was the strongest kava I've ever tried. Never just flat out fallen on my face from kava until I met Hiwa.



In terms of Extracts Paradise Kava's are second to none. My favorite right now being the coconut and vanilla extract. It is the most pleasant tasting product made from kava I've ever tried.

Paradise Kava's powdered kavas are quite lactone laden. The most definitely belonging to Fijian. I can literally see the yellow resins collecting on my gloves as I squeeze.



Best Instant I've tried (I can't speak for BKH's green as I haven't gotten around to trying it) would be nakamal @ home's shaman kava. Their fire island is also pretty good but lacks the sheer jagged power of shaman.



Worst kava: Kona Kava's powdered kava. Weak. Tastes bad. Taste like overexpenditure in advertisements.



Wont Touch again in terms of effects: Hawaiian Kava Center's Tudei. Only kava that's made me barf every or nearly every time I consumed it. Also gave me a terrible...and I do mean terrible dermapothy. My skin split and bled. Might as well had a year-round sunburn too. It can probably be consumed in a way that didn't have all the negatives, but to me I'm scared of it, and have no desire to return to the tudei strand.

 

[kavadude]

hm... difficult. Rank about what? feeling? taste?

Well just use your best judgement, its not an exact science. Personally I'm not drinking kava for the taste, so I don't consider it at all in my rankings. But if you are one of those people who actually likes the taste of kava, then by all means factor it in to your rankings.

 

[Steve]

Kava Festival 2012:  They rank the kava at the tasting table after all the surveys are in - here is what people typically liked:

Conclusions: Only experienced kava drinkers clearly preferred fresh over dry kava beverage. Experienced tasters preferred Mahakea > Iwi > Mapuluhu > Rahmdel. Preferences by all tasters Mahakea > Iwi> Rahmdel = Mapulehu. Overall most tasters preferred dry Mahakea 3.82, least Mapulehu, and Rahmdel fresh 3.35. Total surveys returned 381, making second largest count 417 is record from 2008. I am at loss to explain the differences between tasters to did not express a level of experience with those who described themselves as new vs. experienced. Iwi which has flavor notes similar to Isa did well, but Mahakea appealed to every group.

 

[Ed!]

Yay! I have a spreadsheet with ratings for all the kava's I've tried. I came so prepared for this thread!



Hmm, I think rather than try and copy all that info over I'll just link you to my Google spreadsheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArOv5pNVYjI-dGZyMWJYejVaSTd4Um1PWUZLV3BMR0E



It's meant just for me, but I don't think I gave away any personal info there. I actually toyed with the notion of making this community driven though, make a form that everyone can submit their ratings, average it all out in three categories like kavasseur does. I'm not in-tune enough with my senses to rate three different ways, so I just went with one for a personal spreadsheet.

 

[Steve]

Ed - that is awesome!  Very nice layout and easy to follow   Impressive my friend.

 

[kavadude]

Wow guys! Much more organized than I had expected. Seems Stone is pretty popular around these parts.

 

[uuku pi]

STEVE your kandy still so good! My buddy got us a couple of cases. You are good to make this. going to study Eds work

 

[uuku pi]

Thanks Ed very helpful

 

[kl.pep4848]

good lookin reporting Ed.

I'd say i'm now stuck on 9 year ISA (paradise), Fiji Waka and tongan pride (kbr) and instant green (bula).

I do find when i'm super duper krunked (when i add the instant) i have trouble breathing, or at least it seems that way.

 

[krunkedout]

Stone is my favorite do far, with boroguru comming in a close second place. The one lava I would never order again would be kona (of course).

 

[sentiententity]

Nakamal's WOW is what works the best on me. Tastes pretty bad to me, tho.

 

[kl.el187joker]

fav to least overall stone, boroguru, chiefs jungle, borogu, fu'u, vanuatu from realkava, kavaboy tongan. also i absolutely love the kava candy. if you havent tried them just do it already you cant go wrong with the $3 sampler pack. if your anything like me as soon as you try the first one youll be thinking your running low and dont want to run out of these.

 

[kl.Nectarin]

Eih!You are talking about many kind of kavas I don't know, I know very less about but I am hightly interested on it for a sleeping kava. I just found on www.realkava.com some Vanuatu and Fiji combo good to start I think, but you don't mentioned this web site at all. Why? Are they good? I also look for a cheaper staff becouse I have to become it in Spain. But I don't want to buy cheap and bad, just good staff to felt sleep soon. 
What abou the kavas? do they have diferent moods? or diferent grades of peace? Are ther also exiting kavas? I don't know anything, I also think I'd listened that in some cultures they drunk kava as a tradition and they go kind of mad? Is it true, is it kava? or is like when you mixt it with something like alcohol or other things it can be possible? I am not worried just I litlle confused with informations.
Thank(smiley: eyes) you...

 

[Vekta]

#1 Boroguru

#2 Paradise Hawaiian

#3 Paradise Extract

#4 Kava Candy



#'s 1 and 2 are interchangeable. Paradise Extract packs more of a punch than Kava Candy but that's comparing apples to oranges. For me, around 100 mg is the minimum that respond best to. 2 kava candy pieces are 100 mg, extract is a tiny bit over that. I was able to get a 10 gram jar of extract last longer than a pack of candy otherwise #'s 3 and 4 are more or less interchangeable to.

 

[Vekta]

Go mad from kava? Mmmm...not really. 
There are easily over 100 different varieties of kava in the world. Many of which most of us will never see since they can't be exported from there countries of origin.
If you're looking for a good price on good kava I'd go with Kava By Rex first. When I need good quality at a cost effective price that's where I go. As long as you stick to reputable vendors I'm sure you can find a kava in your price range that's still very high quality. Open up a new thread and ask for some suggestions. I'm sure you'll get lots.

Eih!You are talking about many kind of kavas I don't know, I know very less about but I am hightly interested on it for a sleeping kava. I just found on www.realkava.com some Vanuatu and Fiji combo good to start I think, but you don't mentioned this web site at all. Why? Are they good? I also look for a cheaper staff becouse I have to become it in Spain. But I don't want to buy cheap and bad, just good staff to felt sleep soon. 
What abou the kavas? do they have diferent moods? or diferent grades of peace? Are ther also exiting kavas? I don't know anything, I also think I'd listened that in some cultures they drunk kava as a tradition and they go kind of mad? Is it true, is it kava? or is like when you mixt it with something like alcohol or other things it can be possible? I am not worried just I litlle confused with informations.
Thank(smiley: eyes) you...

 

[kavadude]

Eih!You are talking about many kind of kavas I don't know, I know very less about but I am hightly interested on it for a sleeping kava. I just found on www.realkava.com some Vanuatu and Fiji combo good to start I think, but you don't mentioned this web site at all. Why? Are they good? I also look for a cheaper staff becouse I have to become it in Spain. But I don't want to buy cheap and bad, just good staff to felt sleep soon. 
What abou the kavas? do they have diferent moods? or diferent grades of peace? Are ther also exiting kavas? I don't know anything, I also think I'd listened that in some cultures they drunk kava as a tradition and they go kind of mad? Is it true, is it kava? or is like when you mixt it with something like alcohol or other things it can be possible? I am not worried just I litlle confused with informations.
Thank(smiley: eyes) you...

I'm not familiar with realkava.com. Kava is safe on its own, but don't mix it with alcohol, the combination of which may cause liver damage.

 

[mos3z]

For me i think its important to note what kind of kava you are looking for. I need a muscle relaxer and a pain reliever (and getting krunk can be some added fun.) So for me Boroguru is the best for what i'm looking for. On the other spectrum Paradise's peppermint extract is pure kavain so while its crazy strong its not what i need in a kava.



My favorites in order would have to be BKH Boroguru, N@h Stone, N@h Black Sands



Best instants are BKH Instant Green, and RealKava Instant. Realkava doesnt get much play on here but their instant is the first i had ever tried and it comes a close second behind BKH, it may be more DHM heavy too which is rare in an instant. BHK instant has gotten me completely krunk, I take it on road trips and last time in Vegas I was wobbling around worse than most drunk people there

N@h instants have no effect on me



Other nice kavas for me are Paradise ISA, BKH Fu'u, N@h White Sands, N@h Wow, BKH Borogu



Best customer service: Paradise Kava, followed by Bula Kava House. Bula is great but Adil from Paradise is one of the coolest guys ever.