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Kava Fact of the Day Sakau (Kava) in Pohnpei.

The Kap'n

The Groggy Kaptain (40g)
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Pohnpei has two cultivated varieties of Piper Methysticum known locally as Rahmwahnger, and Rahmedel (Lebot et al. 1997). Local’s report Rahmwahnger as being stronger with longer lasting effects. Rahmwahnger and Rahmedel can be distinguished by the presence of spots on the stem. Rahmwahnger will have many dark spots where Rahmedel does not. Kava is known as “Sakau” on Pohnpei, and is an extremely important part of every day life, and thought of as a “plant of the gods, from the heavens and worthy of sacred status”. When learning the various origin stories for kava in Pohnpei from this paper, it’s quite clear that kava is more than a plant, as every story involves gods and goddesses in some way or another.

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Sakau on Pohnpei is made the same as it is in the other islands of the South Pacific with one twist. Normally we see strainer cloths or fibrous bark used to filter the kava after it has been mixed with water. On Pohnpei, and shown in the figures attached, freshly pounded roots are filtered and pressed with the inner bark of the Hibiscus tree including the sap. This adds thickness or mucilage to the kava, making a kava with a thick and slimy body. Sakau drinkers say that this potentiates the effects, making it stronger and longer lasting.



In order to cover all of the facts included in this book chapter our fact of the day would run extraordinarily long, so if you have some free time, I highly suggest giving this a read.



Balick, Michael J. and Lee, Roberta A.. "Chapter Six: The Sacred Root: Sakau en Pohnpei". Ethnobotany of Pohnpei, edited by Michael J. Balick, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2009, pp. 165-203. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824837495-008
 

kavamehameha

Magnum's 'awa drinking bird
That picture above with the kava being squeezed into the shell... oh man!!!

Of course, thanks for all the great info, really interesting. I would like to try kava from Pohnpei one day!
 
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