Unwanted side effecfs

[Noah]

So this is just my experience - almost every kind of kava I've tried has some sort of unwanted side effect in my body, With the exception of GHK nene and moi micronized. I've tried a few other vendors(not going to name names) medium grind, micro and instant varieities. Almost every time I either get nauseous/stomach ache or I feel super groggy afterwards/the next day. GHK micro nene and moi just give me excellent kava effects and then they dissipate without any grogginess or hangover or stomach issues! Is it just my body, my brain chemistry and metabolism?

It's kind of frustrating because kava is somewhat expensive, but I want to keep trying new vendors and products. I want to enjoy traditional preparation, but it leaves me feeling slightly off and upsets my stomach almost every time! Anyways, any tips or suggestions? should I keep branching out, using traditional method with other medium grinds? Or just use what works for me?

 

[Deleted User01]

@Noah, you have posted what I have always known and it the reason that Mo'i and Nene are my daily goto kavas. Those kavas are amongst the most noble on the Noble Kava chart. You then factor in that it is freshly harvested and you eliminate contaminants that can infiltrate the kava when too many hands are processing and packaging it. And Mo'i is the most popular Kava on the Islands and probably has been for 100s of years. Hawaiian Kava (like their Coffee) is pricey as you suggested but anytime you guy gourmet, you gotta pay. Hopefully you can become like me. I can take 1 tablespoon of any micronized kava and get effects. 2 tablespoons really gets it done. That's all we can hope for.
P.S. I think your body has "gourmet taste" but your wallet is on a "beer budget". My mother used to tell me that.

 

[Noah]

@Noah, you have posted what I have always known and it the reason that Mo'i and Nene are my daily goto kavas. Those kavas are amongst the most noble on the Noble Kava chart. You then factor in that it is freshly harvested and you eliminate contaminants that can infiltrate the kava when too many hands are processing and packaging it. And Mo'i is the most popular Kava on the Islands and probably has been for 100s of years. Hawaiian Kava (like their Coffee) is pricey as you suggested but anytime you guy gourmet, you gotta pay. Hopefully you can become like me. I can take 1 tablespoon of any micronized kava and get effects. 2 tablespoons really gets it done. That's all we can hope for.
P.S. I think your body has "gourmet taste" but your wallet is on a "beer budget". My mother used to tell me that.

Yeah my wallet would appreciate lower prices, to be sure! I have been dabbling with the half tbsp doses just to save a little bit. I feel like 1 tbsp of micro is the perfect dose though. Anyways a couple of days ago I was off work and just started going hard into my nene. Then my friend came over.... And you know the rest of the story!

My new rule is to keep Nene for personal use only!

 

[Deleted User01]

Here's an idea. Get a good bag of affordable Kava Powder. When your buddies come over, teach them how to "Knead and Squeeze". You can sit there at the kitchen table barking instructions and telling them what a great job they are doing. You can't lose!

 

[ThePiper]

Knead and squeeze is much better on the stomach for me at least. Kumakua from ghk is becoming a favorite of mine for its kindness on the body

 

[Zac Imiola (Herbalist)]

Those are the two kavas I have on me right meow ! Good choices !
How's the mahakea treat ya ?

 

[chandra]

GHK has a 6 dollar discount on nene micronized right now if you sign up for their newsletter. I want to try it because it takes about 4 tbls of KWK micro for me to feel it. I figure the GHK might be cheaper in the long run. When I first started I tried out a few different kavas. I'm on a tight budget so I ended up sticking with the one that I know works for me. I want to try other things, but my budget doesn't. Maybe I should set up a GoFundMe account for my Kava . Donate to my kava experience lol

 

[Zac Imiola (Herbalist)]

Right hahahha

 

[Noah]

Here's an idea. Get a good bag of affordable Kava Powder. When your buddies come over, teach them how to "Knead and Squeeze". You can sit there at the kitchen table barking instructions and telling them what a great job they are doing. You can't lose!

Haha I love it! I just picked up a pound of waka medium grind from Bula Kava House. Tried it last night and I got excellent effects (although a little stomach queasiness). Anyways I am done with these free handed, micronized giveaways!

 

[Bwiggy]

@Noah you could try some KavaKing Instant - it's about a third of the price of other instants, and is totally smooth. Perfect for sharing. Vanuatu mix is my fav. iHerb has it for pretty cheap, plus you get a discount if you buy two.

 

[CactusKava]

Here's an idea. Get a good bag of affordable Kava Powder. When your buddies come over, teach them how to "Knead and Squeeze". You can sit there at the kitchen table barking instructions and telling them what a great job they are doing. You can't lose!

I've been having a little kava with one of my friends lately (which is super nice, by the way). Last time he came over I gave him the bag of CK 'Ono ( http://cactuskava.com/product/ono-kava ) and told him it was his turn to prep the grog

I felt like a Dad sipping lemonade on the porch while his son mows the lawn in the sweltering sun. Pure bliss.

 

[Jay Charles]

funny i stumbled across this thread. did you ever find a solution to your problem? i'm dealing with the same thing. i thought for a little while it was just because i hadn't been cleaning and hanging my strainers up properly. i use 2 "traditional" strainer bags for the knead and squeeze and 2 nylon socks (doubled) for the finer straining. i didn't realize some grit was getting caught between the two layers in the socks and had started rotting (gross, i know. i also didn't hang them to dry properly). anyway i remedied this and things seemed fine again for a few days. but now i'm getting the same thing. i am kind of at a loss..

i tried moi a bit ago and i think i liked it.. but i haven't tried nene so maybe i'll give that a shot. i prefer my kava medium grind.. that probably wouldn't be any worse (in terms of the negative side-effects) than the micro, right? i'm kind of thinking right now it might be something to do with my preparation because i've gotten a lot of different kavas from different (reputable) vendors and it doesn't seem to matter. I've done a lot to narrow down the cause.. like am i eating right, exercising, etc.(i have a sensitive stomach and those things affect how it reacts to kava) and my kava bar serves not-great kava but it doesn't make me sick like this.

i guess my next step might be getting rid of my current strainers and trying new ones. and then maybe a different squeeze method. and try nene and moi again. any input from anyone would be appreciated

 

[Deleted User01]

Jay, you can feel super groggy the next day if you over do it. Kava does have potent effects. Some people have stomach issues too. Sometimes it has to do with the anticipation of the taste. Nene is the kava that I prescribe to newbies because it almost has no taste and it is the most noble kava on the chart. Legend has it that the Hawaiians would feed it to their "fretful child". That's how easy it is. Also, if you have taste aversion, try the Kalm with Kava Sodie Pop and see if you still have issues.

 

[Jay Charles]

thanks Deleted User01. yeah i've been drinking kava for a LONG time.. pretty much daily for 5ish years. i will sip on pretty weak kava all day and have a few stronger drinks later in the day usually. i've not had a problem with the taste in a long time. in fact i often enjoy it. for years i would pretty much only drink some of the good vanuatu strains that you can't really get now because of the hurricanes that destroyed a lot of the islands. (magic, tanna, etc.) those never gave me problems and i would drink a LOT. maybe my body/brain got to a point where it was just "used" to those strains.. but like i said, i did well with other varieties for a long time after those ones became scarce and didn't have problems. but i did drink a lot of "bad" kava (unknowingly) because unfortunately my kava bar decided to serve some toxic stuff after their old supply ran out. they needed a quick supply and they opted to save money and hurt their customers. i've always been resentful about that. so my body did become much more sensitive to tudei. maybe that has something to do with it too, but who knows. i feel like i've had this problem before and i stopped it by switching up my prep method.. so i'm going to try that and see what happens.

 

[Deleted User01]

@Jay Charles, that was a great post. You kinda summarized the problems facing Kava and how it can effect the consumer. The shortage of good noble kava because of the weather, the crap that is taking its place, and the kava bars who are "not true to its roots". And so what happens, people get sick, even seasoned veterans like yourself. And that is just another reason that I don't buy kava unless it has been tested.

 

[Jay Charles]

just thought i'd pop back here to say i think i've solved my problem. it's actually a big deal because i didn't realize that for a LONG time, it was just some things i was doing that caused me to get negative side effects from kava that was supposed to be good. what i found out was that switching to totally new strainers was the key. i actually used my old traditional strainers but not before washing them with vinegar and really hot water. the vinegar seemed to kill off whatever was making me sick. but i recently got a GOOD strainer (the one from kavafied, highly recommend it), and not only does my kava taste great, it's a lot less of a chore to squeeze. the biggest culprit was a nylon/cotton stocking that i had had for years (because it was such a good strainer). it was thicker than the normal ones and lots of kava residue had been gunking up and rotting.. gathering mold. i had even run it through the wash with detergent and everything.. but no luck. maybe i could salvage it by soaking in vinegar overnight or something but meh i think it's time to retire it.

now i'm much more careful about cleaning my stuff RIGHT after every use. once i'm done with it for the day, i will put it somewhere cool and dark. (i used to hang it to dry right under my bright shower light.. i'm sure that sped up bacteria growth). it's pretty amazing how much better i feel now and how much more i can enjoy new kavas. before i was always paranoid about trying new kava (even if i knew it was noble) because it was always a gamble whether or not i'd feel sick that day. anyway i hope the OP resolved their issue..maybe my post can help someone else if they stumble across it.

 

[Intrepidus_dux]

just thought i'd pop back here to say i think i've solved my problem. it's actually a big deal because i didn't realize that for a LONG time, it was just some things i was doing that caused me to get negative side effects from kava that was supposed to be good. what i found out was that switching to totally new strainers was the key. i actually used my old traditional strainers but not before washing them with vinegar and really hot water. the vinegar seemed to kill off whatever was making me sick. but i recently got a GOOD strainer (the one from kavafied, highly recommend it), and not only does my kava taste great, it's a lot less of a chore to squeeze. the biggest culprit was a nylon/cotton stocking that i had had for years (because it was such a good strainer). it was thicker than the normal ones and lots of kava residue had been gunking up and rotting.. gathering mold. i had even run it through the wash with detergent and everything.. but no luck. maybe i could salvage it by soaking in vinegar overnight or something but meh i think it's time to retire it.

now i'm much more careful about cleaning my stuff RIGHT after every use. once i'm done with it for the day, i will put it somewhere cool and dark. (i used to hang it to dry right under my bright shower light.. i'm sure that sped up bacteria growth). it's pretty amazing how much better i feel now and how much more i can enjoy new kavas. before i was always paranoid about trying new kava (even if i knew it was noble) because it was always a gamble whether or not i'd feel sick that day. anyway i hope the OP resolved their issue..maybe my post can help someone else if they stumble across it.

This is really great to know! Thank you so much for sharing. Happy for you that you feel better now.
Bula!