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Instant Kava Review Vanuatu Instant

Steve Mariotti

Kavapithecus Krunkarensis
Review Maestro
Kava King sent me some sample packets of their product. Each sample packet equated to one drink, excepting the micronized waka packet, which I'll get to later. They sent two packets of each flavor. Vanilla Shake, Cappuccino, Vanuatu Blend (unflavored), Berry Shake and Berry Blend. All of them good. All of them roughly equivalent in experience. I won't say they're delicious, but they're easy to drink and they do a great job distracting your mouth while the micronized kava slips by.​

Guar Gum and Cellulose Gum are ingredients as well, and I can see why an emulsifier would make sense. It also gives you a sense of the thickness of the beverage and lets you water it out to good drinking thickness which makes for consistent results.

When you drink it (I didn't try to sip, just bula'd the MF) after you're done, the flavors you get are: sweet, fruity, vanilla (for many of them) and very little kava taste. There's a "toasted sesame seed" quality to the micronized kava. It's not a burned flavor, but toasty. I like it. I noticed it in the Vanuatu Blend as well. And and the end of the flavor parade, the bitter kava bite, which I was hoping I would still get. VERY drinkable. Give this to your kava-neophyte friends, as it's the kava experience with some of the bite, but it's mostly really yummy.

Preparation and Taste
Approx 2 tsp. of drink mix to 5-6oz of cold water. It mixed in well. I tried warmer water, but it didn't seem to be any better. I tried mixing it into a paste with a small amount of water first, but that was disastrous (sticky mud all over the cup.) I found the best prep was putting it in the glass, then just running cold tap water into it and stirring. Usually left a little glob of clay stuck somewhere, but not much.

Taste I touched on above. The taste craftily masks the kava funk by distracting your tastebuds until it's all over. All of it was very drinkable, even the unsweetened Vanuatu Blend and especially the delicious and wonderful waka micronized they provided. THAT was something special.
Onset and Effects
Onset was 15 minutes or less. It was like time compressing my 20 minute shells of traditional prep from 3 shells in one hour down to two shells in 15 minutes. Holy smokes.

It was a really uplifting kava feeling. This is a Vanuatu kava, and probably mostly waka. I found it to be heady and motivating, fun and carefree. It definitely swept me away. Towards the end of the evening, I found that I had some level of motor impairment and found speech harder than usual (Tom Brokaw syndrome).

I just can't believe I could tolerate micronized. Granted, I've never tried any other form of micronized from any other vendor. I assumed I couldn't tolerate it because I got horrible cramps straining above 25 microns (even 55 microns gave me cramps). I'll have to take another look at micronized now. How fun.

Great easygoing but energetic kava session, lasted for hours and hours... it was so EASY to just mix as needed and get a really strong shell each time. These were very strong shells. And a very "clean" experience, whatever that's supposed to mean. Not a lot of body ugh.​
Next Morning Effects
Virtually none.​

Final Thoughts and Conclusions
So yeah, this stuff is really good. I think I overdid it because at the end of my session I switched to waka and it kicked the crap out of me. Really nauseated and sick. Potent, that. I want more.

I did wrestle nausea a little, and I suspect that was because it was micronized or I was drinking too potent a brew because I'm a micronized n00b.

Great stuff, I want more.​
 
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Bradley666

Kava Enthusiast
Nice review Steve!
Sounds like some nice interesting new kava,
The vanuatu instant sounds right up my alley :)
Even the other berry flavors sound different for sure and would certainly help people that cant realy get normal kava down the hatch! :)
 

Shredder

Kava Enthusiast
So If I got my hands on one of the flavored batches, it would basically have the exact same effect in terms of potency, right? Only difference is the flavor?
 
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