Water Temp ?

[krunkedout]

I was under the assumption that our precious kavalactones would be destroyed if heated up to some vaguely hot temperature.  I believe my knowledge of this came from someone mentioning it here.  Since I'm starting to question this, I decided to see if I could find some more official word on the subject.  So far I'm not having too much luck.
"Planting the Future: Saving Our Medicinal Herbs" pg134 (Kava - Preparation and Dosage) - http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ndk42wxMBzUC&oi=fnd&pg=PA130&dq=kavalactone+heat+damage&ots=0gPDWm9gNT&sig=GXoDm_8T5AUUTyvhj1M5_90Le7o#v=onepage&q&f=false
States that "The root needs to be kept at a slow boil for at least twenty minutes.  The kavalactones stay stable in the heat."
http://144.206.159.178/ft/553/42507/769267.pdfThis one's more about special lab equipment based extraction so I can't be sure it applies here, but the graph on page 190 (and following pages) shows that, in general, the percentage of extraction increases as temperature increases.  Yangonin extraction is essentially 0% until you reach boiling point.
So does anyone know of any (at least somewhat official sounding) sources that state that high temperatures are bad for kavalactones?  I could very well just be missing something and I'll continue to search in the meantime.

official sources? Probably the most official would be the three thousand year tradition of making kava in either cold or air temp water. Thy had access to fire so if they wanted to make it hot they could have. But they didn't. To me that says something.

As rcoz stated earlier, that could very well just be for convenience/comfort.  I'm sure you found that you can squeeze a cup of root for a good hour or so and still get tiny bits of kavalactone goodness out of it.  Do you think the natives do this?  I bet they spend about 30 seconds kneading before they move on.  You can take a lot of luxuries when your supply is practically unlimited.
My point is that I keep hearing references to official studies that anyone has yet to produce.  I don't necessarily doubt their existence, but I've seen it before:  Misinformation, intentional or not, spreads very quickly.  3000 years of advancing science gives me the luxury of viewing data points before jumping to conclusions.

it's possible. But I don't think that the natives were very pressed on time and I don't think they would have minded telling the virgins to put more effort into the prep if it drastically changed the potency.

 

[Paradise Kava]

Prince, I do what Ed does too.



Talking about the Ed Johnston who wrote the 'awa book when the two of us hung out at his home for an evening kava sesh.



Of course, I was a proponent of warm water for more efficient extraction and he opposed it for several reasons my krunked mind does not recall this late night minute. I do remember that he DID use scalding hot water for the first bath years ago when he made us a bowl (to remove any possible remaining pathogens from the frozen, un pasteurized kava pulp) However, now, with better cleaning techniques, both of us swear by room temp water and several squeezes of the same bag of 'awa (replacing the fast saturating beverage first two rounds or so, and then we end with a weaker beverage towards the end, but we are krunked by then and need way less anyway)



Needless to say, his fresh frozen 'awa was delicious.



The man has not skipped an awa session every night for decades. Only fresh. Except when he takes one of our non-ISA Powders to Honolulu, making it in hotel rooms or anywhere he can.



Decades of legendary commitment to 'awa and glad to call him a friend.

 

[kavalover]

I was under the assumption that our precious kavalactones would be destroyed if heated up to some vaguely hot temperature.  I believe my knowledge of this came from someone mentioning it here.  Since I'm starting to question this, I decided to see if I could find some more official word on the subject.  So far I'm not having too much luck.
"Planting the Future: Saving Our Medicinal Herbs" pg134 (Kava - Preparation and Dosage) - http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ndk42wxMBzUC&oi=fnd&pg=PA130&dq=kavalactone+heat+damage&ots=0gPDWm9gNT&sig=GXoDm_8T5AUUTyvhj1M5_90Le7o#v=onepage&q&f=false
States that "The root needs to be kept at a slow boil for at least twenty minutes.  The kavalactones stay stable in the heat."
http://144.206.159.178/ft/553/42507/769267.pdfThis one's more about special lab equipment based extraction so I can't be sure it applies here, but the graph on page 190 (and following pages) shows that, in general, the percentage of extraction increases as temperature increases.  Yangonin extraction is essentially 0% until you reach boiling point.
So does anyone know of any (at least somewhat official sounding) sources that state that high temperatures are bad for kavalactones?  I could very well just be missing something and I'll continue to search in the meantime.

official sources? Probably the most official would be the three thousand year tradition of making kava in either cold or air temp water. Thy had access to fire so if they wanted to make it hot they could have. But they didn't. To me that says something.

I wish GreyOwl hung out here as much as he used to. His background in chemistry was very beneficial, but as far as I can remember, there is evidence that the lactones will break down under continued exposure to extreme heat. But ah, I'll research, or look for those ancient threads, when I'm not so krunked.

My own experience is that Hot water = bitter. Cold water = best flavor. Thus, that's how I roll.