Thomas2060
Kava Curious
My preferred method of kava preparation is to use three aluballs in a shaker, with 2-3 tbsp in each ball. I shake for 3-4 minutes and after pouring, I gently shake as much liquid out of the balls as I can. Actually it's not really shaking, just moving the bottle up and down and letting momentum pull out liquid. Then I dump the kava out of the balls into a strainer bag, and squeeze out whatever remains. Yes, it probably takes about as long as 10 minutes of traditional preparation but I get better results this way.
What I've noticed is that with some cultivars, I can shake almost all the liquid out of the aluballs. I put in 12 oz in the bottle, and with a few minutes of shaking I get 10 oz out. But others, in particular Squanch Waka, seem to retain a lot of liquid. With the squanch, I might put the balls in a shaker with 12 oz of liquid, but I can only pour and shake HALF the liquid out of the bottle.
After I dump the squanch from aluballs into the strainer bag, I still can't get very much out of it, maybe a few ounces. The squanch seems to retain tons of liquid that I can't squeeze out, although the strainer bag gets very oily.
What factors are at play here? The squanch's grind does not seem all that different from other vendors.
What I've noticed is that with some cultivars, I can shake almost all the liquid out of the aluballs. I put in 12 oz in the bottle, and with a few minutes of shaking I get 10 oz out. But others, in particular Squanch Waka, seem to retain a lot of liquid. With the squanch, I might put the balls in a shaker with 12 oz of liquid, but I can only pour and shake HALF the liquid out of the bottle.
After I dump the squanch from aluballs into the strainer bag, I still can't get very much out of it, maybe a few ounces. The squanch seems to retain tons of liquid that I can't squeeze out, although the strainer bag gets very oily.
What factors are at play here? The squanch's grind does not seem all that different from other vendors.