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Why do some cultivars retain more moisture than others ?

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.
 

Alia

'Awa Grower/Collector
Kavalactones are resinous, "oily" and when I grind fresh 'awa root/stump in my Ninja 1500 and strain...the kavalactones can leave a resinous coating on strainer.
The more kavalactones the more resin. I keep kneading till resin has been pushed through into the water. This could be equated to your situation.
 

Krunkie McKrunkface

Kava Connoisseur
Krunky came up with the only truly efficient way to get as much as possible of the liquid out of the AluBalls. You gently spin them counter clockwise for a few spins, then pour out liquid. Lather rinse repeat until there is no more liquid. Usually about 5 or 6 iterations.
 

Intrepidus_dux

Kava O.G.
Krunky came up with the only truly efficient way to get as much as possible of the liquid out of the AluBalls. You gently spin them counter clockwise for a few spins, then pour out liquid. Lather rinse repeat until there is no more liquid. Usually about 5 or 6 iterations.
Spin only the balls or the entire bottle with balls in it?
 

onakavajourney

Kava Curious
Or in another similar method, you could clear a path, hold on to the base of the shaker, swing your arm like a propeller and let the centrifugal force do the job.
 
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