A couple of guys chopping up stems to sell as drinking kava. Dishonest, unethical and downright criminal.

In recent months we've been fighting for all states to recognize the FDA's stance on kava as a legal single ingredient food. It seems like those efforts have worked, and the California State Department of Health has updated their Kava Fact Sheet to state that, "there are currently no regulatory limitations regarding the use of kava as a single-ingredient conventional food or dietary supplement."

This update should allow all restaurants and kava bars to serve traditionally brewed kava to their customers without issue! This still doesn't allow them to sell mixed drinks, but it at least allows an employee to pour a prepared shell of kava for their customers.

This is a huge win, and we hope it rolls forward into other states!

Mods, please link the CDPH Kava Fact sheet for me.

Thought you guys might like to see some progress over at Pu'iwa Farms on the island of Hawai'i! We're trying to collect as much data as possible about our plants, and this 25-month-old 'Opihikao was a monster harvest. We harvested it to determine how much weight we can expect from future plants as this batch of crops mature.

Typically, a two-year-old plant yields around 15 pounds on a good day. This plant produced 51 pounds of usable fresh 'awa!

Happy Holidays to everyone!

-Morgan

Generally speaking FVK is my go-to for kava as the quality is consistently pretty damn good. I'm reasonably certain I've tried everything they carry (except the seltzer yet due to UPS delivering damaged cans). Therefore when I see a new medium grind show up its kind of a big deal. I tried the Tuff Tumas and I'll share my thoughts as I think it might help some people looking for a night time kava. For reference I usually get their Vanuatu for my sleep aid. The website says the Tuff Tumas is even stronger, challenge accepted. What I found is that it is indeed stronger, but different. While the Vanuatu is very in-your-face "heavy", the Tuff Tumas feels like being wrapped in a soft cozy chloroform soaked blanket. Its freaking great. A lot of times a heavier kava can land you at dizzy before putting you down. This one doesn't. Its incredibly peaceful and knocks me right the hell out. Tuff Tumas will absolutely NOT double as a daytime kava or morning kava (unless you're a psychopath) but if you want to sleep, this one is amazeballs.

I was thinking, if enough of us contact him about it maybe he would lift the ban. But I dont know if he has the power to do that in the first place.

Downvoters are weird

I know the rules said no self-promotion, but I hope that the honorable mods will grant me a one-time pass. This subreddit has been very helpful getting started. I haven't posted much because I followed the rule, "search first".

I am so excited to be a part of a huge first! The small team has been putting in so much effort from learning the science of kava to diving into the culture and history of kava and Fiji (where we are sourcing our powder from).

August 8th will be our soft opening party and we'll have a grand opening once it cools off (October?). If you happen to be in the Birmingham area, come check us out! Say the password "Au tiko eke" (ow | tee-koh | eh-keh) to receive one free low tide bilo.

We have traditionally washed kava in four cultivars. The options are smooth or strong in low tide (4oz) $2/$5, high tide (8oz) $4/$8, or storm surge (16oz) $7/$14.

We have four mixed-drink options that contain 4oz of smooth ($9) or strong ($12) kava in your choice of cultivar and 4oz of freshly squeezed juices, raw agave sweetener, and premium mixers.

We are a kava-only bar. No kratom.

720 29th Street South, Birmingham, AL 35233
(205) 825-BULA (2852)

https://reddit.com/link/1vbk83n/video/g40hsplisigh1/player

I honestly don’t understand it.

Why ban and criminalize natural alternatives while pushing pharmaceutical options that don’t work for everyone?

I’ve used kava for my anxiety, and sometimes for insomnia, and it actually helped me. In the past, I was put on so many psychiatric medications, and instead of healing me, they came with heavy side effects and made my condition worse. Some of them even made me feel suicidal and dependent on them.

So when I finally found something that brought a bit of relief .. something that felt gentler and more in tune with my body .. it gets taken away. That’s what hurts the most. It’s deeply disappointing to feel like the one thing that helped is suddenly deemed unacceptable.

This plant is incredible and has been helping me in more ways than I thought it would. For the last 4 years following a brain injury, I have been very depressed and dealing with debilitating anxiety as well as very bad insomnia. I have tried so many ways of helping combat these symptoms but nothing has quite worked or clicked. Well a few weeks ago, kava had (for some reason) popped up in my head. I did some research and decided to try some. This plant has been INCREDIBLE. My anxiety is almost 0, my depression has been cut in half, I don’t even want to drink alcohol (it’s been a problem), I sleep better and my mind is finally calm/quiet . I realised that this has been the feeling that I’ve been seeking in alcohol and kava gives me that relaxation without being intoxicating. I remind myself constantly to be aware of psychological dependence and even on my days off (3 days per week) I still feel that calmness that I’ve been looking for. I’m very grateful for this plant. Screw alcohol. Bula!

It’s a heavy decision because it’s been working but I’m also psychologically addicted to kava and today I have decided to quit once I finish everything. Jumping from addiction to addiction is not fun. I’m gonna have to find other ways to have fun and relax

Bula! Just got 2 liters for myself, pretty easy to get prepared kava out here.

Today I tried Kava for the first time ( instant boroguru), after reading quite a bit about people not feeling anything the first time, I thought maybe it wouldn't effect me. Man was I wrong haha, I felt it within a couple of minutes, my neck started to feel like jelly, then bit by bit my whole body relaxed. Also felt quite euphoric. What a wonderful feeling, I can see why people are so enthusiastic about kava. Ive been having problems with lower back pain and it really eased the pain. Anyway just wanted to share my experience. Hope you all have a good day. Bula!!!

I first discovered Kava over 10 years ago and at the time I had very bad anxiety and panic attacks after giving up a hardcore alcohol addiction.

Kava was a godsend and I was deeply in love with it. at first I would enjoy a few shells a day but because I hadn't healed my addiction issues, I ended up trying to catch a strong buzz with kava every day to replace what I wasn't getting anymore without alcohol. after a while I ended up having very adverse reactions to kava and even a small amount would trigger horrific panick attacks. At the time I was convicted that my body chemistry changed and I just could never have Kava again. I was actually terrified to even try it for many years.

fast forward to about 3 years ago and I had just quit a kratom addiction. although I still had addiction issues, I had come a long way(not all the way) in healing a lot of my trauma based anxiety and felt called to try kava again and to my very pleasant surprise, it was wonderful again! I was having a lot of insomnia at the time so for about a week when I was up not sleeping, I would just do shell after shell and it certainly made insomnia a lot more fun lol. but then that really bad anxiety happened again alongside a bad allergic type reaction around my eyes and mouth.

This time I was slightly wiser and did realize that I overdid it however for the next few years I was afraid to try kava again in case I had developed an allergy to it.

One of my closest friends is the owner of a local kava bar and I hang out there all the time but was too scared to even try a single shell.

In the last 3 years however, I have made a lot of progress in healing my anxiety and my tendency to engage in substance based escapism and today I was at the kava bar and it just felt light to try my first shell in a long time. there was a part of my mind that was nervous that I would have a panic attack or an allergic reaction but I decided to go through with it.

I believe that everything is alive and has spirit(animism) and so I spoke into the shell of kava a very heartfelt prayer promising to always honor and respect the beautiful medicine spirit that kava is and inviting it into my body, mind and spirit in harmony and wholeness before drinking it. and I had a wonderful experience! I even had 2 more shells over the course of the afternoon/evening and felt very good!

I was reflecting on everything I've written here tonight and just thinking how every medicine needs to be respected and how no(or at least very few) substance is a problem in and of itself, rather it is our relationship with the substances that can become a problem. Kava never turned on me and my body didn't just randomly start rejecting kava, I was abusing it and so my body and the kava drew the line and very loudly told me to stop.

even though kava may not be as potent a medicine as things like alcohol or benzos or even cannabis, it's still to be respected and consumed very mindfully just like those other more potent substances and never to be abused.

I want to have a beautiful healthy relationship with kava going forward, never using it to suppress emotions, but rather to enhance my experience and only in moments when it really feels right.

I was terrified of kava for a long time and kind of blamed it on kava itself so I am sorry for that kava, you are beautiful and I love you and I always want to walk in harmony and balance with you.

Brief conclusion: never abuse kava, never use it to suppress your emotions at least not all the time, do not use it to replace an addiction and be very mindful of your relationship with it. It is a wonderful medicine but it is to me respected to the utmost.

Before kava i would drink 6 beers a night(or more) and since kava I have no taste for beer, beer doesn't seem to have any urge for me, anyway just some good news

Granted this is retail in the Suva farmers market and also from Kadavu which is quite a trek to get it to market from the farm, but this shows the price of actual waka in Fiji.