Asheville can add another funky business to the list of local folks catering to our fair city’s New Age hippiedom. The Vanuatu Kava Bar has now opened in Lexington Station on south Asheville (behind the Orange Peel).
I popped my head in the other day to try out the bar’s main drink – kava juice. The watery drink is made from the squeezings of the kava root. Pacific Ocean cultures have been using kava forever.
The drink promises a calmness and a clarity of mind. I figured I needed some of that, so I sat down, chatted up one of the owners – Andrew – and had a couple of cups. First things first – the drink tastes like dirt water. I can roll with that. The drink came with a couple of wedges of pineapple as a chaser, and that helped. In terms of any effects on my brain, I can’t report any sort of buzz or any new island calmness. The drink did make the back of my tongue numb, though.
Will the kava bar survive on the Asheville scene as a staple of funky feel-goodness? There’s no telling. Meantime, go try it for yourself and tell me what you think.
11 Comments
great stuff you should try it kava is goood (not taste) but effect
Looking for a crazy high or for chemical enlightenment? You’ll want to look elsewhere. However, if you’re looking for a chill evening with a cool vibe, Kava could be just the ticket.
I used to drink kava when I lived in Pohnpei, FSM. There, we called it Sakau and it was prepared with an additional step. The kava pulp was strained and squeezed using hibiscus bark. The result was much the same, except the the bark gave the drink a slimy quality. So, yeah, it was a little like drinking lawn clippings that were also slimy. Why? Read on.
When you go to an alcohol bar, the noise gets louder and louder as the night pulses on. When you go to a kava bar, the night gets more and more chill as the night rolls in. In Pohnpei, the sakau bars were a family-friendly place to hang out. Three and sometimes four generations would be present, from the tiniest babies to the oldest folks. All of us would sit, talk, consider, and pass around the sakau-filled coconut shell. There always seemed to be a dude with a guitar in some corner of the raised floor we sat on and we always, always drank with out eyes closed (the polite way to drink sakau).
If you’ve read this far, you likely appreciate the kava vibe, so I’ll share with you the advice I received from Pohnpeian friends. If you’re in the mood to exaggerate the kava vibe, have two beers before you arrive at the kava bar. The idea is not to get drunk, just to have a couple of drinks under your belt. This expedites the kave mellow. That mellow is one with a clear mind and relaxed shoulders.
Bottom line: The kava “high” provides the opportunity to relax and reflect with friends. If you’re seeking help with inhibitions, stick to the booze and save kava for your next laid back evening. Good luck and enjoy.
Kava has a reverse tolerance, so the first time of course you are not going to cop a serious buzz! Some folks may get high the first time they smoke (tobacco?) but it is definitely not the usual take.
As per beer – great if you want a wrench in your blood sugar (and perhaps a hangover) but you could easily get as just as spun on kava without the consequences. The only thing against it is the earthy taste and the numb mouth, but really… is doing a shot of Jack any more pleasant?
I’ve been jacked up a couple times and this place, and could not give it a better reccomendation. Relaxing atmosphere, strong drinks, etc. I would not be turned off from going by someone who did not catch a full buss the first time they drank kava…
Probably the same kind of person who quit playing baseball because they did not hit a home run their first time at bat!
Hi, Keely here from the Vanuatu Kava Bar.
Thanks for blogging about us! Kava does have a reverse-tolerance effect; your body essentially learns to process/deal with it, so it often takes more than one try to feel the buzz. As with some other drugs, It is a rarity that someone gets the full effects the first time. Additionally, as with alcohol, rarely does someone intending to catch a serious buzz have only one or two drinks.
As per comments on kava strength, dry powder, etc…
We import from Vanuatu, known for the world’s strongest cultivars, and Tanna, known for the strongest kava in Vanuatu. Yes, it is a dried root powder base. Vanuatu forbids the export of live/fresh kava for fear of having their cultivars poached, and turned into plantations elsewhere. Vanuatu law also mandates a minimun per-kilo payment to native growers, and mandates organic growing of kava, two other reasons we import from them… we know it is organic and fairly traded, and really helps to support village microeconomies.
It would be near imposible, economically and logistically, were one to try and get a fresh-frozen (only way it will keep through the trip) mash here from there. It would doubtfully make it through customs and FDA inspections in time, and shipping would be astronomical. Pretty much the only "fresh" kava one can get will come from Hawaii, and there are several reasons we do not source there.
The cultivars of Hawaii are generally much weaker than those out of Vanuatu. The further you get from Vanuatu, genetically, the weaker the kava cultivars seem to get, as many plant geneticists believe southern Vanuatu is where the species took the jump from wild to domestic. Gram-per-gram I’m willing to bet our dry root powder has more lactones than native-Hawaiian fresh mash.
Additionally, the plantations I know of on Hawaii produce enough to satisfy their retail operations, and generally do not supply to wholesale customers. We, on the other hand, started out importing kava, and we wholesale the exact same product we use here to other bars in Florida and California.
If anyone has any questions about it, we will be more than happy to answer them, and happy to pour a free teaspooner shell for any first- timers who mention this blog!
If you have been here before, and had questions about how you did/didn’t feel the effects, please let us know, and we will try our best to make sure you leave feeling very, very happy.
Thanks again for blogging about us!
Keely and Andrew
It usually takes a few times of drinking it to feel the immediate effects. It is like being slightly drunk, but with a clear head and no hangover.
They also offer drinks from extract that don’t taste like cement mix. Its all rather expensive though (though alcohol at bars is comparable in price).
We went to Vanuatu this past dec and although I didn’t try kava, the locals told us that it is the drink of choice for men…(women rarely drink it). It’s supposed to have a calming/stoned effect if you drink enough of it and can be helpful in treating anxiety. Personally, I’d rather have a beer!
It was great! Relaxed me like no other DRUG–prescription or otherwise–I have EVER tried…Loved it, loved it… Feel lucid, calm, chill, sedated, but with clairty of thought. Like pot or alcohol without the gitters or drunkness–just pure calm!!!
i just heard about this place and am glad i read this…
in the pacific coast cultures kava is used for cerimonial purpose the fresh root is cooked down for days before it is drunk. this sounds like your paying an enormous price for a weak cup of dried kava kava,
i myself use the kava root but have found as with the other herbs i work with that the longer you steep it and the amount used is how strong the effect will be. i appreciate your info.
It tasted interesting but not at all bad. Give it a try!! It’s part of what makes Asheville great!!!
i had a cup of kava at a friend’s house once, and had the same experience as you – numb tongue, no enlightenment. i assume if it numbs the tongue, it numbs the entire digestive tract, so maybe there’s therapeutic value in that?
This may be a dumb question … but why would I want to drink something that "tastes like dirt water" ? Can someone enlighten me? I’m willing to listen!