Background: I’d first heard about and subsequently tried Kava when I was living in Ithaca, NY a couple years ago (shout out to Sacred Root Kava Bar and Tea Lounge). While not as tasty as a good bourbon, I enjoyed the effects and the social atmosphere. After moving to Virginia, I recently decided to lay off booze and thought I would revisit kava as an alternative to take the edge off when I need a mellow buzz. I deal with a fair bit of stress and anxiety, and, much as I would like to handle life without any crutches, sometimes I want a bit of help. I used to be a daily weed smoker, but these days it often gives me anxiety, so I smoke more rarely. Anyway, after some experimentation with temperatures, fluids, and fatty additives, I’ve settled on my best method for kava cold brew and thought I would share with the community.
Tools and Ingredients
I have been using Borongoru Vanuatu Kava Root by Kava Kalm. I also dropped a few bucks for a Wakacon Pro Premium Kava Strainer Bag. I get both from Amazon (both Prime eligible). When I tore my first bag twisting for all I was worth (shout out to reddit r/bodyweightfitness & r/GripTraining), I got a speedy refund and replacement. Now I take my time with the twisting and straining and back off from maximum rotational force. I figure as long as I strain until I can’t get any liquid out, it’s good. I use a 4 quart steel mixing bowl and a 1 quart mason jar.
Process
- Measure out 1 cup (8 ounces) of kava root into the mason jar and dump it into the strainer bag, with the bag in the mixing bowl to catch as much dust/waste as possible.
- Add about 2 cups of dairy milk to the mason jar. Cap it and shake to get any kava dust into the liquid. Pour this into the strainer bag (while in the mixing bowl, of course). Note the milk is refrigerator cold. A bit warmer might be better, but I'm too lazy to do anything about the temperature.
- Get to kneading. I knead constantly, with the bag immersed, for at least 10 minutes, switching hands every couple minutes, with one hand keeping the upper part of the strainer bag and drawstring out of the liquid and the other doing the kneading. My kneading technique is to press hard with palm and fingers into the bottom of the bowl, then squeeze sections hard, then break up clumps, and repeat.
- After 10 minutes of kneading, I move on to 5 minutes of straining. I saturate the root in the liquid, breaking up any clumps, then lift it out, doing my best to gather all the root in the bottom of the bag, which I then commence to squeeze and twist until I am getting little to no moisture seeping out.
- Then I untwist and break up the clumps, without putting back into the liquid, and repeat the twisting once more. After the second round of twisting, I put it back into the liquid and break up clumps/re-saturate (repeating step 4) before repeating the straining procedure. After 5 minutes of this, I do the final strain, this time going a little further to really get all the liquid out, basically adding another round or two of breaking up increasingly drier clumps and re-twisting until I cannot get more liquid out of the bag.
- The first wash stage is now complete. I now carefully empty the contents of the mixing bowl into the mason jar. I take a second jar or measuring cup and measure out another 2 cups, this time of cool water, not warm but not as cold as the refrigerated milk. I first pour this into the mixing bowl and swirl a bit, trying to collect into the water any kava off the sides of the bowl, before pouring it back into the empty mason jar or measuring cup. Then I pour that back into the strainer bag (again, in the mixing bowl), and go through another 5 minutes of kneading and 5 minutes of straining. Basically a second wash, just with 5 minutes less of initial kneading.
Why split into 2 washes? My thinking here is that, particularly since I am working with a 2:1 milk to kava ratio for the first round, the milk can potentially hit a saturation point, and doing a fresh second wash can yield more kavalactones in the final mix. Plus, the temp is a little higher for the water. It’s an extra 10 minutes, but I have found I get stronger effects this way than spending the same amount of time with just a single wash using 4 cups of fluid (50/50 milk water) to 1 cup kava. Furthermore, doing yet another wash, I got mild but discernable effects after having done a single wash with 4:1 liquid to kava. When I did an additional wash following this prefered method I am describing in these steps, I didn’t feel much of anything, so that leads me to believe splitting into two 2:1 washes is more effective at getting all the kavalactones extracted, for whatever combination of reasons. I prefer to use the most effective method for a single preparation and not have leftover root to save for later weaker washes.
Finishing up:
- After the second wash in water, I pour the bowl off into the mason jar with the milk solution. I give the bowl a little rinse and swirl (not too much, since the jar is about at capacity at this point) and add the result to the jar, now pretty much full.
- I rinse the bag over the sink, looking to get as much of the kava as possible down in the bottom. Then I can trap all the used kava and invert the bag over the trash can to dispose of it. Repeat the rinsing procedure to get the dregs out before turning the bag inside out and rinsing any remaining particles.
- With the clean strainer bag back to right side out and the rinsed mixing bowl, I pour the contents of the full mason jar through and give my kava solution a final strain to remove particulates. I tend to get a good bit of sediment after these two washes of a full cup of kava. Some people like their kava gritty. I am not one of them.
- Repeat the cleanup rinsing of the strainer bag, wash the bowl, and wipe up. I like a tidy kitchen before I imbibe. Otherwise, I have to deal with it later when I’m all laid back lampin’ with my kava buzz on.
- I add about a teaspoon of maple syrup for flavor. It still tastes less than pleasant, but it’s an improvement. You could do more, but I’m not trying to ‘cultivate mass’ and don’t really want to be swigging down pints of whole milk with ounces of syrup. Cap the mason jar and shake the hell out of it to mix thoroughly.
- Bula! I pour my ‘shells’ in small 8 ounce mason jars (yeah, I have lots of mason jars; they’re great). I do 2 or 3 glasses straight off. This leaves another one or two for later. Usually for me, later is 15 to 30 minutes from the first bula. I get off pretty good immediately from 2 or 3, and the second round continues the buzz for over an hour. Very relaxed and low key euphoric-happy feelings, with mild large motor skill impairment (I definitely would not drive) and general tingly feeling body high. Tonight, I did 24 ounces straight away and the remaining approximately 10 ounces about 15 or 20 minutes later. Over an hour later, I’m still feeling pretty full effects.
tl;dr
First wash cold milk 2:1 milk to kava root; 2nd wash 2:1 with cool water; mix water and milk solutions and add a little maple syrup; enjoy.
Alright, I know it’s a long post, but I wanted to include everything, since I never know what tip or trick might help someone. Of course, I’m still pretty new, so I very much appreciate any feedback or suggestions as to how I could improve my process. Thanks for reading.
Bula, friends!