Kava Lawena Powder – Authentic, Noble Kava Crown Root Powder from Fiji – Premium, Responsibly Sourced, 16 Oz

I used to live in Asheville, North Carolina where we had a great kava bar. I have wonderful memories with friends, acoustic guitar, long conversations, and cups of kava. For years I have thought about buying traditional kava but I never found anything good enough in local stores, so I finally made the plunge and bought this one online after lots of research and consideration of price. I 100% recommend it for reasons described below, although it arrived with a hole in it and some had spilled out - I think the people in the packing were rushing because my other item was also torn up. Amazon refunded me because of the broken package, but I still got to try the kava which really exceeded my expectations!After one sip, my whole mouth was numb. My family tried it and had the same experience. After 1 small cup I felt a warm relaxed alive feeling in my chest / heart area and noticed I was calmer and quieter and felt generally on the verge of laughing and smiling. After a second small cup I had to remind myself that I hadn't had any alcohol or wine, because the feeling was quite similar and intoxicating! I didn't even have that strong of a reaction at the kava bar, so this was absolutely stronger than what I had in the past - which I thought was pretty strong. The taste is kava so of course bitter and unique but smooth for the strength.This also absolutely helped me sleep and seemed to give me great dreams, as well. I am a generally positive person without any psychological troubles, but as someone who developed stress anxiety during my recent graduate thesis, I developed sleeping troubles. I literally woke up 4x jumping out of my bed the night before trying this kava. I have fight or flight dreams because my master's experience was so stressful. I literally wake up regularly thinking someone is trying to kill me in various ways, but after my first kava I slept straight through the night! As a bonus, I woke up having had a dream that I was holding a sweet old blind white cat and 8 men friends were singing a traditional folk song about me called, "Linky Lizzie."So, suffice to say, I give it a total thumbs up for taste, intoxicated feelings, anti-anxiety, numbness, and generally helpful pleasant feelings. Plus for the price it is a wonderful deal.My preparation: I used 5-6 Tb in 3 cups of water and massaged it in warm water with pantyhose, which worked great. The slippery goo was tan, creamy, felt oily and it took a while to work it all out. I added a bit of coconut oil for lipids. The texture of the end kava was creamier than kavas I've had in the past and it didn't settle out as quickly as some - it stayed well-integrated. I added some honey and coconut milk to smooth it out, although I like the plain kava taste as well.

Not as strong as the Waka but is a good "all day" kava which makes it a good kava to drink if you plan on drinking it socially, which is actually the best way to drink kava imo . The effects take longer to show up but build upon each serving to provide a nice relaxing yet smooth kava ride. The Waka can leave you feeling a bit more "kava drunk" physically if the same amounts were prepared and drank. Drinking twice as much Lawena as Waka has a nice kava experience quality that the Waka is too strong for, imo. If the tastes bothers you, preparing it with a citrus/tropical juice is the way to go. I usually go with a pineapple/orange blend from the store and mix in some guava or mango nectar I can by in 12oz cans. I warm the juice or water up before preparing and then put it and the kava in a blender to mix up for a few minutes and to let soak. I'll then work that out in a cheesecloth/kava strainer in a pot and prepare a fresh batch of water to extract out more of the good stuff once the first batch is done. The larger the cheese cloth the better so you can work it easier to get all the "ink" out. So far, around 4oz of kava powder to around 60oz of fluid make a decent batch that I find works best for me and reminds me of drinking the actual freshly prepared stuff of Hawaii/Polynesia.***Edit***Now give this 5 stars instead of 4. I actually prefer it over the Waka. The effects are really smooth and uplifiting and just seem to be much more gentle than the Waka. I like both but this is the one I go to if I want to drink a bunch for an extended period of time which is my preferred way to drink. Also want to thank the reviewers who've mentioned using pantyhose to strain. Absolutely the best way to go it seems. The little knee high hose are perfect. Order bulk off amazon if you're a manly dude like me who feels awkward buying it the store which i did twice. The second time I got smart and bought a bigger box ;) Just keep working the kava until all the fine clay powdery feel is gone and it starts to become gritty.