Clarified Kava

Clarified Kava

I see that people are always looking for a way to make kava taste good. When I go through my recipe process, I always tend towards frozen or highly flavored mixers and tend to lean to creamy / calorie rich. So I looked at the problem differently.

Will taking away the brown solids in a prepared kava beverage 1. still produce the effects we want 2. make the kava taste better?

  1. Short answer, yes. I've done this a few times with different kava strains and blends. I did it with Bir Kar, Kadavu, Dokobana and Kalai. They all have nice, varying effects so it was a good start. The effects were lessened a little but wasn't far off. I believe it was a bit less because when you drink it unclarified, you're consuming the micronized kava that's suspended. That contains kavalactones and you're not drinking it when its clarified. I did 3 rewashes and each one had effects that diminished with each wash. So they were very nice sessions and lasted a bit longer than normal due to me going back and rewashing. By rewashing by the way I mean going back to the filter, adding more water and letting it strain again for more clarified kava. Also, I took a spoon full of this stuff and tried it. Because science! Also I thought it was OK because i would be consuming the powder anyway normally and the milk solids are essentially a smoothed out ricotta. The taste was high pineapple/lime and that pepper flavor. I didn't eat a lot so cant say what the effects would've been. Could that be a spread of some kind in the future? Maybe. Like a pudding mixer or something. I have to work with it more.

  2. Absolute 100% yes. I have never had a more enjoyable (taste wise) kava experience while having much more potency than an instant or a micronized. Maybe there are some instants out there that are really potent but I just haven't had any. But the cost is also substantially lower maintaining that taste functionality.

CLARIFIED KAVA RECIPE:

Ingredients:
  • 32g Kava
  • 150ml Milk
  • 150ml Pineapple Juice
  • Squeeze Lime
  • 300ml water
Put kava powder in 300ml water plus 150ml milk and do a blender prep. Blend the kava in a blender for 4 minutes. Strain powder from liquid into a container.
Add pineapple juice and lime to the kava, milk, water mixture. It's important for quality of clarity to add the acid to the mix, not the other way around.
Stir, then allow milk solids to separate from the whey for about 20 minutes.
Supplies Needed for Last Strain:
  • Coffee filter (paper)
  • Metal reusable coffee filter,
  • A container that the coffer filter will easily fit onto without leaking. I have a beekeepers honey filter. I sit the larger filter on top of the pitcher so it sits flat and doesn't wobble. Then I sit the metal coffee strainer with the paper filter inside on that. I'm sure there's a better way but that's what I had on hand.
Pour the liquid into the filters and let drain slowly, do not push through. Liquid should be a clear yellowish color. This liquid will have a nice pineapple lime flavor.ย 
If you want an unflavored clarified kava, you can change the liquid requirements to 200ml milk and 400ml water. Prepare your kava as directed above. It should be warm when done and strained. Add citric acid powder to the prepared kava until it separates. Stir. Let it stand for 20 minutes until its al separated.
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