Kava Shake
TIME/SERVINGS
Total: 5 mins
Active: 5 mins
Makes: 2 to 3 drinks
By Adela Jung
You’ve probably never heard of kava, but throughout the South Pacific, this root is turned into a powder and used to make a simple drink. That drink is an acquired taste, so we’ve dressed it up with flavors more familiar to our American palates. Just be forewarned that drinking too much does carry side effects.
What to buy: Kava powder can be found online.
This recipe was featured as part of our Drinks Around the World story.
INGREDIENTS
- 1/4 cup kava powder
- 1/2 cup room-temperature water
- 1 (14-ounce) can coconut milk
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 cup ice
INSTRUCTIONS
- Place kava powder in the middle of an 8-by-8-inch piece of cheesecloth or a coffee filter and tie tightly with butcher’s twine. Immerse in water and massage the cloth to thoroughly extract the fine powder, about 1 to 2 minutes. Squeeze the excess water from the cloth and discard.
- Combine kava mixture, coconut milk, cocoa powder, sugar, and ice in a blender and blend on high for 30 seconds.
COMMENTS | ADD YOUR OWN
Kava is utterly fantastic. It's an excellent largely nonaddictive tranquilizer that studies have shown can be as effective as the traditional benzodiazepines (think Valium, Ativan, Xanax and friends). For me, it was also an excellent enhancer of creativity. It does have a soapy taste to it, but you can learn to love it like I do.
I'm eager to try this recipe as a change of pace. Lecithin potentiates the effects of kava, so adding 1/2 - 1 tsp of that would probably be an excellent modification if you're drinking this for kava's tranquilizing effects (and if you're not, I'm not sure why you'd be drinking kava to begin with).
fresh kava is much better of course, but obviously hard to come by unless you live in a tropical area (i'm from Hawaii). hawaiians used to mix it with just fresh coconut milk, but i guess the cocoa powder and sugar in this recipe help with the taste of kava - which can be.... earthy tasting.....
fresh makes your mouth go a little numb - i dont know if the powder does the same thing. kinda neat when you try it..
That first step for preparing the kava powder is rather unclear. Which is to be utilized in step 2, the solution from without, or the paste from within?
I love coconut so I should love this drink right??
Kava can cause serious liver damage!!!!
Can it cause more liver damage than alcohol???
There were some reported cases of liver damage, predominantly in Europe, from kava use. After much investigation of this unusual phenomenon (unusual because there were no reported cases of liver damage in the South Pacific where kava use is popular), the current theory is that there are hepatoxins in the non-root parts of the plant, and in order to save money, botanical companies were buying these and selling them in their kava supplements and remedies, which led to the liver damage.
So, the moral is to be smart like the Polynesians and stick to the kava root if you're going to consume.