What to Expect from Tui Kava - The Experience

To start off I would like to introduce you to what I call the 3 sensations of Kava, they are the primary, secondary and sleep sensation.

1. The Primary or Elevated Sensation - This is the first sensation that you will usually feel about 15 minutes after drinking kava.  This is a heightened feeling and sometimes verging on intoxication.  It creates what many would refer to as a buzz.  This initial feeling can last from 45 minutes to 3 hours depending on the kava.
2. The Secondary or Extended Sensation - This is the feeling that you feel the rest of the day or after the Elevated Sensation.  If it is a heady kava you will probably feel relaxed, energetic and motivated.  For heavy kavas you will continue to feel relaxed and somewhat unmotivated.
3. Sleep Sensation - This is when you go to sleep, some kava's have better restorative effects than other.  With heady kava's when you go to sleep they are generally very restorative.  With heavy kava's you will want to go to sleep sooner and will have a deep sleep.  Some heavy kava's may leave a slight hangover feeling in the morning, but you will still have a good sleep.

 

Tui Kava is a Heady and Uplifting kava. I have been drinking Kava since the late 80's. As a pre-launch to Tui Kava, I have been testing and trying a lot of the Kava's on the market. Especially Amazon marketplace to understand how Tui Kava competes. I have developed a quantitative and qualitative approach to rating the kava's and recording the effects. Body chemistry and other variables will play into how it affects each individual differently so others may not have the same experience that I had.

 

As part of the Qualitative data, I have sent various Kava's for lab testing to see their kavalactone profiles and the kavalactone % for each kavalactone in kava. Each kavalactone provides a different experience and the combination of all kavalactones and their percentage provide the final experience.

 

As part of the Quantitative analysis, I have tried each kava multiple times under different situations. Sometimes during daylight hours and sometimes during the evening hours. Time of day also impacts your awareness of how it effects your experience. I have tried it while having to perform mental tasks and physical tasks and just chilling and listening to music.

 

I followed the directions from each seller for their preparation. I used a 75 micron strainer/filter bag for traditional, which is the recommended sizing for making kava. It filters out the larger fibers, but lets the micro particles that contain a lot of kavalactones into the elixir. Along with the traditional method, I used a Blender and AluBall for each kava. For micronized I use it straight up and using an AluBall. I also weighed all recommended dosages to see how many grams each weighed. Some sellers recommend using higher amounts of product, I assume this is because their product has a lower kavalactone % as I discovered when I reviewed the lab results.  I used 10g every time so as to reduce any variables.

 

I have been building out a table where I measure specific attributes of each product along with a time narrative as the different sensations took effect. Once I finish refining the table, I will provide it for download so readers can conduct their own testing and find what kava's and experiences they like best.

 

Now onto the results for Tui Kava. The Tui Kava Lineup is 423, generally 70% of the effects are contained in the first 3 digits of the Kava profile. The kavalactone percent tested at 10% for the batch.  Tui Kava will generally test between 10-13% for Waka and 6.5% for Lewena.  Five of the competitors tested between 5.48% and 7%, only one test at 7.6%. For all the tests I fasted 2 hours prior to drinking the kava. I had a follow-up discussion with the lab and I was happy to find out that Tui Kava has the lowest heavy metals that they have ever tested in all the kava that they have been testing over the years, and they run several hundred tests a month. This is definitely because it is grown on a remote island with no roads, so no vehicles polluting the environment.  Since we only work with one boutique farm, quality control and consistency is high.

 

Potency: The Tui Kava kavalactone percent tested at 10% for the batch.  Tui Kava will generally test between 10-13% for Waka and 6.5% for Lewena.  Tui Kava Lewena is equal or higher than most of the seller's high end Waka on Amazon. Their numbers don't even come close to our Waka.

 

Taste: Tui Kava has a smoother taste compared to the other kava's.  It was not harsh or bitter.  It has the kava taste but not overwhelming and peppery.  It is pleasant to drink. Out of the 6 other kava's tested, only one other was just as nice tasting.  This is an area that I will refine to be better able to describe flavor.

 

Numb Tongue: Tui Kava produced an immediate strong numb tongue feeling. Only one other kava produced an equivalent effect.  All kava's produced a numbing effect within 1-4 minutes of drinking.

 

Profile Effects: Based on the Tui Kava profile with

Kavain (4) being the highest level it should create a Happy/Elevated mood, strong muscle relaxant properties, strong anti-anxiety and high euphoria.

Dihydrokavain (2) levels create a sedative, anti-anxiety and pain reducing effect.  The Yangonin (3) levels drive a stimulating/creativity and anti-anxiety effects.

Yangonin (3) is stimulating and creative along with anti-anxiety.

Methysticum (6) levels were also high, which are neuroprotective, sedative and pain relief.

Kavalactones 3 & 6 had the same level of kavalactones.

 

Experienced Effects: I will combine the effects into this one paragraph.  It took about 10-15 minutes to feel the effects of Tui Kava, which seemed to be the norm for all products tested.  The length of the initial impact was about 2.5 to 3 hours.  Most of the others were from 1 to 2 hours, this may be driven by the higher kavalactone percentage in Tui Kava.  Tui Kava was the most heady of all the kava's by far, creating an uplifting and motivating effect.  Many of the other kava's were heavy kava's creating an unmotivated and lethargic feeling. Most of the Kava's created a slight heavy head, with one creating a very heavy head feeling.  Tui Kava along with 3 others did not produce any hang over effect in the morning after sleep.  Two of the kava's produced perceived moderate hangovers in the morning. All kava's had good impact on muscle relaxation. Tui Kava created a higher mental alertness along with one other kava, all others had a degraded mental alertness.  When it came to sleepiness, they were all different, Tui Kava had slight sleepiness, but most of the other kava's created a very sleepy effect and made me want to go to sleep immediately.

 

Restorative Sleep:  Tui Kava took the crown for restorative sleep. I think this is an important aspect of kava and why many people like kava. I found that I got the best sleep from Tui Kava. Of the ones tested, most were SomeWhat restful, 1 was neutral and 1 was somewhat fatiguing. It also didn't matter when I went to sleep with Tui Kava.  When I took it early in the day for motivation or early evening for some creative work time, or closer to bedtime.  Once I went to sleep, I had a very restful and restorative sleep.  Even though I had very active dreams, it seems to have relaxed a different part of my brain, and I had a very restorative sleep.  It also seems to lift brain fog which I haven't experienced since the first time I tried Tui Kava.  When I took it earlier in the day, I got many tasks done even during the most impactful period.  After about 3 hours I felt even better, and everything seemed clearer. For the first 3 hours I could feel the effect, after that I felt sharper and still very motivated.  I just felt good for the rest of the day.  You don't usually feel that way with kavas. 

 

Summary: Overall, I am very pleased with Tui Kava, it seems to outshine the competition in all aspects except making you immediately sleepy.  I find it hard to drink other kava's knowing how well Tui Kava matches with my body chemistry.  I would recommend this kava for Creatives, Entrepreneur's, Professionals and Gamers,  since it enhances focus and creativity.  I would also recommend drinking it at least 2 hours before sleep since you will probably feel motivated.   I will continue to test other kava's and I still have a large quantity of the different kava's on hand, so I will start to give it to my friends so they can do their own comparisons.

 

Keep in mind that everyone has a different body chemistry, the conditions you drink kava under will vary, each kava has different properties, purity, consistency and quality control.  So finding the right kava for you will take research and experience.  If you are a beginner drinker you will need to drink the same kava several times to start to feel and understand its effects.  Many first time drinkers don't feel anything the first time they drink kava, so try it at least 4 times to start to understand it and don't get discouraged.  Make sure you haven't eaten anything at least 2-3 hours before drinking kava.  I have found that not eating for about 4 hours can almost double the impact of the kava. 

 

I have started adding a Teaspoon of Micronized Tui Kava to my protein shake every other day.  The primary sensation is slightly dulled but the secondary and sleep sensations are on the mark.  I also feel that the restive sleep lasts for 2 days.  I feel motivated all day and complete many tasks, when I go to sleep it's extremely restful.  For a more intense Primary sensation I will drink it straight with a splash of almond milk.

 

As always, if you are new to drinking kava you will want to consult a medical professional.  Kava may interact with other meds you are taking.  If you have liver damage or are a heavy alcohol drinker you will definitely want to consult with a medical professional before drinking kava.

 

Here's to happy hunting.

Moce, Vuniwai