When you are prepare kava root powder into kava tea to drink, there are traditional kava brewing methods that are best followed. Of course, because Designer Kava is instant kava, these methods are not necessary. We make it super easy to prepare kava. You can check out our instant kava products.

Our instant kava powder is essentially kava that has already been prepared, then dehydrated. All you have to do is add water directly to the instant kava powder and voila, you have rehydrated it and it is ready to drink. We make fresh, green kava root juice less than 24 hours after harvest before dehydrating. This leads to an extremely potent and pure kava. If you would like to learn more about how designer kava is made, check out our article: what is Designer Kava.

If you would like recipes for different kava drinks, check out that article.

How to prepare Designer Kava

All you have to do to prepare Designer Kava is add some of our instant kava powder to water and give it a stir/ shake. As far as the amount of kava: one teaspoon, or 2.5 grams, of Designer Kava powder per 200 ml of water.

This is significantly smaller amount of kava than traditional brewing methods with medium grind kava root powder, which is about 3 whole tablespoons for a single brew.

Sometimes, micronized kava is marketed as instant kava- but the two are very, VERY different. Our instant kava is strong and pure, while micronized kava is just finely ground kava that will probably give you a stomach ache and not the desired effects. We have a whole blog post on Micronized Kava vs. Instant Kava

How traditional kava brewing is done

Traditional kava preparation methods date back centuries. Essentially, the chemicals that make kava have relaxing properties (kavalactones) need to be converted into a drink. You really don't want to eat the kava root whole, as this will lead to stomach issues (this is why we advise against Micronized or extracts). Otherwise everybody would just eat kava root powder and drinking kava would not even be a thing. This is a big problem when companies make kava capsules or other non traditional types of kava products. Moving forward...

The process of traditional brewing is relatively simple, but it is messy and time consuming (hint: Designer Kava does all the work for you, the only thing you have to do for our kava preparation is mix the instant kava in water directly or your favorite drink!)

The kava root powder is typically placed in a muslin cloth or tea bag, known as a strainer bag. The purpose of the strainer bag is separating the fibrous root from the liquid you will consume. You place the strainer bag in the bowl, add warm water, and work the kava root powder with your hands in the liquid. Doing this irritates and exposes different parts of the kava root powder to the water, and slowly starts to move the kavalactones from the root to the water. This process of kneading the kava root and squeezing the kava in warm water takes anywhere from 15-40 minutes for you to fully prepare the kava. Warm water is said to accelerate this process.

Kava preparation is tedious. This long messy kava preparation method is one of the main inspirations for Designer Kava, we essentially do all of this for you- then remove the water. What is left is ultra fine instant kava granules that you can mix directly with whatever beverage. More potency, less hassle.

How to make kava tea stronger

Kavalactones are lipophilic, meaning they bind to fat. By introducing coconut milk (our favorite), or creating a kava smoothie in some other kind of fatty solution (ice cream?) you can greatly potentiate the effects when you make kava. If you want the most out of your kava, make kava with some kind of fatty liquid and drink it on an empty stomach.

All of this helps make your kava stronger, but it starts with high quality potent kava. If you want the most bang for your buck, try our "Midnight" Borogu Tememe Kava. It is the strongest Borogu Kava (probably the strongest kava period) on the market.

HOW TO MAXIMIZE THE EFFECTS OF KAVA ROOT

If you are drinking kava tea, chances are you want to get the most out of your experience. Kava preparation is important, but even more so than preparing kava powder into a drink is the way you consume it.

• Drink kava on an empty stomach for stronger effects. This goes with both Designer Kava instant kava powder and traditional kava root drinks. You will feel the effects more if you consume kava on an empty stomach.

• Eat a fatty meal about 40 minutes to an hour after you consume kava. The reasoning behind this goes along with preparing kava with coconut milk or some other fatty material. Many kava users report feeling the effects of the kava root come back, sometimes stronger then before if they eat a meal some time AFTER consuming kava. We have found this to work well.

  

 We talk more about different kava mixes including coconut milk in this article.