This is a corollary to the previous post. For all the good drinks you can find in the Kona district (Kona Brewing Co microbrews and coffee), you knew there had to be an evil beverage to balance things out. That stuff is called Kava. We rolled up to Kanaka Kava (an author's pick in Lonely Planet's Big Island guide book) after much debate on whether we should try this stuff. There were serious locals sitting at the bar, no tourists...a rarity in Kailua-Kona. So we decided to share a glass. At that point, we realized that you must drink in bowls and the bartender already poured 2 bowls for us. Not only does it look awful, it tastes horrible. The barkeep told us it's a great muscle relaxant and not to worry if our mouth goes numb (which it did). I had to man-up and I choked my bowl down. It definitely relaxed me for the rest of the day, making the 2hr drive to Volcano NP very mellow. I guess it balanced out all the coffee from earlier in the day.
Moral of the story is that if a guidebook tells you a drink is an 'acquired taste', come to expect Ass-Water.
Here's Kanaka's website...they show you how the stuff's made. I should've read this a little better before our trip.
Kanaka Kava
4 comments:
What component of the drink causes a person to mellow out?
the drink is nothing more than the root of the 'awa plant.
you can buy it in powder form at health food stores, or online.
they also sell smoothies with this stuff in it...i'm sure those are bearable.
Why drink the foul-tasting drink when you can ingest the root of teh 'awa' plant in another more bearable form...
no idea...if i had to do over again, would've gotten a smoothie.
Post a Comment