As with all types of Kava, there are typically two types. Heady and Heavy. Heady kavas tend to make you more social and want to get out and do things. Heavy kavas relax your entire body and are great for a night in. Kava from Vanuatu has a chemical composition that is more heavy than heady. With that being said, I found the Borongoru® Vanuatu kava to be a good balance of both mentally stimulating as well as relaxing my entire body. I recently got back into running and have utilized this kava to help reduce inflammation in my legs and calves specifically. I also work from home and have made this particular kava in the mid-morning before lunchtime to help motivate me to keep working.
I found this particular variety of kava to have a mild taste. I generally will mix 4 tablespoons of kava with oat or almond milk. Oat milk is typically my preference as it helps to hide some of the earthy taste that kava can have and has a bit more fat in it to help draw out more of the kavalcones which is what brings out the effects. This kava has a very balanced taste but the effects are more mild. Each time I prepared a traditional batch, I did a double wash to ensure I got as much into the grog as I could. I also tried making a more concentrated batch with less liquid and still found the taste to be mild. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as many times kava can taste horrible and leave you gagging so overall I would say this is a great variety for beginners to try. If prepared properly you will feel the effects within 5-10 minutes and you will be able to drink it down quickly.
As mentioned above, this is a heavy kava. These are best taken after work to help wind down for the evening and sometimes can be very sedating. I found this kava to be more balanced between heavy and heady. I’ve taken this kava in the morning as well as the afternoon and I still had energy and motivation to keep working or play with my kids and cook dinner. The effects on well-being and reducing inflammation from running were subtle but noticeable. The numb tongue feel I usually get from kava was less prominent with this blend. I usually like the numb feeling kava provides so I wish this variety was just a bit stronger, but again, if you are new to kava, I definitely recommend this blend. The effects may not be as noticeable but you should be able to drink it down without any problem.
In conclusion, I would order this kava again, especially if I were going to introduce it to a friend whose never had it before. I’ve had just about every variety that Kalm with Kava sells and have never been disappointed. I typically find the heavy varieties to be more potent for me but everything they put out is consistent and effective. In terms of quality and pricing, they are on point. If you sign up for their newsletter, they typically send an email out once a month with a coupon for a featured variety for that month which is a great deal!
Overall I give this Kava an 8 out of 10. The taste is palatable but I wish the effects were stronger and lasted more than 1-2 hours.