Royalty and commoner alike would drink kava, though the elite helped themselves to the plant's rarer varieties. Big Island elders were said to offer kava to a shark deity to drive fish into fishermen's nets. Oral histories tell of planters offering kava to the gods to secure bountiful harvests. The first Hawaiians are believed to have brought the kava plant with them from other Pacific isles - probably the Marquesas - when they discovered Hawai'i around 500 A.D. I can best describe it as a massage from inside out," Konanui said at an annual kava festival held at the University of Hawai'i. "Ohhh, as a replacement to alcohol, to beer, whiskey, I love 'awa. Konanui said he was introduced to kava several years ago.
While several cups of coffee may make you jittery, several cups of kava will put you at ease. Although often mistaken for a narcotic, kava is instead akin to a combination of an anti-anxiety drug, a local anesthetic and drugs used in psychotherapy to help people communicate, said Martha Harkey, a former University of California-Davis pharmacology professor.įrequently, it makes drinkers feel calm and perhaps mildly euphoric. The potion is made by mixing water with the pounded root of a pepper plant called kava, or Piper methysticum. We got more 'awa drinkers than we have product," said Jerry Konanui, a kava farmer, drinker and president of the Association for Hawaiian Awa. "We're at the point now where we don't want any more drinkers. Now, the ancient beverage is making a modest comeback in Hawai'i amid a broader cultural renaissance in Hawaiian language, music and arts. Priests and elders offered kava to the gods in religious ceremonies. Islanders from Fiji to Hawai'i have been drinking kava for centuries to cement bonds among friends and strangers. But to devotees, kava, or 'awa in Hawaiian, is a treasured elixir that can calm nerves and deepen sleep - all without slowing your mind and making you slur your words. Resembling dishwater and tasting like mud, kava is an unlikely hit drink. But it has started to reappear over the past decade amid a broader cultural renaissance in Hawaiian language, music and arts. REAPPEARANCE: Kava gradually fell out of favor after 19th-century Christian missionaries disapproved of its intoxicating effects.
It's known to calm nerves and deepen sleep. EFFECTS: Kava makes drinkers feel calm and at times mildly euphoric.KAVA'S ROOTS: Kava is made by mixing water with the pounded root of a pepper plant called kava, or Piper methysticum.The root is pressed into a muddy and bitter drink that has potent relaxing qualities. Kamalei Grady holds a large kava plant root at the Kava Festival that was held in Honolulu on Oct.
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