Many of us are familiar with those socio-professional drinking sessions. You’re at a bar after work, calculating: How many drinks can I consume and still being able to function tomorrow? How can I loosen up now, but still be productive in the morning? Enter, Kava.
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Kava, which is completely plant-based and produces similar relaxing qualities to alcohol, is described in a recent New Yorker article:
Kava drinks, used for centuries in ceremonial contexts throughout the South Pacific, are created by grinding the root of the plant into a powder and mixing it with water. Kava is legal and unregulated, and can be ordered online in the form of pills, which makes it popular among curious thrill-seeking college kids and vape connoisseurs. Its advertised effects are about the same as a cocktail: kava is a sedative used to relieve anxiety and relax the muscles. But, unlike alcohol, kava allegedly doesn’t interfere with any cognitive abilities, and, if you hydrate properly, it won’t give you a hangover.
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The author describes ordering a drink at Kavasutra, a trendy Kava bar in NYC:
The bartender went on to explain rather dubiously that kava drinkers experience “reverse tolerance”—meaning it requires a lot to experience kava’s effects the first few times. As your system gets good at processing kava, he told us, one needs less of it to achieve the same effects. “But don’t worry,” he assured us. “You can’t really get f*cked up on kava.” (He also told us that people on kava tend to become really chatty.) All this information about how to consume a drink that was supposed to relieve anxiety began to make me feel a little anxious. And then there was the actual drink: a putrid liquid that resembled dirt mixed with milk. Chugging was absolutely necessary. After this initial round, we stuck to small kava shots, which were mixed with fruit flavors and much easier to digest.
Kavasutra has a number of other bars in the U.S.—most of them in Florida—but unsurprisingly the New York City location is the most popular. If kava does all that it says it does—reduce anxiety, increase sleep quality, boost mental focus—we’re game!
Curated article and photo from:
New Yorker
Tech Insider
