DOSE:

2 tsp

oral

Kratom

(tea)

BODY WEIGHT:

15 st

Over the last 9 months or so, I've been trying out many entheogenics, botanicals, herbals or whichever of those names takes your fancy. My best experiences to date have been with kratom and I enjoy it a lot, using it quite regularly (the only real side effect being the odd case of constipation for me). However, I had read many times about Kava Kava but it had taken me a while to find some of decent quality and of the 100% powdered root kind, instead of the capsules. Living in the UK, we cannot buy Kava in any shape or form as it has been banned for many years, with scary stories of liver failure spread across the internet to ward off those adventurers who might endeavour to try it anyway.

So, as with all my little herbal packages, I was very excited when it dropped through my door this morning, courtesy of my unsuspecting postman. And by chance, it had been two days since I'd had any mind altering substance (including alcohol) so I expected I was in good clean shape to see what mother earth had in store for me this time.

On opening the little ziplock bag of my 100grms of the Kava powdered root, I was struck by the not unpleasant smell of clove and maybe a little ginger. The colour was a very pale browny white and kinda what I would expect a root to look like I suppose if it was dried and ground up. So, I quickly put the kettle on and got out my favourite mug to check out what I had here.

I have to say, that although there is quite a bit of information out there concerning Kava, it all seemed a bit contradictory to me. And some of the ways to try it really were way too complicated compared to the well known coconut shell/traditional way of enjoying it. So, ignoring all that, the only advice I took to heart was the hot water destroying the chemicals advice and after pouring some water from the boiling kettle into my mug, I added some cold water to take the temperature down to just warm enough that I could now stick my finger in the cup without yelping. Then, as simple as can be, I put two heaped teaspoons - which I estimate to be pretty close to 5 or 6 grams into one of those empty teabags you can buy in most big stores for herbal teas, and let my Kava stew for about 5 minutes, finally pressing the bag against the inside of the cup with my spoon to get some more of the root juice into my brew before tasting.

Now, I'm not sure what kind of taste buds the rest of you have, but I'm not that great with anything that tastes a little foul. My first cup of kratom tea early this year nearly made me hurl a lung (I've moved on to capping it now due to that), so when I tell you that Kava is a walk in the park compared to kratom I really mean it. I'm not saying it was delicious or anything, but even compared to commercial herbal teas like nettle, yarrow, even maybe green tea, its probably quite palatable, and that clove/gingery taste definately is there when its brewed in a cup as well as the smell from the bag it comes in so its not too bad at all.

Well, not being entirely sure of dosage, I maybe didnt get the mouth freeze but there certainly was a slight tingle in my mouth which again, reminded me of the kind of feeling I would get when using clove oil for a sore tooth. In fact I can't mention enough the taste of clove that seemed quite evident to me.

So, about 15-20mins later I started to feel a little rush come over me. Kinda calm, yet a certain clarity at the same time. In a word, I'd say its, erm, like peaceful. And I was also getting a definite elevated mood sensation occuring when, good lord, all of a sudden, a huge shot of goosepimples roared up my back and down my arms like a flash. How amazing! I've never had that with anything else before, but it only happened just the once. Pity that, as it was very nice indeed. Later, as time was coming on for an hour passing, I really had a strong feeling of a calm, settled effect in a big lovely way, but curiously it was also quite subtle too. I wouldnt really say it was a high, but maybe as a first time experience my dose was quite low, so I fully intend to up the dose next time. I'm always cautious with these new things.

All in all, I really enjoyed it, and as far as I know I could repeat the dose throughout the day if required. When I compare this to kratom, baby woodrose, and kanna which I've also tried, this was the gentlest of all. Why oh why its banned in the UK then I dont really know, but maybe I've yet to find that perfect dose for things out of this world to happen. I will though if its there. I certainly will.

Exp Year: 2009	ExpID: 81439
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 42
Published: Aug 17, 2019	Views: 4,193
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Kava (30) : First Times (2), Alone (16)