What kava actually does

Six compounds called kavalactones do most of the work. Which of them dominates a particular root is what separates a cultivar you can drink at lunchtime from one that will put you to sleep.

The six kavalactones

A chemotype is written as six digits: the six lactones listed in order of how much of each the root contains. It is a ranking and nothing more. Two roots sharing a chemotype can still differ several-fold in total strength.

• Desmethoxyyangonin (DMY): Poorly characterised on its own. Usually present in small amounts. Rarely the dominant lactone in a drinking cultivar.
• Dihydrokavain (DHK): Associated with body relaxation. Ranks first in many varieties described as heavy. Also linked to the nausea some drinkers report from two-day kava.
• Yangonin (Y): Poorly characterised on its own. Studied mostly for how it interacts with the others rather than for an effect of its own.
• Kavain (K): Associated with the clear, sociable end of the range. The lactone most often linked to anxiolytic effect without sedation. Cultivars where it ranks first are the ones the trade calls heady.
• Dihydromethysticin (DHM): Associated with long duration. Elevated dihydromethysticin is one of the markers of two-day kava, alongside kavain ranking low.
• Methysticin (M): Associated with muscle relaxation. Fijian cultivars are noted for sitting high in methysticin, which is part of why they group together chemically.

Reading a chemotype

423156

Read left to right, this says Kavain, then Dihydrokavain, then Yangonin, then Desmethoxyyangonin, then Dihydromethysticin, then Methysticin. Kavain leads, so this root sits at the heady end. Palarasul of Espiritu Santo is sold under this code, and it is the profile most exported nobles share.

When kavain instead ranks fourth or lower and dihydromethysticin climbs, you are looking at two-day kava: stronger, longer, and associated with nausea and next-day lethargy. Vanuatu bans its export outright.

Heady, balanced, heavy

Heady

Effects concentrated in the mind: clearer thinking, easier conversation, little physical weight. Onset tends to be quick. These are the daytime cultivars, and the ones most often recommended to someone drinking kava for the first time.

Balanced

A lift to the mind and a loosening of the body arriving together. Most of the nakamal staples of Vanuatu fall here, which is why they are what gets exported.

Heavy

Muscular relaxation and sedation, often building over thirty to forty-five minutes rather than arriving at once. Evening kava. Heavy is not the same as two-day: a heavy noble cultivar wears off overnight.

Cultivars by character

Heady

• Kelai, Epi, Vanuatu
• Palarasul, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu
• Miaome, Epi, Vanuatu
• Hiwa, Hawaii Island, Hawaii
• Pouni Ono, Vava'u, Tonga

Balanced

• Melomelo, Ambae, Vanuatu
• Silese, Malekula, Vanuatu
• Borogu, Pentecost, Vanuatu
• Bir Kar, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu
• Puariki, Tongoa, Vanuatu
• ʻAva Laʻau, Upolu, Samoa

Heavy

• Borogoru, Maewo, Vanuatu
• Damu, Kadavu, Fiji
• Papa Kea, Hawaii Island, Hawaii
• Rahmwahnger, Pohnpei, Micronesia
• Feo, Santa Isabel, Solomon Islands
• Temo, Temotu, Solomon Islands

A further 62 cultivars in the atlas have no published description of how they drink. They are left out of this list rather than assigned a character we would be making up.

Worth knowing

• Kava and alcohol together, and kava with paracetamol or other drugs the liver has to process, are the combinations linked to reported harm. Drink one or the other.
• Heavy long-term drinking is associated with a reversible dry, scaly skin condition known as kava dermopathy, which clears when intake stops.

New Zealand's kava standard

Legal status of kava in every EU country

Browse the full atlas