![]() ![]() The crowd spills out onto the tiered decks, because there's just enough room inside for, say, a three-piece reggae band, a low-slung couch filled with local girls and a handful of dancers trying not to trip over the mutts and free-range toddlers. ![]() On the frequent live music nights, it feels more like a house party than anything else. Kanaka Kava serves traditional Hawaiian pupus such as sweet potato, poi, kalua pork and a hard-to-find, chewy shellfish called opii.Īt the northern tip of the island in the one-street former plantation town of Hawi, this thoroughly laid-back kava hangout is the kind of place where young moms let diapered kids roam, and nobody has to leave the dog in the car. Kava didn't taste any better in ancient Hawaiian times than it does now, which is why kava drinkers then usually had pupus on hand. "So we went right down to where the beer and partying is and created a peaceful place," he says. Gibson believes that Hawaii would be a lot better off if it drank less alcohol and more kava. But calm at the center of the storm is what native Hawaiian kava farmer Zack Gibson had in mind when he opened the place - that and creating a market for the certified organic kava he grows. This tiny, open-air kava watering hole sits smack in the boozy, touristy heart of Kailua-Kona, a counterintuitive spot for a mellow kava experience. ![]() There are probably more kava bars per capita there than anywhere else. The Big Island is the unofficial kava capital of Hawaii. It's as if you've just done 90 minutes of intense vinyasa flow yoga, without the sweat-soaked laundry. You drink it for the same reasons Polynesians have for thousands of years: It makes your worries seem manageable, your bones seem to settle into place, and your brain feel focused, friendly and clear. It may taste like dirt, but you don't drink it to please the palate, which, in fact, it numbs. Kava the drink is made from the pulverized root of kava the plant, a relative of the pepper. ![]()
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