Nectar of the Gods

Kava, once used in religious offerings, gains acclaim as a calming elixir

Resembling dishwater and tasting like mud, kava is an unlikely hit drink.

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.

Islanders from Fiji to Hawaii have been drinking kava for centuries to cement bonds among friends and strangers. Priests and elders offered kava to the gods in religious ceremonies. Now, the ancient beverage is making a modest comeback in Hawaii.

"We're at the point now where we don't want any more drinkers. Our market is flooded. We got more awa drinkers than we have product," said Jerry Konanui, a kava farmer, drinker and president of the Association for Hawaiian Awa.

The potion is made by mixing water with the pounded root of a pepper plant called kava, or Piper methysticum. 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.

Frequently, it makes drinkers feel calm and perhaps mildly euphoric.

Konanui, a Hawaiian, said he was introduced to kava several years ago.

"Ohhh, as a replacement to alcohol, to beer, whiskey, I love awa. I can best describe it as a massage from inside out," Konanui said.

The first Hawaiians are believed to have brought the kava plant with them from other Pacific isles. Oral histories tell of planters offering kava to the gods to secure bountiful harvests. Big Island elders were said to offer kava to a shark deity to drive fish into fishermen's nets.

Royalty and commoner alike would drink kava, though the elite helped themselves to the plant's rarer varieties. Even children had some: Adults would feed irritable babies a mild variety called "nene" to calm them down.

Kava gradually fell out of favor, however, after the 19th-century arrival of Christian missionaries, who disapproved of its intoxicating effects and the way it encouraged "idolatry."

As Christianity spread, Hawaiian religious ceremonies using kava became increasingly marginalized, and many kava traditions were lost. The government also began to require permits for kava medicine.

Kava has only started to significantly reappear in Hawaii during the last decade, though it is still not mainstream.

Many Hawaii kava drinkers credit the state's first kava bar, Hale Noa, founded in Honolulu in 1998, for introducing them to the drink. However, traditional Hawaiian ceremonies using kava are still rare.

Laakea Suganuma, the head of the Hawaiian martial arts group Kapa Lua Hawaii, revived the old Hawaiian ways for an authentic local ceremony called "Kapu Awa."

During a recent kava festival, about a dozen festival vendors and organizers sat in a rectangle on straw mats drinking kava from individual coconut shell bowls. They ate snacks to soften the bitter kava taste.

Drinking kava does have some negative effects.

Those who imbibe a great deal can develop dry, cracked, scaly skin. And you might have trouble walking if you absorb too much in one sitting, because your muscles will be so relaxed. Some Hawaii kava cafes require patrons to step up to the counter for their kava drinks so they can see who has gone overboard.

California and Fijian authorities have arrested people for allegedly driving under the influence after drinking kava, but courts have ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the substance impeded driving.

The most serious allegations of harm have come from indications kava, when taken regularly as an herbal supplement, could hurt the liver. Several European countries banned kava herbal supplements several years ago as a result, but later research put the likely source of the problem in supplement manufacturers' use of kava bark, not just the kava root, to make their pills. The bark, which islanders have never used in their kava, might contain an alkaloid toxic to the liver.

Kava is still evolving in new directions.

Researchers are developing kava that can be bottled for retail sale. Float Beverages LLC, a Honolulu startup, has launched a bottled concoction of kava, lemonade, ginger and mint it hopes to start offering in stores next year.