SINGHSMicronized Instant Kava Powder- Sample Pack, 4

I was pleasantly surprised on how good this instant kava is....I was excited to try some variety of kava that I hadn't tried before. I found each and every one of them to be a pleasant experience!I will be getting bigger bags when I finish these 1oz bags.*Also, I must note that the kava came vacuum sealed and was very fresh.

Not strong

I was excited to receive this product, as the normal supplier I go to was out of stock and will probably remain so for a long time. I decided to try the white package labeled simply "Instant Kava" first to get a baseline. The smell was a bit weak, but it was unmistakably the scent of kava. I added two tablespoons as per the instructions to a large metal thermos of tea (roughly 400ml). The taste was much stronger and more bitter than other kava I've tried (traditional and instant) and made my mouth more unpleasantly numb than any other brand I'd experienced. It completely overpowered the taste of the tea, which I kind of expected.What I wasn't expecting was the grittiness. As I had let the tea sit for a while after mixing the kava in, the majority of the plant material this powder apparently contains had settled to the bottom, so I didn't notice it right away. However, as I got about halfway through, the grittiness became less bearable and I started to suspect that this wasn't instant kava at all.There seems to be a lot of confusion between what is "micronized" and what is "instant" kava. Micronized kava is finely blended kava plant with some of the more fibrous materials removed. It's essentially just like traditional kava, just more powdery. Instant kava is kava liquid that has been brewed in the traditional way, and then freeze dried into a powder. It is fully brewed kava ready to be rehydrated, similar to powdered milk.Theoretically, you CAN just add micronized kava powder straight into a drink, just as you theoretically CAN add traditional kava powder to water in a blender and simply drink it without straining it; but as you can imagine, it's probably a really bad idea. There's a much higher chance of inducing nausea, and as you can imagine, the texture is extremely unpleasant. In my research I found most people who consume kava regularly always strain their micronized kava in a straining bag or cheese cloth. After the texture became too unpleasant, I poured my kava through a tea strainer, several times, and got a significant amount of gritty material each time. I tried to continue drinking, but the bitter flavor and unpleasant mouth numbing effect were too great. I probably should have made more tea to dilute it in just to test the effects of a full dose, but by reflex, out of disgust, I poured the rest down the drain.From the description of this product, I would have expected this to be instant kava made from micronized kava powder. However, the misuse of terminology that is pretty rampant among kava products has let Singhs get away with labeling this in a somewhat ambiguous way. You really should be straining this kava after brewing, which by definition makes it NOT INSTANT.