Becoming a True Kavasseur

How to know what's in your kava, and how to judge the bar that serves it

Wine lovers argue about Bordeaux versus Napa. Coffee people can taste the difference between Ethiopia and Guatemala. Kava drinkers are catching up fast, and we now have something those older obsessions took centuries to build: a shared quality standard.

In late 2024, the Kava Coalition released the Harmonized Multinational Kava Standards, a voluntary benchmark built by comparing the leading rulebooks for botanicals from the U.S., Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and the World Health Organization. Rather than picking the strictest or the loosest rule, the Coalition aimed for the middle ground and called the result "a gold standard" meant to harmonize them all. For the first time, the industry speaks a common language about quality. Every kavasseur should learn to read it.