Tagged: kava bar

Aloha, kava connoisseurs, Kava Guru here! In a wonderful piece of news, what’s shaping up to be an awesome kava bar is set to open in Berkeley! First mentioned on September 9th in online magazine Nosh, a new “alcohol-free” bar will shortly be opening right on University Avenue in Berkeley, California. Featuring a menu that will serve tea, kombucha (fermented fruit tea), and kava kava, the new establishment will reportedly be called the Melo Melo Kava Bar after the famous (and particularly yummy) Vanuatu kava strain of the same name.

The new bar is already projected to be a “wild success”, probably due to its location in the heart of the university district, which caters to a young, thirsty student population in a city known for seeking out healthy alternatives. The finished 1200-square foot space is anticipated to have seating for 27 customers and be open from noon to midnight seven days a week.

Rumored to be co-owned by Andrew Procyk, founder of the Vanuatu Kava Bar in Asheville and the recently opened Noble Kava Bar in Boone (both in North Carolina), Melo Melo Kava Bar is the project of Nicolas Rivard, a seasoned restaurant entrepreneur who got his start in the kava industry managing Procyk’s Vanuatu Kava Bar. According to their promotional material, the Melo Melo Kava Bar not only won’t be serving any alcohol, but it will not serve coffee products of any kind either. Instead, their menu is based around kava drinks, tea, and kombucha. While tea does have some caffeine, it has much less than coffee and contains other polyphenols such as theanine and theophylline that are actually purported to be relaxing. Kombucha is a kind of fermented caffeine-free herbal tea, or tisane, that’s becoming popular for its purported benefits to health, especially for balancing gut flora and acting as a gastrointestinal tonic. According to Melo Melo’s proprietors, “[We want to] provide an alternative to coffee houses and alcohol bars. We aspire to nothing less than changing the way Americans work and how they spend their leisure hours in more productive and healthy ways.”

Wow, I know I’m interested! And the owners at Melo Melo clearly know their stuff about relaxation, as they’re making kava a big part of their offerings as well as their name. In their own words, “Melo Melo revolves around kava, a medicinal herb with experimentally proven capabilities of inducing relaxation and equilibrium”. I couldn’t have said it better myself, and I am truly excited to place yet another flag on our national map of kava bars and be one of the first to give a hearty “Aloha” to the Melo Melo Kava Bar!

Sources:

“New Alcohol-Free Bar Set for Berkeley (Say What?)” Nosh. September 5th, 2014.  http://www.berkeleyside.com/2014/09/05/bites-capones-speakeasy-open-ramen-shop-grows/comment-page-1/.

Kava bars made a landing in the United States of America back in 2002 with the opening of Nakava, located in Boca Raton, Florida [2]. These Kava bars are places where people can go to relax with friends while enjoying a Kava beverage or one of the many other Kava supplement options offered. People who have been invested in Kava culture and want to share the love with others tend to be the people that open and run these bars. And I am pleased to announce that the joys of Kava are spreading!

The proud owners of Vanuatu Kava Bar in Asheville, North Carolina are once again in the mood for sharing Kava love and culture. They’re opening a second Kava bar in Boone, North Carolina! The bar is to be called “Noble Kava” – certainly a very appropriate title for such a noble business [1].

The owner Andrew Procyk testifies to the benefit of Kava over alcohol and explains that he’s on a mission to offer a Kava alternative to students in North Carolina college towns.

“Our target area is 18 to 21 year olds who are adults, but unable to do most of what there is to do in a college town…The community benefits through this swiping out of alcohol, and it gives you a happy, friendly and relaxing feeling,” says Procyk in an interview with Mountain Times [1].

Procyk explains how back when he first got the idea of opening a Kava bar in North Carolina – his idea was triggered by a conversation he had with a college campus security guard. The security guard told him how all of the cases of rape, break-ins and assaults almost always involved alcohol. Procyk realized something had to change and that the students needed a healthy alternative to alcohol [1].

While the bar’s primary focus is of course Kava beverages, it will be offering Gatorade, coconut water and other hydrating options – to balance out the dehydrating effects of drinking Kava. The bar will also offer other Kava options and water-based soluble extracts that are intended  to add to the overall experience [1].

Procyk has been a dedicated advocate of Kava culture for quite some time. He is so dedicated to the spreading of Kava appreciation that he was the sole vendor at an international symposium on the subject in Fiji, and was mentioned in several Fijian publications for his wealth of knowledge on the subject [1].

We can only pray to the Kava spirits that the opening of Noble Kava is the continuation of an ongoing process of Kava love and growth!

Sources:

1. Campbell, Jesse. “Noble Kava Establishes Roots in Boone”. Last updated, March 27, 2014: http://mountaintimes.com/watauga-news/articles/Noble-Kava-establishes-roots-in-Boone-id-025151

2. Nakava. “A Real Kava Bar has arrived in North America”. Online: http://www.nakava.com