Kava and Kratom Find a Place in the Coffee World

As kava and kratom continue to pop up alongside coffee in cafés, we explore their cultural roots and unique botanical powers.

BY MELINA DEVONEY
FOR BARISTA MAGAZINE

Featured photo courtesy of Mohawk Wellness Collective

Coffee shop owners, roasters, professional and home baristas, and scientists know a great deal about the coffee plant (Family: Rubiaceae; Genus: Coffea; Species: canephora, arabica, etc.). However, we can’t say the same about kava and kratom. As these wildly distinct plant genera pop up alongside coffee in cafés across the United States, it’s necessary to understand their unique cultural and botanical powers.

Kava

(Family: Piperaceae; Genus: Piper; Species: methysticum, etc.)

Kava is a perennial shrub related to the pepper plant, characterized by large heart-shaped leaves, which grows almost exclusively on the South Pacific islands. Without flowers or fruits to propagate, kava’s growing range is entirely anthropogenic.

Kava originated on the island of Vanuatu several thousand years ago and spread through migration and trade as far west as Papua New Guinea, east as Hawai’i, and south as New Zealand, where it largely failed to grow. Traditional use remains in Tonga and Samoa, much of Micronesia, and the top-producing islands of Vanuatu and Fiji.

“The better kava are Vanuatu and Fiji as far as strength,” says Ava Taesali, founder of Kava Queen in Hawai’i. “Anytime you go into a kava bar, you’re probably gonna be drinking one of those two.”

Over 100 kava varietals grow across the islands, divided into two classes: noble and tudei. Historically, tudei varieties were cultivated sparsely for medicinal or ceremonial purposes, while noble kava was used for daily social drinking.

For at least 2,000 years, sharing coconut shells of kava has held deep cultural and spiritual significance across many island communities; kava enhances connection not only with one’s community but also with the divine and spiritual realms. The roots of kava are either juiced or dried and ground into a powder, then extracted with water and massaged to release their essence. The cloudy drink tastes earthy, sometimes peppery or like licorice, and is always tingly on the tongue.

Traditionally grown by small farmers, kava has evolved into a cash crop, exported globally to pharmaceutical companies and health food stores alike.

Ava was 18 years old when she started working at a kava bar in Davis, Calif. She says she “found a deep love for kava,” as it connected her with her Samoan roots. After five years in the industry, she was dissatisfied with the lack of Polynesian representation, who she says are “the blood of the ancestral medicine.”

Four years ago, Ava moved to Hawai’i and opened O’ahu’s only brick-and-mortar kava bar. Kava Queen is not only popular with tourists and locals alike, but it’s also a place where Ava can educate clients about kava and watch it transform their lives.

Ava prepares traditional kava by scooping dried kava root powder into a strainer bag and placing it in a bucket of water. For about five minutes, she kneads and squeezes the kava in the bag until the water turns a brownish color.

“I’ve been making kava for 11 years, so I can tell when it’s ready,” she says. When she determines it has brewed for long enough, she thoroughly squeezes the water out of the bag, before straining the kava water one final time through a metal strainer. Then it’s ready to drink.

“You want your kava to be thick, but you don’t want to taste any sediment,” Ava says.

Kava’s Medicinal Benefits

Kava plays a significant role in traditional medicine as a local anesthetic, analgesic, antifungal, and antibacterial agent. It helps many people sleep and may have broader potential as a treatment for depression, cancer, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

A lack of medical research means that most medicinal benefits and psychoactive effects are largely based on a growing body of ethnographic evidence from Indigenous peoples in the South Pacific.

Traditional drinking of kava, even in high volumes, shows little to no adverse health effects. In fact, scientific consensus is that health problems arising from many kava products sold outside of the South Pacific aren’t caused inherently by kava, but by the use of cheaper, non-noble varieties and the aerial parts of the plant, which have never been traditionally consumed.

Kava is a diuretic, and excessive regular consumption may cause dry skin or rash (though others report it helps clear oily, acne-prone skin). Genetics play a role, as nearly all Pacific Islanders have an enzyme that metabolizes kava; upwards of a fifth of Caucasians lack it, increasing their risks of liver toxicity when consuming unadulterated kava.

“Kava affects everyone differently, so starting small and asking questions is key. If you’re on medication or have a health condition, it’s also best to talk to a health care provider before trying it,” says Linda Ghazarian, manager of Kava Kulture in Los Angeles, Calif. After four years of serving kava, she’s more “inspired by the positive changes it’s brought into people’s lives.”

Kava’s Effects

Most kava varieties share six of the 18 identified kavalactones that act on the central nervous system to produce their telltale effects. Kava drinkers report experiencing reduced anxiety and uplifting, calming, sedative, and sociability effects, without impairing mental clarity or cognitive function.

“Kava activates GABA receptors in the brain, similar to how alcohol makes you feel after one drink. You’re not intoxicated, but you’re more relaxed and social,” says Jacob Saldaña, co-founder of Mohawk Wellness Collective in Los Angeles.

Kava has a reverse tolerance effect, meaning that someone new to it often feels no effect after the first or second use. Still, experts say the meditative preparation and social practice can be felt deeply from the start.

Kava is about presence and connection, Jacob explains. He started drinking kava a decade ago in an effort to slow down and be more in the moment. “I feel more grounded, more open, more connected to the people around me,” Jacob says. “It helped me wind down without compromising my energy or values.”

After a stint owning a coffee and kava bar, Jacob now hosts kava socials at Mohawk Wellness Collective. This community-centered wellness space offers sauna, cold plunges, guided breathwork, and curated events, during which kava plays a big role in helping people open up and connect.

Linda hears similar feedback from both first-time and longtime kava drinkers. “Some say they feel more relaxed or less anxious, but what really stands out is how often people mention the sense of community they feel,” she says. “It’s what keeps them coming back.”

Kratom

(Family: Rubiaceae; Genus: Mitragyna; Species: speciosa, etc.)

The genus Mitragyna encompasses 10 species that grow in tropical and subtropical regions of Asia and Africa. Its most notable species, Mitragyna speciosa, is a tropical evergreen tree known as kratom. It is native to Southeast Asia as far north as Myanmar and across the majority of islands extending southeast. It also grows in Africa, Australia, the Caribbean, and Hawai’i.

Kratom leaves are made into tea or powder, or chewed fresh in the field. Although in the coffee family, Rubiaceae, kratom contains no caffeine. Instead, its active compounds are mitragynine and 7-Hydroxymitragynine, alkaloids that produce the varied effects of kratom. Kratom leaves look like larger relatives to their cousins, but they tower over coffee trees. Kratom has hundreds of varieties because it readily hybridizes.

Aaron Moeller was born on Kauai, where he today farms and sells Hawai’i Kratom products at his shop, Awa Hale. Over the last 15 years, he has grown more than 50 nutraceutical products utilizing integrative farming techniques.

Just like Camellia sinensis (tea), kratom can be subjected to an extensive range of curing and processing techniques (fermentation, oxidation, and heat) to produce dramatically different end products. “There are effectively 10,000 ways of making tea and 10,000 ways of making kratom,” Aaron explains.

Aaron picks kratom leaves at varying stages of maturity and dries them. Some “strains” are left to ferment, then the dried leaves are either roughly crushed (like loose-leaf tea) or sent through an industrial grinder to be made into a fine powder (similar to matcha processing).

The primary kratom “strains” are red, green, and white. “Strains” is a misnomer, as all three strains can be produced from the same kratom tree, but their colors develop from differences in leaf maturity and on-farm processing methods. Further “strain” distinctions are made between the country of origin and blends of multiple strains.

Different parts of the whole kratom leaf—tissue, veins, and stems—provide different alkaloid profiles and effects. Whole-leaf kratom has been used traditionally for its greatest breadth of alkaloids.

Kratom’s Medicinal Benefits

Kratom’s benefits have been recognized for generations in many Southeast Asian cultures, but recently also well-cited in scientific research. Kratom has been long used as a social drink, a gift to the gods in religious ceremonies, a way for farmers to combat fatigue in the fields, and an herbal medicine. Kratom’s therapeutic benefits include, but are not limited to, strong antioxidant, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory properties, a fever, pain, and anxiety reducer, sedative, stimulant, and antidepressant.

Kratom’s Effects

Julia Brensel, owner of the KavaGator coffee shop in Gainesville, Fla., was drawn to kratom because it gave her a similar feeling to drinking wine. “Just a little more relaxed, a little more smiley, a little more chatty,” she says.

KavaGator customers report pain relief and sociability, Julia continues. “During the same day, they usually say that they are feeling good and relaxed.”

Each strain offers different benefits. The potent alkaloid content of red kratom produces its powerful and fast-acting properties that relieve migraines and chronic pain, and bring strong sedative, opioid-like effects.

Green kratom has a gentler blend of energizing and relaxing effects, coupled with enhancement of mood, concentration, sociability, and confidence.

White kratom is produced from young leaves and provides clear-headed, uplifting, moderately stimulating focus. It often enhances cognitive performance and motivation.

“White kratom is a stimulant much stronger than coffee. Coffee gives some people anxiety, gives trembling of their hands or elevated heartbeat,” Julia says. “Kratom will not do that.” However, caffeine and kratom affect individuals differently.

Like coffee and alcohol, prolonged or excessive use of kratom carries the risk of negative side effects, dependence, and withdrawal symptoms. Depending on the extent of overuse, kratom withdrawal symptoms can be mild, like restlessness, or as severe as opioid withdrawal.

Kratom has “become marginalized and demonized. The first two pages of Google will scare you away,” Aaron says. “There are layers of bad press with layers of misinformation.”

Aaron says kratom is a “paradigm-shifting, important herb” and “much needed for all the things happening in the world today.”

This article originally appeared in the August + September 2025 issue of Barista Magazine. Read more of the issue online here for free.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Melina Devoney (she/her) is a barista and freelance writer in Los Angeles zeroed in on coffee and agriculture. She aims to amplify the voices of farmers and a diversity of perspectives within the coffee industry, and she’s happiest when running on wooded trails and dancing at concerts.

Subscribe and More!

As always, you can read Barista Magazine in paper by subscribing or ordering an issue.

Read the August + September 2025 Issue for free with our digital edition. 

For free access to more than five years’ worth of issues, visit our digital edition archives here.