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Kava on its own can taste pretty bad for most people. One of the best types of juice you can mix with the kava is Apple juice. However, there are a couple of steps that must be followed to successfully combine the kava and apple juice properly.
Generally speaking, when you mix kava and apple juice together you should watch out for three things to get the best-tasting beverage. First, only add a tiny portion of apple juice of about 1/5. Second, try to stay away from high-sugar apple juice and go with concentrate instead. Third, add the apple juice at room temperature to make sure you get the best combination of apple and kava flavors.
We love combining kava with different flavors. Generally, kava can go well with just about any type of juice as the kava has a very basic taste that pairs well with sugar. When you use natural juices such as apples you are also cutting out high sugar drinks such as soda. The team here at Kava-Bula travels around the United States helping bars make the best kava combinations possible; Apple has always been a favorite of ours.
Let’s jump right in yeah. Here are the three things that everybody should be aware of when they mix apple juice and kava.
Only Add a Tiny Portion of Apple Juice
When people first start combining kava and apple juice they make the mistake of putting in way too much juice. Not only does this dilute the kava drink itself but it also makes it taste like a bad glass of apple juice.
The trick to successfully mixing both kava and apple juice is to perfect the right amount of apple flavor to kava. This is going to take some time to get right but from our in-house studies if you strain the kava about 2 to 3 times you should mix about a 1/5th amount of apple juice into the kava.
If you strain your kava only once then you might want to increase the amount to 1/2 or so. This is because when you strain your kava more you will get a more fine taste which can be paired with less apple juice. Not only do guests typically prefer a finer kava drink but they also like the apple taste.
The trick is to not make the apple taste overbearing. When you stick to the 1/5 golden ratio of apple juice to kava you will get a nice flavor of apple and kava that many of our guests describe as “eating a whole apple tree.” We think this means a good thing because they often buy multiple shells back to back.
As long as you stick to the 1/5 rule then you should be golden for mixing kava with apple juice. If you go any higher then chances are you will dilute the kava drink and just make a bad-tasting beverage. If however your kava is bad quality or only strained once then you might want to increase the total amount of apple juice.
Stay Away From Added Sugar Apple Juice and Stay With Natural
This is a major step that all kava mixers should know about. When your adding juice of any kind stay away from added sugar artificial juice.
Too often when we go shopping for fruit juice we are bombarded with juices with an insane amount of added sugars in them. While these juices are great to drink on their own they are awful for adding to kava drinks.
The reason behind this is that these juices will often lead to a sugar rush for the guest and result in a crash. Remember people drink kava to socialize and relax, not get energy and then fatigued. On top of this, the added sugar juice often makes the kava drink taste worse. When you are pairing apple juice and kava together always make sure to use natural juice with the least amount of sugar possible.
The easiest way to do this is to buy natural and unfiltered apple juice. After straining your kava strain the unfiltered apple juice through the same filter into another glass. This will give you an amazing apple taste additive with almost no added sugars.
This is an industry secret that separates professional kava bars from ametuar ones. Strain your own apple juice to add to your kava using unfiltered apple juice. Since you only use a 1/5 apple juice mixture you don’t need much for the taste. One quarter gallon jug of apple juice concentrate will get you about 1.25 gallons of kava drinks.
Stay away from the high-sugar apple juices and instead get the natural unfiltered apple juice concentrate. Filter this on your own through your kava filters and you will be golden for adding it to your kava.
Add the Apple Juice to the Kava at Room Temperature
This is another secret to mixing kava and apple juice together; add your kava and apple juice together at room temperature.
The reason is not so much the taste but the way that kava settles when either super cold or hot. Most guests will drink their kava slowly over time and as a result, the kava will settle on the bottom of their glass or shell. The apple juice on the other hand will remain in the water giving guests a drink with apple juice on the top and kava on the bottom.
If your going for this then by all means add the apple juice when it’s cold to the warm kava. However, what we recommend here at Kava-Bula is combining the kava and apple juice when both are at room temperature. After you combine them make sure you either put the final drink into a shaker cup or blender to properly mix everything together.
After this, you can either serve it immediately or let sit overnight in a refrigerator. Serving immediately is good for presentation; while letting the final product sit for a while in a refrigerator will allow the kava powder to infuse with the apple juice. It really depends on what you are going for. We tend to prefer letting the kava sit overnight in a refrigerator and then serving stirred in a shell.
This creates an amazing drink that nearly everybody loves. Combining apple juice and kava together is a treat that most people don’t know about yet. Some kava bars around the United States are slowly adding apple kava to their menu but for now, it remains a secret.
Summary
That’s about it mixing apple juice and kava together.
Most people are not aware of this mixture yet. Apple makes the kava taste amazing and really fits the taste profile of the root. Mixing both of these together helps newer kava drinkers get into the culture and enjoy their time. Remember whenever we drink kava we always say ‘bula!’ Which translates to wishing your local community and friends good health and fortune, so bula to you.
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