Growing popularity of kava sees new bar open in Auckland

Friday, 9 August 2019

Four Shells co-founder Anau Mesui enjoys a shell of kava.

Auckland City now has its first kava bar, an establishment dedicated to the sedating and often misunderstood Pacific beverage. Harrison Christian and photographer Jason Dorday report.

It comes served in a coconut shell: A bitter drink that numbs the mouth, relaxes the body and calms the mind.

Most people aren't strangers to kava, the supplier of Auckland City's first kava bar explains — the problem is, they've had an average experience, drinking stuff of dubious quality from a Fijian tourist trap or a south Auckland dairy. It might have been bulked out with flour or sawdust.

Kava is prepared in front of customers, the dry root powder strained in water.

But the kava at Four Shells in Victoria Park Markets is the real deal, sourced by a connoisseur called Ziv who physically scours the islands for the purest strains, then gets them lab-tested to ensure quality.

A large shell will run you just under $10, while a bowl shared among three or four people is $45. The effect is mild and immediate: a mental shift away from the preoccupations of the day, toward smiles and conversation. Have a few more shells, and you might find yourself locked in for the afternoon. But kava is not alcoholic; there is no hangover, and preliminary studies suggest it doesn't impair driving.

A large bowl of kava costs just under $10.

* Cancer-causing betelnut and kava banned from construction site

Four Shells co-founder Monica Kuznetsov.

* Fancy some kava with that pie and chewing gum?**

The kava shrub is a member of the pepper family, grown for thousands of years throughout tropical Pasifika.

In New Zealand, the drink is consumed by more than 20,000 people on a Friday or Saturday night, and it's growing in popularity among non-traditional users.

The number of people through the door in Four Shells' first week of operation has been encouraging. On a Friday night, they've been packed with veterans and first-time drinkers alike.

Co-founders Todd and Anau Mesui Henry are keen to promote kava as a healthier alternative to alcohol. They're running the bar on a volunteer basis with Monica and Anton Kuznetsov, the owners of flotation tank facility Float Culture. All going well, they will soon look at hiring staff.

Four Shells co-founders Todd Henry and Anau Mesui.

The vibe at Four Shells is very different from that of your boozy local, Anau Mesui Henry points out. The drink is traditionally used in the islands to facilitate openness within groups. The practice has continued in the garages of Pasifika residents, but this is the first attempt to bring it into the mainstream.

'If I walked in here I'd feel comfortable to say 'Hi, how are you?' Not just because I work here, but because that's kava culture,' says Anau.

'You walk into a garage and it doesn't matter if you're a CEO, a doctor or a journalist — you leave all of that at the door, and you're all equal. I don't know of any space other than your home where you can have that; sometimes, you can't even have it at home.'

On the wall above shelves lined with herbal teas and coffees from the Pacific, a portrait of Anau Mesui Henry's father, Sione 'Atia'i, watches over the bar.

'Atia'i started importing kava from Tonga as a means to support his family after they emigrated to New Zealand from the islands in the late 1980s.

There are hundreds of kava bars in the United States, but almost none in New Zealand, despite the relative ease of obtaining a food license to sell it.

Four Shells could be the start of a new trend in Auckland, the so-called 'capital of the Pacific'.