Kava cola, Vanuatu's answer to energy drinks

Sean Dorney, Port Vila

Last Updated: Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:26:00 +1100

Many fitness devotees in the west swear by energy drinks. Vanuatu, in the Pacific, has developed the anti-energy beverage: a kava-based soft drink.

Lava Cola is a cola drink with an added kava lactone - the essence of kava, the Pacific’s plant-based relaxant.

It produces the calming effect of kava without the muddy taste.

At the manufacturer's factory on the outskirts of Port Vila, the developers are hoping they can create an international market.

Potent

Vanuatu's own real kava is the most potent in the Pacific - definitely an acquired taste.

But now there is a new way to get the kava effect, out of a soft-drink bottle.

James Armitage, who has lived in Vanuatu for years, developed a water-based kava extract about 18 months ago.

"And so we decided to approach Vanuatu Beverage and try it out primarily with the cola. The kava cola has turned out to be a really good hit locally," he told Radio Australia's Pacific Beat.

Armitage and his colleague, Cameron McLeod, witnessed the collapse of the country's kava export industry.

Health

Kava pills were banned by the European Union more than a decade ago because of side-effects like liver damage, now attributed to former extraction methods.

Not only the roots of the kava plant, but the also the stems were previously used in extraction, which additionally used alcohol.

Armitage says his extraction method avoids the previous pitfalls.

With the dried lactone extract, a match-head-sized piece "would probably be enough to make you want to sit under the nearest coconut tree for about an hour".

But the diluted Lava Cola syrup, mixed with water, is added to cola in a proportion of 15 millitres to a bottle of 330ml.

Muddy

Cameron McLeod says: "The future for kava is in a value-added product, specifically one where you can taste kava and get the effect of kava without that muddy, horrible taste that's normally associated with it."

Down the track, the US is in their sights.

But for the short term, the next target markets for the kava soft drink are nearby Fiji and New Caledonia.