King Kava, in Long Island City, corners the market on obscure South Pacific stimulant drink The root is turned into teas that give drinkers a mild — and legal — high. A Long Island City beverage company is on a high. King Kava, which makes beverages with ground kava root, is unveiling two new flavors next month - a major expansion for a beverage company that provides a mild — and legal — high. “It’s relaxing. It helps fight stress and anxiety,” said co-founder Nick Haycock, 26. “But it doesn’t impair your judgment.” He and his former roommate Ben Berdan, 26, of Manhattan, started the company a year ago after they tasted an extract of the South Pacific root. The high school buddies experimented with different recipes to mask the pungent, dishwater flavor of the root. They now sell mint lemon and ginger citrus drinks and plan to offer hibiscus chamomile and green tea and tarragon flavors. And a new line of unflavored beverages — called Brooklyn Kava in an obvious diss at the borough to the south — will up the dosage from two grams to 20 in a 20-ounce drink. “It’s going to have a much more deep and passionate appeal,” Haycock said. Appeal may not be the right word. In larger doses, kava can cause the mouth to temporarily go numb. It’s legal in the U.S., but the Food and Drug Administration has warned that dietary supplements of the root could lead to severe liver injuries. For now, King Kava operates out of the Organic Food Incubator in Long Island City, brewing and bottling the teas twice a month. Michael Schwartz, who runs the incubator, said he expects the company will do well. “They have a really nice niche that nobody else is doing,” Schwartz said. The teas aren’t flying off the shelves of upscale groceries like Whole Foods and Foragers in Brooklyn — but they are doing well. “We just sell more and more,” said Andrew Kinczyk, manager of Foragers. By Clare Trapasso / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Posted on: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 23:20:01 +0000