Five noble cultivars, two countries, one plant
Every Kavaha product is a single named cultivar of Piper methysticum from Vanuatu or Fiji. This is what is known about each of them from the official registers and published sources: where it is registered, where our batches grow, and which chemotypes have been reported.
Borongoru
(Borogoru)
- Registered for
- Maewo
- Grown on
- Pentecost
- Most cited chemotype
- 243516
Borongoru (spelled Borogoru in the register) is one of the classic noble cultivars of northern Vanuatu. The Kava Act places it on Maewo; the plants our batches come from grow on the neighbouring island of Pentecost, in the same volcanic soils and wet climate.
Root powderMelo Melo
(Melomelo)
- Registered for
- Ambae
- Grown on
- Espiritu Santo
- Most cited chemotype
- 423156
Melo Melo (Melomelo in the register) is among the most widely planted noble cultivars in Vanuatu. The Kava Act records it for Ambae; the material we buy is grown on Espiritu Santo, the country's largest island and its main kava-growing region.
Root powderPalasa
- Registered for
- Espiritu Santo
- Most cited chemotype
- 246531
Palasa is a noble cultivar from Espiritu Santo, listed in the Kava Act alongside Palarasul, its better-known relative from the same island. It is grown mainly for local use, so exports are small and batches are limited.
Root powderPalarasul
- Registered for
- Espiritu Santo
- Most cited chemotype
- 423156
Palarasul is one of the three most planted cultivars on Espiritu Santo and one of the most common kavas in Vanuatu's own nakamals. Nearly all of it is used locally, which is why it appears less often in export catalogues than Borongoru or Melo Melo.
Root powderVula Kasa Leka
- Registered for
- Viti Levu
- Most cited chemotype
- No chemotype published
Vula Kasa Leka is a Fijian noble cultivar from Viti Levu, the country's main island. Fiji classifies its cultivars by plant morphology rather than by chemotype, and this one is recorded by its light green stems with small dark lenticels, short internodes and spreading habit.
Instant powderHow noble kava is grown
Kava (Piper methysticum) does not set viable seed; every plant is a cutting of an older one, which is why cultivars stay stable over generations. Plants are grown in shade at first, then in open plantations, and harvested after three to five years when the root mass has developed. The roots are washed, sun- or shade-dried and milled; our powders are milled from the root only, not from stems or leaves.
What a chemotype is
A chemotype is a six-digit code that orders the six major kavalactones from largest to smallest share: 1 desmethoxyyangonin, 2 dihydrokavain, 3 yangonin, 4 kavain, 5 dihydromethysticin, 6 methysticin. Vanuatu's register uses it to distinguish noble from non-noble cultivars. Published codes for the same cultivar can differ by source, island and plant age.
In the European Union, Kavaha products are sold as natural botanical colorants for external use only.