Vanuatu Kava Bar, North Carolina’s first, has reopened at 15 Eagle Street after closing their old location in late December of last year. In addition to a change of location, numerous other changes are afoot for the local business including lower prices, new and stronger drink offerings, an even more laid-back atmosphere, longer hours, and a vegetarian-based menu for lunch.

Back in Asheville from a trip to Vanuatu, Andrew Procyk, who co-owns the business with his wife Keely Flow, is looking forward to implementing his new inspirations. “While experiencing fresh kava in Vanuatu, I had a breakthrough about its potential. The connections I made there have now allowed us to achieve that potential, and drop our per-drink prices at the same time.”

While he was there, Andrew was featured twice in the Vanuatu Daily Post, once with his picture gracing the cover. “Ni-Vans (Native Vanuatu) were floored to learn that kava was taking a hold in the U.S. in its traditionally-consumed form. It is a major crop for them, and the U.S. is a huge market, so we are putting a lot of money directly into the villages of the growers by doing what we do, and they are understandably excited about it.”

Vanuatu is one of the archipelago nations of Melanesia, in the South Pacific, just west of Fiji. It is the home of world’s strongest kavas and the likely birthplace of its domestication, boasting 100+ varieties of the root.

“Vanuatu is to kava what France is to fine wine,” as Keely puts it. Native cultures there and throughout the South Pacific have drunk kava for millennia. It is used both for social occasions and religious ceremonies, as the kavalactones, the active constituents, impart euphoria, relaxation and essentially a lovely buzz – one some believe allows them to communicate with their dead ancestors.

In Vanuatu, Procyk met with Dr. Vincent Lebot, one of the most published kava researchers in the world, viewed the growing process on the outer island of Tanna, and met with members of government agencies to discuss the implementation of quality-control for exports.

“They are already essentially fair-trade because of their mandated minimum per-kilo price, and organic by virtue of their purity law. The next step would be to have outgoing shipments tested for chemo types, to verify the cultivar before export. This would not only ensures the product is contaminant free, but would guarantee the specific type/cultivar being exported.”

Meanwhile, down the street at your newly re-opened local kava bar, there are several new ‘Value-Added’ products that have been developed by Vanuatu Kava Bar’s kava source that stand to bring even more money into the less-developed nation. Keely explains, “We have the first water-soluble, water-based extract of kava that can be put into any drink. Pure relaxation with no more rooty taste!” The new menu will be veg-heavy and feature island items as well as seitan gyros and tacos, tempeh sandwiches, at a recession-friendly $5 average price point.

The new location is decorated with handmade pecky Bald Cypress furniture crafted by Procyk, including a 1/2-ton, 12-foot table and benches which are the communal centerpiece of the new bar. An equally massive reinterpretation of Gauguin’s Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? by local artist Anne Marie McAllister will grace the wall. Vanuatu Kava Bar smacks of rustic sophistication, conjuring island relaxation sans umbrella drinks or leis.

“We are really excited about the new space and its potential, and hope to see lots of new faces,” says Keely.

Vanuatu Kava Bar, 15 Eagle St., Asheville, NC 28801
(828) 505-8118, info@vanuatukavabar.comwww.vanuatukavabar.com