Kava and Kratom Find a Place in the Coffee World: Part Two

We conclude our series exploring the rise of kava and kratom in the coffee industry, with a focus on how to source and serve ethically.

BY MELINA DEVONEY
FOR BARISTA MAGAZINE

Featured photo courtesy of Kava Kulture Los Angeles

Last week, we released part one of this article series, where we discussed what kava and kratom are and why they’re gaining popularity across the specialty-coffee community. Today, we’ll explore the two plants more in-depth and discuss how to ethically source kava and kratom.

In the last five years, curiosity around kava and kratom has expanded exponentially in Western culture as more people seek wellness and alternatives to alcohol and caffeine. Many smoke shops are stocking a proliferation of kava and/or kratom beverages, powders, tinctures, and pills. RTD kratom and/or kava, like New Brew (kava + kratom) and Melo (kava), are taking over increasingly more grocery shelves in Los Angeles, pushing out RTD coffee and functional drinks.

Kava bars serve kava and sometimes—not always—kratom. These shops are sparse in the United States and mostly concentrated in California, Florida, Colorado, and Arizona. Hybrid cafés that serve coffee plus one or both of the distinct plants are on the rise.

Julia Brensel opened the KavaGator coffee shop in Gainesville, Fla., in 2021. She remembers a decade ago when Florida had fewer than 10 kava bars. Now there are over 100.

In the beginning, Gainesville residents were largely unaware of kava and kratom. “I had to explain, sometimes 50 times a day, what is kava? What is kratom?” Julia says. But now, “Kava and kratom bars are popping up like mushrooms after the rain here.”

As Westerners are in the early stages of this kratom and kava bloom, it’s critical to respect the differences between the two plants, as a lack of consumer education has already left room for major confusion. However, experts in the kava or kratom realms are passionate about sharing their insight on how to produce and serve these beverages masterfully.

Amping up Café Menus with Kava and Kratom

Kava and kratom teas provide a base for drinks with fruity and tropical flavor and color palettes that are not always possible with espresso drinks. “Adding kava to a café menu is a great way to stand out by offering a functional, plant-based beverage,” says Linda Ghazarian, manager at Kava Kulture in Los Angeles.

Kava Kulture prepares kava using the traditional method and serves it straight, with added flavors, and as signature drinks such as the Kavatini—an espresso martini that substitutes kava for alcohol—and the Build-Your-Own Kava latte. Linda says both are perfect introductory drinks for those new to kava.

“Like trying matcha or kombucha for the first time, it’s an acquired taste, but people tend to grow into it and start enjoying the experience,” she adds.

“Coffee amps you up. Kava slows you down. Together, they create this unique, focused calm. It’s great for creative work or intentional conversation,” says Jacob Saldaña, co-founder of Mohawk Wellness Collective in Los Angeles. He suggests a kava latte that combines “strong cold brew or espresso with traditionally brewed kava and a little floral syrup to balance the bitterness.”

Aaron Moeller farms and sells Hawai’i Kratom products at his shop, Awa Hale, in Kauai. He says just one gram or teaspoon of kratom powder in his coffee gives him many more hours of energy from much less coffee.

Serving kava and kratom can also help cafés stretch their profitable hours later into the evenings, when customers are looking to wind down and connect, without going the alcohol route. Julia’s original idea was “coffee shop in the morning, kava bar by night,” she says. But KavaGator customers turned out to drink kratom and kava in the mornings, too, sometimes replacing coffee.

Still, the evening kava service is lively. Julia notes that kava bars fuse the fun vibes of a typical bar with the calm, social vibe of a coffee shop—without the dangers of alcohol. “The difference between the atmosphere at the kava bar and the alcohol bar is like day and night,” she says.

The Future of Kava and Kratom in Coffee Shops

Divorcing the culture of kava and kratom from their consumption is not only misappropriation, but dangerous. How gracefully retailers tackle the legal, health, agricultural, and cultural considerations will make or break the success of these two plants. Having been banned across many decades and societies before becoming one of the world’s most popular beverages, coffee may foreshadow a parallel journey for kratom and kava.

Kava’s history of adversity includes misinformation that still plagues its reputation today. A kava ban swept across Europe in 2002 when pharmaceutical studies concluded that certain kavalactones, when isolated, caused liver damage and death. Because kavalactone extracts are not true kava (just as caffeine pills are not brewed coffee), the study was debunked, and the ban was lifted 12 years later. Almost all of the liver toxicity cases involved the co-ingestion of kava with medications or other substances. Liver toxicity has been extremely rare throughout the history of traditional kava drinking.

Kava is still illegal to sell in the United Kingdom. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization recognized kava as safe in 2020, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) labels kava as “unapproved” and “unsafe,” citing decades-old claims of liver damage. Hawaiian kava growers are rallying the FDA to recognize kava as safe and lift its heavy market restrictions. Prepare for roadblocks when selling kava, advises Ava Taesali—founder of Kava Queen in Hawai’i—as some online marketplaces and banks refuse to deal with it.

The historical legality of kratom is fraught with a similar theme of misunderstanding. However, the FDA classifies kratom as a “new dietary ingredient,” essentially a supplement. Selling kratom remains legal and largely unregulated; the FDA is only going after those who market kratom with unapproved medical claims. Some states have enacted the Kratom Consumer Protection Act, which requires kratom vendors to comply with good manufacturing practices, proper labeling, age restrictions, and prove no adulteration or use of synthesized kratom alkaloids.

Six states and several cities have banned kratom and extracts of its active compounds, and more are considering such regulations. The uncertain future and murky regulatory status have left some shop owners who sell kava and/or kratom products feeling constantly on edge.

“As (kratom) grows and becomes more prevalent, there’s going to be growth, and regulations kind of go hand in hand together,” Julia says. She hopes the kratom market thrives, and that federal and local governments don’t get in the way.

Source and Serve Ethically

It cannot be overstated how important it is to buy lab-tested kava and kratom from trusted and transparent sellers. Avoid adulterated or highly concentrated kava and kratom products that can contain elevated and potentially harmful levels of their active compounds. Even the Vanuatu government has expressed concern about the Western consumption of kava extracts.

It’s ideal to support businesses owned by natives of kava and kratom’s growing regions, who source from farmers who honor traditional and sustainable farming methods. Essentially, sourcing kratom and kava should adhere to the same trade and environmental standards we prize in specialty coffee.

For kava, source only strains in the noble class, as high concentrations of specific kavalactones in varieties of the tudei class can cause nausea and lethargy. For kratom, a good resource is the American Kratom Association, which regulates kratom vendors and ensures good manufacturing practices.

Offering kava and kratom comes with responsibility. Many customers will be unfamiliar with these plants, so it’s imperative that cafés educate customers and serve with care, especially because kava and kratom’s ability to enhance the effects of caffeine may be uncomfortable for some people.

“If a café doesn’t have the staff or time to introduce it properly, it could lead to confusion or misuse and not reflect the true cultural significance of this traditional drink,” Linda says about kava. In this regard, she believes that kava bars serving coffee, rather than fast-paced cafés serving kava and kratom, would be most successful.

KavaGator’s strategy is to avoid posting a menu, which, Julia says, encourages customers to engage in a conversation with employees about which plants will help them achieve their desired drinking experience. KavaGator also offers informational booklets and a flow chart of the effects of each plant at the register.

Ava advises serving kava only the traditional way: extracting it with water or coconut water to achieve maximum enjoyment and benefit. “A plant is best used the way it always has been. It doesn’t need to be altered or changed,” Ava says. “Kava is here on Earth to help us relax and connect with each other and have good conversations. Try to immerse yourself and enjoy it and just don’t use it to get (f-ed) up.”

Time and time again, Ava has heard people confuse and conflate kratom with kava, and report negative side effects caused by inappropriately mixing the two, or overconsuming kratom. “Kava shouldn’t make you nauseous. It shouldn’t make you sick. Anytime people have a kava experience like this, it means that somebody did it the wrong way,” Ava says.

With kratom, less is more. In Aaron’s opinion, no benefit is gained from more than one teaspoon of kratom a day. “I hear stories about kava bars around the country who haven’t got this memo,” Aaron says. Serving drinks with large doses of kratom and encouraging customers to order many drinks in one visit is, he says, “a recipe for disaster.”

Aaron only recommends consuming kava and kratom together when the server and/or the consumer has a deep understanding of the process as well as good intentions. “They (kava and kratom) are both kings in their own right, and when you have two kings trying to get along, there are challenges,” he warns.

Another Wellness Trend or a Western Awakening?

The general consensus among these interviewees is that the U.S. will continue to see kava offered more alongside coffee and tea. “People are always looking for places where they can work or hang out without overdoing it on caffeine. Kava provides that calming alternative, and the more people learn about it, the more it’ll grow,” Linda says.

While kava is becoming a hot topic in the global wellness conversation, Jacob believes that kava will never entirely go mainstream. He expects to see more kava-forward lounges and hybrid cafés in the next few years, but he’s quick to affirm that kava is much more than a trend.

“Brewing kava traditionally takes time, and sourcing at scale has its challenges,” Jacob says. “When it’s prepared with intention and served in the right environment, it becomes a tool for transformation.”

As for kratom, neither supply nor demand is a problem, but according to Aaron, the education around it is. Add to that the fact that its sale falls into a legal gray area, potentially delaying its journey into the café scene.

This article originally appeared in the August + September 2025 issue of Barista Magazine. Read more of the issue online here for free.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Melina Devoney (she/her) is a barista and freelance writer in Los Angeles zeroed in on coffee and agriculture. She aims to amplify the voices of farmers and a diversity of perspectives within the coffee industry, and she’s happiest when running on wooded trails and dancing at concerts.

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