OVER 21 million Americans are drinking kava today according to US-based Kava Coalition.
And most of them are in the high end economic bracket who will not mind to pay more for a shell of kava at any of the 500 or so kava bars across the United States.
“I’m happy that it’s not 32per cent,” newly appointed executive director of the Kava Coalition Douglas La Rose said of the new tariff levied by President Trump on Fiji.
“I heard it was 32 per cent then they put it down to 10 per cent. We did a survey recently on kava drinkers in the US and most kava drinkers in the US are in the high end economic status, so I believe that they would have still bought the same amount of kava even if prices went up by 10 per cent or even 20 per cent,” Mr La Rose said in an interview this week with The Fiji Times.
On average, a shell of kava is about $US7 ($F16), Mr La Rose said, and kava drinkers typically consumer four a five shells when they stop by for a drink.
He said their survey also showed the number of people drinking kava in America, where the number of kava bars has grown to around 500 – most of them in Florida – since the first kava bar was set up in Boca Raton in 2002.
“We recently did a survey and you will be amazed that there are over 21million kava drinkers in the US,” he said.
“These are people who have gone through kava bars, people who have gone online to search for something that will help them relax and they find kava, so people come to kava in different ways and now, over 21m people in America are drinking.”
Americans, he said, are beginning to discover the benefits of kava and as a soothing, pro-social drink that they can have with friends at kava bars or at home with their families.
“It’s a healthy way to relax at the end of the day without having any risks to your health and instead of going to a bar to have a beer, people can drink kava and not have to take drugs or alcohol.
“So it’s a very good way to improve your life and be healthy and to wind down at the end of the day because as you know, a lot of Americans are very stressed out at the end of the day about a lot of things so, as the stress level goes up, so does the kava consumption,” Mr La Rose said.
Kava Coalition is an alliance of kava consumers, experts, and industry leaders in the US committed to advancing kava education, advocacy and choice.
Note: This article was first published on the print version of the Fiji Times dated April 19, 2025