Preparing ʻAwa — Pounding, Steeping and Straining

ʻAwa, the root of Piper methysticum, travelled into the Pacific with the Polynesian voyagers who settled Hawaiʻi, a settlement dated by current radiocarbon work to about 1000–1200 CE. It belongs to the great Pacific tradition of the ceremonial root drink, shared with Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and the Marquesas, where it is called kava or ʻava. In Hawaiʻi the tradition prepared it for ritual and for gatherings of rank. The method is the same in outline across the islands: the root is broken down, mixed with water, strained and served in a cup.

The drink is made from the root of ʻawa, Piper methysticum, used dried and ground or fresh and pounded, with water and a straining cloth. In the Pacific tradition the cloth was hibiscus bark fibre, the serving bowl a carved wooden tanoa and the cup a polished coconut shell, the bilo. The root is reduced by pounding to a coarse fibrous mass, steeped in cool water, then wrung through the cloth until the liquid runs cloudy, pale and muddy-grey to brown. It is served at room temperature and drunk at once. The liquid is earthy and peppery, and it leaves the lips and tongue numbed; it is an acquired taste that grows familiar with use.

ʻAwa is drunk on its own, in a ceremonial setting, and is not paired with food in the way a wine is. In the wider Pacific tradition it is taken before a meal or after it, and the clean, plain food of the table, such as baked root and fish, sits alongside it. The structural reason is that the drink is earthy, peppery and numbing, so it carries no sweetness or acidity to be matched and is best set against mild, unseasoned food. Nothing sweet or sharp is taken with the cup, so that the flavour of the root is not confused.