Avoid Buying This Kava Drink Brand At All Costs

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

It can be tough to find a good mocktail that delivers on all fronts. Some are too sweet, others too boring, and you never really feel any of the calming effects that alcohol usually provides. But there is one drink that can help relax your muscles, lift your spirits, and soothe your mind: kava. You might have come across the traditional drink if you've visited the Pacific islands, where it's utilized for ceremonial, medicinal, and social purposes, and it's slowly making its way to the US as a canned seltzer drink. We tested out six kava drink brands to see what they were like, and while some struck just the right notes, one fell completely flat: DaHonu Life.

The inspiration for DaHonu Life came from the family of its founder, Tuni Rafaele, who promises a new kind of functional drink that will promote stress relief and "island ease", as the company's website puts it. Unfortunately, our tester struggled to reach that stage, as she disliked the drink so much that she could barely get through a can. She tried all three of DaHonu's flavors, and the only one that was slightly bearable was the Fuji apple. The cola flavor had a bitter aftertaste, and the only way she could describe the tropical flavor was to compare it to the smell of sweat.

Kava is usually made by grinding the roots of the kava plant and steeping them in water, so it has quite an earthy taste. Most of the canned beverages we tested have figured out how to balance out that flavor, but DaHonu Life just missed the mark. There isn't too much chatter about the drink online yet, as it was only released this year, but it does seem that there are others, too, who have failed to finish it.

A pair of YouTubers, who run the page Kava and Kettlebells, reviewed all three of the flavors in a video, but one host said the Fuji apple was "too sweet" for her to have in one go. They also didn't love the inclusion of sucralose in the ingredients list, due to its strong taste. However, they did enjoy the cola flavor. 

Some Amazon shoppers have left five-star reviews for the Fuji Apple online. "Apple is my favorite for sure," one person said. Someone who left a review for the tropical flavor, meanwhile, wrote, "Too sweet for me. Whatever they are using as a no-carb sugar substitute is sweeter tasting than table sugar." The one thing the drinks have going for them is that you can feel the relaxing effects, but our tester didn't think it was worth it. It would be better to try a brand like Leilo, our top pick, instead, or go to a non-alcoholic kava bar to get your fix.