Kava Expresso Machine

Abstract

Kava (Piper methysticum Forst F.), ‘awa in the Hawaiian language, has been utilized by the people of the South Pacific Islands, in particular Fiji, Vanuatu, Tonga, and Samoa for thousands of years during social and ceremonial occasions to promote a state of relaxation. Kava is currently consumed as an anxiolytic by many outside of these regions. This results in a market for a means to produce kava beverages without the need for manual mixing and straining techniques. To this end, design parameters including particle size, energy for size reduction, degree of saturation, and dewatering pressure were determined experimentally. A prototype was fabricated based on these parameters using a dual impeller mixing chamber and air filtration, according to FDA and 3A sanitary standards.