Lumin Earth Apothecary owner, Sierra Mace, shakes up one of her new kava elixirs during her recent kava bar launch party. Submitted photo
If you’re looking for a way to socialize but not get toasted, a local apothecary store might have just the ticket for you.
Lumin Earth Apothecary, located in the Circle Inn building at 875 Main St. (corner of Harbor Street) in Downtown Morro Bay, recently debuted a new offering — drinks made with kava juice.
Kava is derived from the roots of the kava plant and native to the South Pacific Islands, where the natives have forever used it as a ceremonial drink.
Store owner, Sierra Mace, said it’s a great drink for people today who want to socialize but are turning away from alcohol.
“It alcohol-free,” she said of kava juice. “There’re a lot of people here that are looking for sober night life.”
In her work as an herbalist, she’s developed some tasty drinks with the kava, which she sources from the South Pacific Island Nation of Vanuatu, a volcanic archipelago, and from Hawaii.
Normally one would find kava root in a health food store, and it comes in a form ready for brewing into a tea. But her kava is juiced and ready to mix with a variety of tropical fruit juices into tasty alcohol-free elixirs.
Submitted photo
The kava drinks compliment the store’s other offerings, which include healing crystals, house plants, and herbal teas and tinctures that Mace creates herself and designed to address different ailments that people might have.
Their store caters to spiritual folks who subscribe to the whole organic-herbal-holistic healing way of life.
And now, she’s added kava drinks to her menu, again looking to fill a demand that’s growing among young adults.
And don’t call it a “mock-tail” — a traditional cocktail like a Piña Colada or Margarita but without the hooch. Kava is a medicinal herb, Mace said, and her drinks are “crafted elixirs.”
That’s not to say it has zero effects on the body.
“Your whole body feels relaxed,” Mace said. At a recent launch party she said, “It was the coolest thing to witness from behind the bar.”
“It’s a social lubricant without the poison” of alcohol.
She said it tastes “earthy but not gritty.” And like some alcohols such as vodka or rum, kava mixes well with a lot of different flavors.
She’s created a menu of several kava elixirs with names like Passion Fire, Guava Calm, Lychee Rose, and Cacao Spice, which is one of several drinks served hot. She can also serve the drinks in a coconut half shell making it a little more tropical and fun.
Or you can choose from a list of ingredients and make up your own kava elixir and choose how strong it is — single or double shots.
Lumin Earth’s kava bar is open Fridays and Saturdays from 5-7 p.m. Their herbal teas and other apothecary tinctures and lotions are available during the store’s regular hours, Mondays and Wednesdays-Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. They are closed on Tuesdays.
Lumin Earth has an online store, see: www.luminearthapothecary.com. They are also on Instagram:: @luminearth.apothecary.
Mace said she can relate with folks who want to get away from the old way of socializing with alcohol, as she’s been sober for several years now.
Her elixirs “are deliciously amazing,” she said, “and make you feel so good.”
