Name: Kava
Total time: 5 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 45 ml Light white rum; 15 ml Light gold rum 1-3yo; 30 ml Pineapple juice; 30 ml Lemon juice; 7.5 ml Sugar syrup (2:1); 7.5 ml Grenadine syrup

Kava
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Photographed in an Urban Bar Freddo Highball

Ingredients:
1 ¹⁄₂ oz	Light white rum (charcoal-filtered 1-4 years old)
¹⁄₂ oz	Light gold rum (1-3 year old molasses column)
1 oz	Pineapple juice
1 oz	Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₄ oz	Monin Pure Cane Syrup (65.0°brix, equivalent to 2:1 rich syrup)
¹⁄₄ oz	Monin Grenadine Syrup

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Collins glass.
Prepare garnish of pineapple wedge skewered with Luxardo Maraschino Cherry.
SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
STRAIN into glass filled with crushed ice.
Garnish with pineapple wedge on rim skewered with maraschino cherry.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

A wonderfully fruity and kitsch Tiki cocktail.

View readers' comments

Variant:

Multiply ingredients by a factor of four to make a Kava Bowl and serve in ice-filled Tiki bowl.

History:

Adapted from a recipe featured in Jeff Berry's 'Intoxica' and originally created circa 1942 by Trader Vic.

KAVA BOWL
2 ounces unsweetened pineapple juice
4 ounces lemon juice
1 ounce grenadine
1 ounce orgeat syrup
1 ounce Siegert's Bouquet rum
6 ounces light Puerto Rican rum
3 scoops shaved ice
1 fresh gardenia
Blend all ingredients except gardenia in electric drink blender. Pour into large scorpion bowl. Decorate with gardenia. Serve with long straws.
Victor Bergeron, Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide, 1972

More cocktails by Victor Bergeron A.K.A Trader Vic

Nutrition:

One serving of Kava contains 193 calories

Alcohol content:

1.3 standard drinks
13.07% alc./vol. (13.07° proof)
17.6 grams of pure alcohol

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Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Showing 8 comments for Kava.
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Caspian Berggren

23rd February at 21:07

I replaced a third of the simple with grenadine, and added a dash of Angostura, and I think it was entirely the right choice. It's a really fun, delicious Tiki-drink, without being too complicated to make. Make sure you use some flavorful rum though, just Bacardi Blanca and Havana 3 won't cut it this time.

Simon Sedgley

3rd October 2024 at 06:55

Lovely...we added 10ml Plantation Xaymaca...for a bit of depth.

Matt

1st August 2024 at 02:04

Tasty and straight-forward. Mine wasn't as pink as the pic - I think I'll add more grenadine next time and boost up the color (and fruitiness!) I may go for a bit more funky rum than the gold to add some interest there.

Yorey C

14th May 2024 at 09:06

too tangy and sweet for me

Chris Dimal

25th April 2024 at 18:26

What a balanced but simple tropical cocktail! The pineapple and the grenadine of course have a wonderful fruitiness. By using Plantation 3 Stars and Havana Club 3, there was this mix of the slightest estery fruit with that oxidised Muscovado goodness of the Havana Club 3, though I think either one will work as well. Tangy lemon seals the deal.

C.A. Mat

9th February 2024 at 01:15

I really enjoyed this as written. To be fair, I like most tiki drinks, but this one in particular is not too sweet or too boozy. The lemon is fairly pronounced (which is a nice change, as it's so often a supporting player) and the lemon-pineapple pairing is very pleasant.

Luke Corby-Owen

14th October 2023 at 17:41

I increased the rum levels and boom, just right. Also kava is also an alcoholic beverage from Fiji, which is illegal in the UK (sadly).

John Hinojos

9th May 2023 at 01:33

As a tiki drink this is outstanding. Did cut back the sugar syrup by 1/2 and the sweetness level was perfect. All will depend on the sweetness of your pineapple juice. Went perfect with a hot, spicy dinner. Aloha.