Da Kine's Kava

Da Kine's Kava is the only fully alcohol-free bar in Durham and one of a handful in the Raleigh-Durham metro. It sits in a unit on West Chapel Hill Street just west of downtown, in the Burch Avenue neighbourhood, and keeps hours that no coffee shop does — noon to midnight, seven days a week — which is the whole point. The bar exists so that there is somewhere to go at ten on a Friday night that is not a bar serving alcohol.

The house drink is kava, and it is worth being plain about what that is: kava is a root from the South Pacific, traditionally ground and steeped in water and served in a coconut shell, drunk for a calming, sociable effect. It is not alcohol and contains none, but it is psychoactive in its own mild way, and it is not for everyone — people on medication, pregnant, or with liver concerns should talk to a doctor first. If you are avoiding alcohol specifically, kava is a genuine alternative; if you are avoiding all mood-altering drinks, this is not the room for you, and the Triangle's cocktail bars below will serve you better.

The printed menu, read in September 2026, splits into kava bar classics, drinks on tap and mocktails. Traditional Kava is ground Noble Vanuatu root blended with water, six dollars for a shell and ten for the larger pour. The same kava extract goes into DK Kava, the flagship on tap, mixed with juices in a rotating seasonal flavour or a low-sugar Mai Tai, and into a sparkling version. Grab The Bull adds coconut milk and a second measure of kava, and the Haleakala Sunrise is the straightforward mocktail: guava, pineapple, lime and coconut with a strawberry drizzle, finished with whichever base you choose.

The rest of the list is where reading matters. Kratom — a plant in the coffee family with effects of its own, sold here as a house Indo tea and in drinks called Peaceful Warrior and Nitro Blast — and hemp drinks carrying CBD and Delta-9 THC share the same menu, each labelled, with the bar's own notes on dosage and the chance of a positive drug screen. None of it is alcohol, but a reader avoiding every intoxicant should stick to the traditional kava or the mocktail and say so. Federal rules on hemp-derived THC drinks change in November 2026, so expect that part of the list to move.

The room itself is set up as a lounge — low seating, conversation-height music, no television showing the game — and the crowd skews to students, recovery-community regulars and people who simply want a night out that ends clear-headed. Discover Durham lists it on the city's own non-alcoholic drinks page, which makes it one of the few Triangle venues whose alcohol-free credentials come from the tourism board rather than a blog.