Kavahana

Kavahana opened in February 2024, three blocks from the beach in Santa Monica's Ocean Park, and describes itself as the first kava nectar bar in the country. It comes from Neil Bhatia, whose family has roots in Fiji where kava is the national drink, and Hannah Wilen, who has lived with anxiety for most of her life and began exploring natural remedies about fifteen years ago — a search that led her here. The second half of the name is hers. Wilen is clear about what the room is meant to be, and it is not a bar: they do not want to be a bar and do not want to be a coffee shop either, but a kava nectar bar — somewhere you can sit on the couches and play board games, or sit at the bar, or work and study. An open third space. Her line about the drinks themselves is the sharpest defence of the category anyone has offered: they joke that mocktails are just juice, and kava nectar is something you can actually feel. It opens at eleven most days, ten at weekends, and runs to 1am on Friday and Saturday, with free parking behind and a dog-friendly patio. A second Kavahana opened in Hollywood in 2026.

What it pours is its own house-made kava nectar rather than anyone else's product. The traditional serve, The O.G., is nectar and alkaline water — $9 for a single shell, $13 double, $16 triple, $19 quad, and it is honest about the taste, describing it as the 3,000-year-old way, zero calories, very earthy. The specialty nectars at $14 are where most people start: Paradise with Indian mango, fresh pineapple and lime; Ube Coconut with house coconut foam; Mexican Chocolate with cocoa, oat milk, cinnamon and cayenne; Golden with turmeric, ginger and lemon; and Zenergy, which blends Kona coffee and matcha with the nectar and is served only until 6pm. The Kavahana at $16 arrives as a whole young coconut with a side shot. Lattes run $12 to $14, and there is real food — island ramen, steamed buns, Basque cheesecake, shave ice. On the botanical question: we checked every page and the full online shop and found no kratom under any name, no kanna, no blue lotus, no THC and no CBD. That is partly principle and partly law — California declared kratom illegal to sell for consumption at any age in October 2025. What Kavahana does not publish is any dosage figure, any age policy, or any habit-forming warning; its own guidance is simply to start small and adjust, and its safety article states kava is not considered addictive. Kava is still psychoactive, so treat it accordingly.