Kava Kava
Note Profile
About
The root of the kava plant. Peppery first, then earthy and warm, with a soft sweaty note underneath.
Scent Profile
Kava Kava smells peppery first, a mild, spicy root note. Underneath sits an earthy quality, though not a dirty one, since the raw soil smell washes off the cleaned root. It turns warm and rich, almost sweet and sticky, edible-smelling. A soft, sweaty warmth sits low in the background, with the barest trace of green and floral notes at the very edge.
ScentWheel
Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.
ScentArt
Origin
Piper methysticum, a Pacific shrub in the same family as black pepper. The perfumery material is a CO2 extract of the root. Hermitage Oils describes its own kava kava CO2 total as yellow, with "a paste like consistency comparable to a pan of over-cooked lentils". A grower writing on Kava Forums separates the smells by plant part and by stage: a peppery smell from the standing plant, a peppery-plus-dirt smell at harvest, a clean peppery smell once the root is washed, and a spicy-piney smell that belongs only to the leaves and stalks.
Usage in Perfumery
Three Parfumo placements across two brands, and no Fragrantica attestation for this term. Fragrantica publishes a separate Kava Drink note, which is the prepared beverage rather than the extract, and that is not this note. Used as a heart or base accent where a peppery spice needs an earthy, rooty floor rather than a bright one. It is not a substitute for pepper: the pepper is slower and dirtier here.
Similar Notes
Perfumes featuring Kava Kava
A selection of reviewed perfumes where Kava Kava appears prominently.
No perfumes featuring this note have been reviewed yet. Check back soon.