Our Story
My grandfather, Mr Ram Karan, started selling kava in the early 1960s. He had a stall at Suva market and another at Nausori, and he sold it the way kava had always been sold in Fiji — across a table, to people he knew, who came back because the quality was right.
The business still carries his name: Ram Karan Kava Dealers.
From a market stall to an exporter
After my grandfather passed away, his younger son Sunil Karan took the business on. What had been two market stalls became an operation shipping Fijian kava around the world.
In 2019 it won the Premier Medium Business Operating Internationally Award at Fiji's Prime Minister's International Business Awards, organised by Investment Fiji. It is Fiji's most prestigious business award, and it went to something my grandfather started with a table at Nausori market.
Where our kava comes from
We source from Kadavu, Gau, Savusavu and Rabi Islands.
Those names mean something to anyone who drinks kava. Kadavu's reputation needs no explaining. Gau sits in the Lomaiviti group, Savusavu on the south coast of Vanua Levu, and Rabi off its eastern end — each with its own soil, its own growers, its own character in the cup.
Sixty years of dealing with the same islands and the same families means we know what we are getting before it is out of the ground. That is not a sourcing strategy we wrote for a website. It is just how the business has always worked.
100% waka
Our kava is 100% waka — the lateral root. It is the most sought-after part of the plant and the most work to harvest, which is why a great deal of kava on the market is blended with lewena, the cheaper basal stump.
Ours is not. Nothing is added to make up the weight. Average root age is around three and a half years, traditional grind, earthy and peppery.
Why Australia
We had been exporting around the world for years while Australia kept restrictions on commercial kava imports in place. Fijian families here went without, paid too much, or waited for someone to bring a bag back in a suitcase.
When Australia reopened commercial importation, we started Karan's Kava. It never made sense that the country with so many Fijian families in it was among the hardest places to get good Fijian kava.
What this means for you
Most kava sellers buy from a supplier. Some partner with growers. We are the family that makes it — my uncle runs the business in Fiji, I run the Australian side, and there is nobody in between taking a cut or blending it down.
If you want to know which island a batch came from, or how best to prepare it, ask us. We can actually answer.
Get in touch
Email sales@karanskava.com.
For wholesale — clubs, churches, community groups, retailers, or regular standing orders — use the same address and we will quote you properly.
Vinaka.