Last Friday Harding Stowe, the owner of Brooklyn Kava, stopped by the Gizmodo offices to offer us a sample of kava tea—a tea so potently relaxing people have been said to have driven off roads after drinking it.

I didn’t drive off a road, but I did forget to file my story!

It was a little unnerving being a white woman and being introduced to kava tea by a white man, because historically, it is not a white people drink. Kava tea is a popular drink consumed throughout Oceania, and a cash crop in Fiji (Brooklyn Kava gets its tea from there). In some countries, like Tonga and Samoa, it has cultural importance outside of its mind-altering qualities. While in other nations, like Fiji, it’s just really damn popular.

In the US it’s gaining ground because the government hasn’t banned it and because one bitter cupful will get you really stoned.