A New York kava company built out of a village kava ceremony on the south coast of Fiji.
Leilo began with a trip. In 2018 its founder, Sol, traveled to the south coast of Fiji and befriended a local named Benji, who introduced him to his family and to the village elders and gathered everyone for a traditional kava ceremony. They mixed from a centuries-old turtle-shell bowl, sipped from coconut shells, and spent hours drinking kava and telling stories.
Sol and Benji stayed in touch after he went home, talking about sharing kava beyond the South Pacific. Several years of research and development followed, and another trip to Fiji, before the first Leilo prototype existed.
What came of it is a canned kava drink in six flavors, from a dry lime and ginger through to a sweeter blackberry and orange. The company is Leilo Inc., and the cans are made for it in New York.
