Ben McQueen’s Karuna Kava: Building Community Through a New Beverage Culture

Ben McQueen has shaped Karuna Kava‘s mission to create places where people can gather, stay present, and share an experience that encourages genuine connection. His vision reaches beyond the drink itself, drawing from tradition and personal history to build environments that support conversation and a sense of belonging.

His path toward founding Karuna Kava grew out of lived experience. Raised in Indiana, McQueen’s early years included challenges that influenced his relationship with alcohol. Later, during a period of homelessness, daily survival became his main focus. While living in a sober home during a transitional phase, he tried kava for the first time. That moment shifted his perspective. “I once thought I needed a substitute,” he says. “But I came to understand that what I was searching for was connection.”

This insight began shaping both his personal direction and his work. Over time, moments of progress and reflection helped form a philosophy grounded in compassion and self-awareness. He emphasizes the importance of meeting oneself with understanding and recognizing that growth often comes through patience and continued effort.

Karuna Kava grew from these insights, with karuṇā being the Sanskrit word for compassion. In the beginning, McQueen introduced kava to others at local markets, sometimes serving it from his car. Those early interactions formed the base of a business that expanded through conversation, curiosity, and shared experience. Today, the brand continues to develop while holding onto its original spirit as a community-led effort. It produces kava-based, non-alcoholic beverages designed to support social interaction in settings that emphasize presence and clear-minded engagement.

Kava itself has a long cultural presence in the South Pacific, where it is an important traditional, ceremonial, and cash crop in island nations such as Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Samoa, and parts of Micronesia. Made from the roots and stem bases of the Piper methysticum plant, it is prepared by mixing ground or masticated plant material with water to produce a non-alcoholic social beverage. “Kava shows up in ceremonies, social gatherings, and even political moments,” McQueen shares. “It helps people relax, talk things through, and feel more connected to one another.”

McQueen treats this heritage with respect. He notes that his role is to share an existing tradition in a way that honors its origins. “This is something I was fortunate enough to be introduced to, and I feel a responsibility to share it thoughtfully,” he says. His goal is to introduce kava into new social settings while preserving its essence as a connector of people.

This becomes especially clear in the environments Karuna Kava aims to create. McQueen acknowledges that many modern social spaces revolve around alcohol, shaping how people interact. He offers an alternative: places where people can gather, talk, and stay fully present. “There’s a different kind of energy when people sit together with kava,” he says. “It creates room for honesty and connection.”

His work also touches on broader ideas about human behavior and well-being. McQueen observes that many struggle with dependencies that stem from isolation or a desire to escape difficult emotions. His perspective shifts the focus toward connection. “Connection is the cure,” he says. In his view, kava is a tool that may support interaction, but the deeper impact comes from the relationships and community that form around it.

Karuna Kava’s growth reflects this philosophy. As the brand expands its product line across the US, as well as its social spaces, its focus remains on creating environments where people feel welcomed and valued. McQueen stays involved in this process, engaging directly with customers and participating in the community that has formed around the product. “I never wanted to be removed from the people we serve,” he says. “Being present with them is part of the purpose.”

His long-term goals build on this foundation. He envisions spaces that encourage accountability, compassion, and shared experience, places where people can gather without pressure and explore connection authentically. Education is also part of this vision, especially in helping people understand kava’s origins and its role in bringing communities together across cultures.

Ben McQueen’s journey and Karuna Kava‘s development reflect the idea that meaningful change often begins with small, intentional moments of connection. Through a beverage rooted in tradition and a philosophy shaped by experience, he aims to invite others into spaces where presence and community can grow.