By day, Brooklyn Kava is like any Brooklyn cafe. A flood of commuters leaving Bushwick in the morning stops in for coffee, and the rush ebbs and flows throughout the day with a diverse set of artists, students, and workers between shifts.

But around the time most cafes begin to close and evening crowds flock to nearby bars, the clientele at Brooklyn Kava moves from stimulant seekers to a crowd with different appetites. The cafe stays open well into the night, where soft music plays and the beverage of choice is kava, a drink from the South Pacific known for its mild calming effects.

While kava bars have been common in Hawaii and parts of southern Florida since the early 2000s, New York didn’t have a kava bar until 2015. Since then, growth has been rapid.

“It’s blown up — just through word of mouth it really took off faster than we expected,” said Harding Stowe, a founder of Brooklyn Kava. “I think people can really use it in New York, almost more than they need it over there. There are so many people here that are overworked and just stressed.”