Our Today unexpectedly journeyed to the suburban city of Ocho Rios to take up a long-standing invitation by Kaya Herb House on Friday (April 30), and it was no surprise that the words of Balram Vaswani stood tall.

The dispensary is located in the fast-developing area of Drax Hall.

The Ochi location, as Jamaicans would say, is the flagship location of Kaya, which first opened in March 2018.

The Drax Hall location is designed with a warm, welcoming, rustic aura that invites you in without a second thought.

The first thought on approaching the steps of Kaya wasn’t to explore the different products they had to offer, it was of the fresh, authentic Italian aroma that hit and directed me along the path to the left of the porch of Kaya Herb where there is a pizza bar- the Kaya Pizza – which I was sure to try before I left.

Not to be overlooked were the safety precautions that were set up for visiting patrons – a security guard, fully masked, beside an automated machine that checks your temperature and dispenses sanitiser at the same time.

Each employee was also fully masked, as required under COVID-19 protocols.

The tables were constantly being wiped down (as Jamaicans would say, ‘as mi fly, yuh pitch’.

At the front access to the porch of Kaya there is a bar named Square
Grouper. The name is inspired by bags of weed being dropped via plane out by the Florida coast and they were called the square groupers due to the fact that they were floating in the sea.

Inside the airy, spacious dispensary, each product is advertised in a transparent glass frame and again the theme from outside is extended inside, giving off a ‘rustic’ vibe.

The place is extremely chill!

The products at the Drax Hall location are the same commodities featured island wide, i.e.
– products from Kaya-branded merchandise to medical buds and concentrates, topical products and well…. FOOD, music, a great lounge area with a visually appealing wall.

A great space to inspire, invoke and rejuvenate creativity!
I think it’s time for pizza!

#RespectTheRoots