Wide Shot of Sani and Rutha pouring the water onto the kava powder and into the bowl and squeezing it.
OK Sani now that we have the kava powder in the bag what do we do next?
Alright Rutha, this is the part where we try to replicate what happens when you prepare fresh kava. First of all you pour the water over the straining cloth holding the kava, allowing the water to seep through the bag
Fade out of Wide Shot .......
Sure Rutha
Wide Shot to CU of Rutha reaching over to the jug and gradually pours out half of the water over the kava powder straining bag and into the bowl.
Let me try that Sani
It's important to remember that because we are only preparing half the bag first of all, you are only going to use half the water. If you are a bit confused over the water amounts that are best, never fear as we shall give a full breakdown of this at the end of the video.
Fade into Wide Shot of Rutha and Sani at the table after the water has been poured
Sani – you mentioned that some people also add lecithin or dairy products to help increase the strength of the kava juice at this stage.
Close-Up of Rutha
Yes - you're right again, Rutha and while we don’t advise against this practice, as a Vanuatu kava purist, I personally don’t use it. Still, this is the time you would put in those sort of additives which claim to help release the lactones.
Close-Up of Sani
OK So this is the most critical part of the preparation process. You need to tie up or hold together the ends of the straining bag.
Wide Shot of Sani and Rutha around the table
Medium Close-up of Sani with tied straining cloth
Medium Close-up, downward angle, of Sani squeezing straining cloth and juice running into kava bowl
Alright Rutha, this is where you get to test your muscles. Seriously though, it's easy enough to do. You just squeeze the tied-off bag as hard as you can to extract the kava juice.
Medium Close-up, downward angle, of Sani squeezing and re-squeezing the straining cloth over the bowl
Now Rutha it is REALLY IMPORTANT that you repeat this process 4 or 5 times for about 15 minutes as this helps to make sure that you extract the maximum amount of lactones.
Fade in to Medium Close-up of Sani and Rutha
That's because it IS easy, Rutha!
You make it look easy, Sani!
Maintain Medium Close-up of Sani and Rutha
The kava is now ready for drinking Rutha and we have made enough for 10 serves