Vanuatu
In Vanuatu, kava is traditionally drunk at night in a place called a nakamal. Nakamals are village club houses and in many areas are open only to men. Kava is normally drunk from an empty coconut shell.
In urban areas of Vanuatu there are large numbers of kava bars, which are open to both men and women. The availability of kava is signalled by a lantern at the entrance, and many kava bars are identified by the colour of their light. In these bars, kava is generally served in plastic or glass bowls instead of coconut shells.
In all these venues the emphasis is more on recreational purposes and socializing than on the spiritual or medicinal qualities of kava consumption.
In northern and central Vanuatu, kava roots are traditionally ground using hand-held stone grinders, while in southern Vanuatu the traditional method of preparation involves chewing the roots then spitting the resulting paste into a container. Nowadays these methods of preparation are increasingly being replaced by rams (in which kava is pounded in a section of pipe), meat-mincers, and mechanical grinders. After grinding the kava is mixed with water and sieved before serving.
The residue from kava preparation, known as makas (a Bislama term derived from from megasse "sugar cane residue"), may be re-used to prepare additional batches of the drink, although these are much weaker than the original batch.
Read more about this topic: Kava Culture