Earlier this year, the inimitable Aida Brattle provided a lot of dried coffee cherries from Finca Mauretania Bourbon trees under the name "Cascara." I've seen it sold by Counter Culture and at a few of the cafes in Chicago; but I'm not sure what the current distribution situation is. The brewing instructions are to steep 1 tablespoon in 8 ounces of 200F water for 5 to 7 minutes.

So how does it taste?

Imagine a fruit tea somewhere between cherry and melon, with a hint of lemon and a hint of veal broth, with a hint of sweetness. Imagine something not quite as enjoyable as a fruit juice, but way more interesting and complex. Or more simply, imagine the top end of a very good coffee, without any caramel, roast or bitterness, in a tea.

It's definitely worth trying, but it's not the next imbibable sensation.

However, I think there is a huge future for dried coffee cherries as an additive to regular coffee. The cherries can be coarsely ground and added to regular coffee (or sprinkled at the top of a puck) to add a clean fruit kick to brewed coffee, similar to a natural, but purer, and more controllable in intensity. Imagine being able to roast a coffee medium or slightly dark to develop the roast flavors, and then add back all the origin flavors in a precisely controlled manner by adding the dried cherries.

A few caveats: I do not have the Finca Mauretania beans, so the what I am making is a cocktail, rather than an SO. I also do not know how individuated the dried cherries are. But if this works, it creates a super high end coffee (the beans and cherries need to be separately handled, then recombined as an SO) whose taste can be much more precisely composed than anything available now.

I hope the growers do not give up on this. I would guess the initial reception of the coffee cherry tea was lukewarm, but this does not even get close to its potential as a top end additive to the separately processed beans from the same trees.

There you are, Jim, on the cutting edge again.
I'd also add that stuff to a hot chocolate on a cold winter day.
Very interesting.

It kind of reminds me of rose hips, but much more stimulating. I got a bag of cascara from Klatch, and used it to make coffee cherry tea concentrate, which I then used to make coffee cherry tea soda. Pretty refreshing beverage, especially for summer, and a nice change of pace. I was following this recipe:

http://sprudge.com/cascara-soda-coffee-cherries.html

Interesting idea to process the beans and the cherry separately and then intentionally re-combine them under controlled parameters. So many possibilities. Great idea for a specialty drink of some sort.

I have not tried coffee cherry tea yet. It has been around for a few years but appears to be gaining steam. You could also add it post brew as a bouquet garni to control the steep time.

A quick web search of cascara found an herbal laxative from a different source than coffee. A search for coffee cherry tea cascara found it available from Klatch, Evans Brothers and others. The Klatch description noted that as a tea it's very high in caffeine. It's offered from different coffee varietals. I'm intrigued by the idea of adding it in a controlled way to coffee -- thanks, Jim.

Finding both cascara and coffee (green or roasted) from the same lot will be difficult. Right, Aida's farms may be a good first place to look, maybe later this summer through CC or someone else? In the meantime, I see cascara available from Blue Bottle, Ruby, and Has Bean, in addition to the other sources mentioned.

another_jim wrote:Earlier this year, the inimitable Aida Brattle provided a lot of dried coffee cherries from Finca Mauretania Bourbon trees under the name "Cascara." ... but I'm not sure what the current distribution situation is. ..

However, I think there is a huge future for dried coffee cherries as an additive to regular coffee. The cherries can be coarsely ground and added to regular coffee (or sprinkled at the top of a puck) to add a clean fruit kick to brewed coffee...

A few caveats: I do not have the Finca Mauretania beans, so the what I am making is a cocktail, rather than an SO. I also do not know how individuated the dried cherries are. But if this works, it creates a super high end coffee (the beans and cherries need to be separately handled, then recombined as an SO) whose taste can be much more precisely composed than anything available now.

I hope the growers do not give up on this. . .

My broker carries a Costa Rican cascara and greens from Las Lajas wherein they asked a farmer for highly sorted cherries to make a high end cascara. I am thinking of reserving a bag for Fall distribution as well as a bag of their Yemen cascara for comparison.

Here are recipes provided by Cafe Imports:

Cascara Tea:

1 gram of Cascara to 1 ounce of water
Steep for 5 minutes, or to desired strength
This recipe is very open. We have found that you can steep cascara for as long as you want, and it will only increase in strength, without off flavors developing. So, have fun! Feel free to turn your timers off.

Cascara Cider:

2.5 oz. cascara tea
2 oz. mulling spice tea*
¾ oz. simple syrup
Garnish with orange zest
Serve hot in your favorite mug
*steep mulling spices in hot water to make

Iced Cascara and Citrus Cider:

2 oz. cascara tea
1 oz. mulling spice tea
½ oz. fresh squeezed grape fruit juice*
¾ oz. simple syrup
Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker, add large ice cubes, and shake rigorously for about 10 seconds. This drink can be served over ice or in a chilled glass. To simplify, add ingredients to a pint glass, stir to incorporate the simple, add ice.
*Other citrus juice can be subbed.

Chilled Cascara and Ginger:

3 oz cascara tea, brewed strong into a concentrate and chilled
1/8 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice
½ teaspoon fresh ginger juice
½ oz muscavado simple syrup
Combine in pint glass. Stir ingredients. Add Ice to the rim. Top the drink with soda water an gently stir.

Cascara and Juniper Mocktail:

10 juniper berries
3 oz. cascara tea
¼ teaspoon or about 5 drops of fresh ginger juice
1/8 oz. fresh squeezed lemon juice
½ oz. simple syrup
Muddle the juniper berries in a cocktail shaker*. Combine remaining ingredients, and stir before adding ice. Fill shaker with large ice cubes. Shake rigorously for 10-15 seconds. Serve over ice.

Just to follow up, I got a tweet from Direct Origin Trading saying they offer both cascara and green coffee from northern Risaralda and Caldas in Colombia.

Surprisingly, I bought some here on the Island last year. Wasn't my thing but it was interesting.
The cascara name throws me off. Cascara (sagrada anyway) is not exactly a refreshing coffee cherry drink...lol.

Interesting info on caffeine in cascara: http://www.squaremileblog.com/2013/08/3 ... -caffeine/

I find cascara soda very refreshing in hot weather, and it is nice being able to put as little sugar as you want in it rather than being stuck with store-bought soda (which I stopped drinking about 15 years ago because of their extreme sugar/HFCS content).

I also can't want to see where people take cascara!