WHAT IS COFFEE CHERRY TEA?

Coffee cherry tea is also known as cascara.  What we commonly refer to as coffee beans are actually seeds that grow inside the fruit of a coffee cherry.  The coffee seeds are separated from the coffee cherries.  To make cascara, the coffee cherry fruit is dried so that it can be preserved to later make a very flavorful tea that is more akin to herbal teas than tea that comes from tea leafs.  For cascara, we recommend looking for cascara that comes from certified organically grown coffees such as this cascara from the Las Lajas farm in Costa Rica.

FLAVOR PROFILE

When brewed as a coffee cherry tea, this cascara produces a very sweet cup with predominate flavor notes of tamarind, cranberry, and tropical fruits.

RECOMMENDED BREWING METHODS

Coffee cherry tea can be brewed just like you brew loose leaf tea.  For us, the simplest way is to use a French Press.  If you don’t have a French Press, you can use any container you have and prefer that will allow you to brew the cascara and in the end separate it from the tea that is produced.

We would recommend starting with a 1:15 ratio such as 20 grams of cascara to 300 grams of 200F water.  If you don’t have a temperature controlled kettle, using water that is about thirty-sixty seconds off-boil will get you in the right ballpark.  A four to five minute steep time is a good starting point and makes a very flavorful tea.  Adjusting both the ratio and the steep time will adjust the strength.

ABOUT THIS CASCARA 

Process: Cascara

Producer(s): Oscar and Francisca Chacón

Country: Costa Rica  

Continent: North America

Region: Alajuela (The foothills of the Poas Volcano located outside the town of Sabanilla)  

Varietals: Various  

Altitude/elevation: 1300-1500 MASL

Harvest Period: November 2021-January 2022

Want to learn more about the producers who make it possible?