Cascara – Ratnagiri Coffee Cherry Tea

• Producer: Ashok Patre
• Region: Chikmagalur
• Type: Dried Coffee Cherry Skin
• Altitude: 1340 MASL
• Process: Sun Dried
• Flavor Notes: Rosehip, Hibiscus, Tamarind, Cherry

Back in 2005, fifth generation award winning coffee producer from El Salvadar, Aida Batlle, arrived for a cupping session where she detected a pleasant, hibiscus-like aroma that filled the room. On enquiring with the other coffee tasters in the room, they pointed at the husks from the recently milled coffee. Being the curious producer that she was, she picked up some of the husks, cleaned them up and threw them into hot water to see what concoction would result. To her surprise, she was amazed with the flavourful tea that had resulted and called her customers in excitement to tell them about the delicious infusion she had just created. Finding “pulp” to be a yucky word, she decided to call the dried coffee cherry husks “Cascara”- the Spanish word for the skin of a fruit.

Almost two decades later, producers all around the world have found a higher place for their coffee cherry husks in the complex coffee value chain. We bring you high quality single estate Cascara from India’s very own Ratnagiri Estate so you can brew a pleasing, delicious Tisane with low caffeine content whenever you’re in the mood for a different caffeinated beverage.

Recipes

Hot

Step 1: Use 10g of cascara which you can place into your carafe.

Step 2: Boil 200g of water and let it sit for around 45 seconds so it cools down to around 96 Celsius. With a temperature controlled kettle, heat your water to 96 Celsius.

Step 3: Pour the water onto the cascara and agitate it for 20 seconds by stirring it.

Step 4: After four and a half minutes, strain out the tea. You can add sugar, honey or any other flavouring agents to create more interest in the beverage and serve!

Cold Brew

Step 1:  Use 50g of cascara which you can place into a flask or carafe.

Step 2: Pour 350g of room temperature water onto the cascara and agitate it for 40 to 60 seconds by stirring it. We will be using a ratio of 1:7, so if you wish to make more concentrate, you can measure out more cascara according to your needs and increase the amount of water used. If you want to make a stronger concentrate, use a ratio of 1:5.

Step 3: Make sure the container used is sealed and place it in a refrigerator for 16 – 20 hours.

Step 4: Remove the container from the refrigerator and strain out the concentrate. You can use a paper filter, a tea strainer, or any kind of filtering device.

Step 5: Serve the concentrate over ice (dilute to taste) or add other ingredients like tonic water, flavouring agents, honey or anything else that strikes your imagination to create your own signature beverage!