Cascara

CASCARA – COFFEE CHERRY TEA In recent years, there is a growing awareness of coffee consumers. The modern way of light roasting of coffee brings out the natural notes of fresh, juicy fruit. Yes - coffee is a fruit, although what we drink is just roasted and ground coffee seed. Perhaps you have never even asked yourself: What exactly happens with the pulp? Is it sweet? Can it be used? There is one answer to all similar questions: CASCARA. In Spanish the word cascara means husk (peel), and throughout the world this word has become the term for the leftover fruit obtained after coffee processing. The treatment itself is aimed at separating coffee beans from the pulp and skin. Cascara is most often treated as a waste of this production and used only for fertilizing the soil on plantations, the best fruits are dried and put up for sale. The coffee's fruit is called cherry. They have a very small amount of flesh and a fairly hard skin. Before the attention of the world focused on the coffee seed, whole fruit was eaten or compote was made in order to stimulate the body. In Yemen a hot drink called Qishr, made from coffee husk, ginger and sometimes cinnamon is a part of a daily cuisine. Today, drinking cascara gains its admirers all across the world. The taste of cascara is delicately sweet; in the aroma you can feel raisins, cherries or apples. When brewing too much, it becomes acrid, so it is worth controlling the amount of water in relation to the weight of the dried fruits. It's best to find your own perfect proportions, but a good starting point is to use 3-4g cascara for every 100g of water. To extract as much as possible from the tea, use filtered hot water at a temperature close to boiling, and leave for about 8-10 minutes. Some test results indicate that the brewed cascara contains only about 120 mg / l of caffeine, which is around 20-25 % of the amount of coffein in one cup of coffee. It is therefore a great solution for people who like fruit infusions and gentle stimulation.