Description
Product
CASCARA (dried skins of coffee cherries)
Origin
Congo
Region
Nord Kivu
Producer
Collective Coffee Growers
Variety
Red Bourbon
Proces
natural
Altitude
1500-1600 masl
Tasting notes
lemon tea – black tea – elderflower
BREWING RECIPE – INFUSION:
Brewing Method : Infusion
Temperature : 93 °C
Total infusion time : 5 minutes
Ratio: 7g / 250 ml
Cascara, which means “husk,” “peel” or “skin” in Spanish, is the dried skins of coffee cherries. These pulped skins are collected after the seeds (aka coffee beans) have been removed from the cherries. They are then dried in the sun before they are packaged and shipped off. These dried bags of coffee cherries are not unlike bags of tea—the main visual difference is the pieces of cherries are slightly bigger than a tea leaf and have a leathery, woody look similar to dried raisins or the shell of a nut. The neat part about this whole process is that not only does it allow for the coffee plant to be used in a creative way, but it’s also eco-friendly. Normally coffee cherries are considered a by-product of the coffee-making process and are either discarded as waste or used as compost. Now these cherries are being reused to produce a unique drink of their own.
The true secret of this cascara from Congo lies in the obsessive attention to quality — the result of years of farmer training, the distribution of millions of seedlings, and in-depth research into every step of post-harvest processing. Only the ripest cherries are handpicked based on their sugar content (Brix level), then laid out on raised beds to dry slowly under the sun. Once dried, they are dry-pulped. This method enhances the fruity, clean aromas and requires constant monitoring to prevent any unwanted fermentation.
