In the article you will learn: 

• Why finally?
• What is Casacara
• How it tastes and how it is prepared
• Why it doesn't matter what coffee it comes from
• Which one is the best in our opinion
• Caffeine content in cascara

Cascara can be sold legally from this year

Until February 4, 2022, Cascara could not be sold as food in the EU. It could be bought, but only in black. We believe in doing things the way they should be done, which is why we only started our hunt for the right cascara after it was approved in the EU as a Novel Food*. 

What is Cascara?

Coffee fruits are made up of "cherries", which have skin, pulp and pit (usually 2 pits/beans - 2 coffee beans).

During wet processing, the flesh with the peel is separated from the stones. The cubes are washed until the pulp is completely removed and then dried. The skins with the pulp, if they are exceptional, are dried in the sun, often turned over, and thus cascara is produced. If the peels are ordinary and not of high quality, they are used as organic fertilizer. 

What Cascara tastes like

It depends a lot on the variety and quality of processing. It is easy to make a mistake during processing and the cascara will become stale or moldy. Only cascara that has received a sea of love will taste amazing. We already drank cascara, which was not good. From our experience, the one from Panama is among the best. Our first cascara comes from the CARMEN ESTATE farm in Panama. We find plums, pears and apricots in it. 
It tastes sweet, but not too much, it is florally fragrant and has a wonderful soft acidity. It is refreshing and very pleasant in general. It has nothing to do with the coffee taste. It is a pleasant fruity tea with a rich taste, an intense wonderful aroma and beautiful acidity. I don't know anyone who would say "no, I don't like this" about cascara. 

How it is prepared

Basic recipe: pour 50g of cascara with 1 liter of filtered water at a temperature of 95 degrees Celsius. Leave to infuse for 10 minutes.

This is the basic recipe. Break free from the chain and try another one :)

Cold brew cascara? Pour 150 g of Cascara with a liter of cold water and leave in the refrigerator for 24 hours. 

Cascara is also often used as an ingredient for various coffee drinks. I repeat, drop your inhibitions and experiment. 

Cascara and lots of caffeine

Some time ago the guys from Squaremile had the amount of caffeine in cascara measured. They found that if they boiled an extract of 20 g of cascara in a liter of water, this extract contained approximately 110 mg. If one portion is 250 ml, then the caffeine content will be approximately 28 mg. In the same dose of filtered coffee there will be approx. 100 mg, in double espresso there will be approx. 130 mg. Our recipe for cascara calculates with 50 mg of cascara per 1 liter, which means that the caffeine content will be approximately 68 mg, i.e. less than in other coffee recipes. However, it should be remembered that caffeine is there and not to drink liters of cascara just because it tastes great.

Try ours 

 *Definition of Novel Food is food that was not consumed by humans in significant quantities in the EU before 15 May 1997. Novel Fool can be a newly created, innovative food as well as a food that is traditionally consumed outside the EU.