5 Cascara Cocktails and Mocktails for People Who Are Over Basic Drinks

by Marc Narrie

Cascara belongs behind a bar

Bartenders and mixologists have been quietly using cascara for years. The flavor profile reads like a cocktail ingredient wish list: tart cherry, dried hibiscus, tamarind, a touch of pomegranate, with a dry tannic finish that gives drinks structure. It works with rum, whiskey, gin, vodka, and tequila. It works without alcohol too.

These five recipes range from zero-proof to full cocktail. All of them use cascara cold brew or cascara simple syrup as a base. Cold brew: 3 tablespoons cascara steeped in 2 cups cold water for 12-24 hours. Simple syrup: 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water, 1/2 cup cascara, heated until dissolved, steeped 20 minutes, strained.

1. Cascara dark and stormy (mocktail)

The original Dark and Stormy is rum and ginger beer. This version skips the rum and doesn't miss it.

What you need:

  • 4 oz cascara cold brew
  • 4 oz ginger beer (not ginger ale, you want the spicy kind)
  • Juice of half a lime
  • Ice
  • Lime wheel for garnish

What you do:

  1. Fill a glass with ice.
  2. Pour in the cascara cold brew and lime juice.
  3. Top slowly with ginger beer.
  4. Garnish with the lime wheel. Don't stir. Let the layers settle and mix as you drink.

The ginger beer's heat meets cascara's fruit and the lime cuts through both. It's the kind of mocktail you actually want to order at a bar instead of just settling for because you're not drinking. Serves well in a copper mug if you have one.

2. Cascara rum toddy

A warm weather person's nightcap that also works on cold evenings. This one has roots in how cascara has been consumed in Yemen and Ethiopia for centuries, just with rum added because we're not in Yemen.

What you need:

  • 6 oz hot cascara tea (brew fresh: steep 2 tablespoons cascara in hot water for 4-5 minutes)
  • 1.5 oz spiced rum
  • 1 tablespoon orange marmalade
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • Pinch of cardamom (optional)

What you do:

  1. Brew the cascara tea hot. While it's still steaming, stir in the orange marmalade until it dissolves.
  2. Add the rum and cardamom.
  3. Stir with the cinnamon stick and leave it in the mug.

The marmalade adds bitter orange sweetness that pairs with cascara's dried fruit character. The spiced rum brings vanilla and molasses notes. The cinnamon ties it all together. This is what you drink at 9pm when you want one drink and you want it to be good.

3. Cascara gin and tonic

A regular G&T is fine. This one is better because the cascara adds a fruity dimension that expensive botanical gins try to achieve and usually can't.

What you need:

  • 2 oz gin
  • 1 oz cascara simple syrup
  • 4 oz tonic water
  • Strip of grapefruit peel
  • Ice

What you do:

  1. Fill a glass with ice.
  2. Pour in the gin and cascara syrup. Stir briefly.
  3. Top with tonic water.
  4. Express the grapefruit peel over the glass (twist it to release the oils) and drop it in.

The cascara syrup bridges the botanical notes in the gin with the quinine bitterness in the tonic. The grapefruit peel adds citrus aromatics that hit your nose before each sip. Use a London dry gin for the cleanest result. Hendrick's or a cucumber gin works too if you want something softer.

4. Cascara whiskey sour

The whiskey sour is a perfect cocktail. We didn't reinvent it. We just swapped the simple syrup for cascara simple syrup, and the drink got deeper.

What you need:

  • 2 oz bourbon
  • 1 oz fresh lemon juice
  • 3/4 oz cascara simple syrup
  • 1 egg white (optional, for foam)
  • Ice
  • A few drops of bitters on top

What you do:

  1. If using egg white: combine bourbon, lemon juice, cascara syrup, and egg white in a shaker WITHOUT ice. Shake hard for 15 seconds (this is the dry shake that creates the foam).
  2. Add ice to the shaker. Shake again for another 15 seconds.
  3. Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice (or neat in a coupe).
  4. Drop 3-4 dots of bitters on the foam and drag a toothpick through them for the classic pattern.

The cascara syrup adds cherry and tamarind notes where regular simple syrup just adds sweetness. Bourbon's caramel and oak play off those fruit notes perfectly. If you skip the egg white, it's still excellent. Just a cleaner, more fruit-forward whiskey sour.

5. Cascara paloma

The paloma is Mexico's most popular tequila cocktail (not the margarita, despite what every restaurant in America thinks). Cascara fits into it like it was always supposed to be there.

What you need:

  • 2 oz tequila blanco
  • 2 oz cascara cold brew
  • 2 oz fresh grapefruit juice
  • 1/2 oz lime juice
  • 2 oz sparkling water or Topo Chico
  • Pinch of salt
  • Ice

What you do:

  1. If you want a salt rim, run a lime wedge around the edge of your glass and dip it in salt.
  2. Fill the glass with ice.
  3. Add tequila, cascara cold brew, grapefruit juice, and lime juice. Stir.
  4. Top with sparkling water. Add a pinch of salt directly into the drink even if you rimmed the glass. Salt opens up the cascara's fruit notes.

The traditional paloma uses grapefruit soda. This version uses real grapefruit juice plus cascara cold brew, which adds the sweetness and complexity that the soda would have provided but with actual flavor depth. The cascara's tamarind notes are right at home next to tequila and citrus.

Make the syrup, make the cold brew, make whatever you want

Every recipe on this page uses one of two things: cascara cold brew or cascara simple syrup. Make both on a Sunday, keep them in the fridge, and you've got a week's worth of drinks that'll make your friends think you went to bartending school.

Grab cascara at buddhabeanscoffee.com.

Cascara is the dried fruit of the coffee cherry (Coffea), sold as a food and herbal beverage, not as a dietary supplement or drug. It naturally contains caffeine, about 25mg per cup. It is not cascara sagrada, an unrelated plant sold as a laxative. Nothing here is intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. If you are pregnant, nursing, or sensitive to caffeine, check with your healthcare provider.

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