What Is Cascara Tea? The Naturally Sweet Tea Made From Coffee Fruit
What is cascara tea, exactly?
Cascara tea is an infusion made from the dried coffee cherry: the red fruit that surrounds the two green seeds we roast as coffee beans. "Cascara" means "husk" or "skin" in Spanish. When coffee is processed, the bean is pulled out and the fruit is usually discarded. Cascara is that fruit, saved and dried instead of thrown away.
You steep it like tea. You drink it like tea. But it is technically part of the coffee plant, which puts it in a category of its own: not quite coffee, not quite tea, closer to a naturally sweet fruit infusion. In coffee-growing regions it has been brewed for centuries. In the rest of the world, most people have never tasted it.
What does cascara tea taste like?
Cascara tea tastes like cherry and raisin with a hibiscus-like tartness. It is naturally sweet with no sugar added, and it finishes clean, without the bitterness or heaviness of brewed coffee.
The flavor sits somewhere between a fruit tea and a lightly dried-fruit syrup, minus the sugar. People often pick out:
- Cherry, ripe and a little tart
- Raisin and dark dried fruit, which give it body
- Hibiscus or rosehip, a floral tartness at the edge
- A clean, naturally sweet finish with no roast character
If you expect it to taste like coffee, it will surprise you. There is no smoke, no char, no espresso bite. It reads as fruit first.
How much caffeine is in cascara tea?
An 8-ounce cup of cascara tea contains roughly 20 to 25 milligrams of caffeine. For comparison, a cup of brewed coffee has about 95 milligrams, and green tea has about 28 milligrams. That makes cascara close to green tea and gentle enough for the afternoon.
| Drink (8 oz / 240 ml) | Approx. caffeine |
|---|---|
| Brewed coffee | ~95 mg |
| Black tea | ~47 mg |
| Green tea | ~28 mg |
| Cascara tea | ~20 to 25 mg |
| Decaf coffee | ~2 mg |
Actual numbers vary with how long you steep it and how much you use. Steep it longer and stronger and you nudge the caffeine up. Either way, it stays well under a cup of coffee.
Where does cascara come from?
Cascara comes from coffee-growing regions where the coffee cherry has long been brewed on its own. In Yemen, a spiced version called qishr has been made for generations, often with ginger or cinnamon. In Bolivia and parts of Latin America, the dried cherry is brewed as sultana or cascara. In Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee, the husk has been steeped as a drink for centuries.
What is new is the rest of the world paying attention. As coffee roasters look for ways to use more of the plant, cascara has gone from farm byproduct to something you can actually buy and brew at home.
Is cascara the same as cascara sagrada?
No. This is an important one. Cascara tea (coffee cherry) is unrelated to cascara sagrada, which is the dried bark of a buckthorn shrub sold as a laxative. The two share a Spanish word for "bark" or "husk" and nothing else.
Coffee cherry cascara is a food: the fruit of the coffee plant. If a label says cascara sagrada or lists buckthorn, that is a different product for a different purpose. What we make is coffee cherry tea, full stop.
How do you brew cascara tea?
Cascara is forgiving. Three ways to make it:
- Hot. Use one sachet or a heaping tablespoon of loose cascara per cup. Pour water just off the boil, around 200°F. Steep 4 to 5 minutes, then strain. Drink it as is or add a little honey.
- Iced. Brew it hot and strong, then pour over ice. A slice of lemon works well.
- Cold brew. Steep loose cascara in cold water in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours, then strain over ice. This is the sweetest version.
Does cascara tea have any benefits?
Cascara is a whole fruit, and like other fruits it naturally contains antioxidants, including polyphenols such as chlorogenic acid. It is low in caffeine, has no added sugar, and counts toward your fluids for the day.
We keep it honest here: cascara is a food, not a medicine, and we do not make health claims about it. It is a naturally sweet, low-caffeine drink made from a part of the coffee plant that usually goes to waste. That is reason enough to try it.
Frequently asked questions about cascara tea
Is cascara tea coffee or tea?
Both and neither. It is made from the coffee plant, but you steep it like tea and it tastes like fruit, not coffee.
Does cascara tea have caffeine?
Yes, a small amount. Around 20 to 25 mg per cup, close to green tea and about a quarter of coffee.
Is cascara tea sweet? Is there sugar in it?
It is naturally sweet with nothing added. No sugar, no sweetener.
Does cascara tea have CBD?
Our Cascara Coffee Cherry Tea does not. It is straight coffee cherry, no CBD.
What does cascara mean?
It is the Spanish word for "husk" or "skin," which is the fruit that wraps around the coffee bean.
Try our first batch of Cascara Coffee Cherry Tea
We just dropped our Cascara Coffee Cherry Tea, and it is available now on our site. It is the other half of the coffee plant: the fruit around the bean, dried and steeped into a soft, cherry-sweet tea you can drink any time of day. This is a small first batch, so grab it while it lasts.
Shop Cascara Coffee Cherry Tea →
This article is for general information and is not medical advice. Cascara Coffee Cherry Tea is a food, not a dietary supplement, and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
