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| Coffee cherries are drinkable too. Photo: rohsstreetcafe, Flickr |
Coffee's origins as a beverage are as murky as the sludge left at the bottom of a French press: Were the beans really the discovery of a bygone Ethiopian goatherd with a hyper flock? Did the first coffee drinkers actually brew the plant's leaves as tea instead of the beans we use today -- or the cherry in which they grow? Can a drink be made from the cherry itself?
That last one, at least, is a definite "yes," and several beverages made from dried coffee-cherry husks are still imbibed around the world. Learn more about these rare-to-us brews after the jump.
For example, the popular Yemeni drink qishr, or "ginger coffee," often comprises dried coffee cherry boiled with ginger and sugar. The already sweet fruit produces an alluringly syrupy liquid that you can try even if you don't have any husks: Many recipes call for very finely ground coffee in place of the traditional rinds -- perhaps because the dried cherry is hard to find outside coffee-producing regions.
Once you do find a supplier (here, for instance), a simple, magic elixir is within easy reach: Even sans spices, the shell makes a delicious caffeinated infusion called any number of things in different cultures (sometimes cascara or sultana in Spanish; even qishr can refer to this basic brew).
Two heaping tablespoons of cherry carcass steeped in 5 ounces of water just off the boil (after 30 seconds, it will be about 195 to 205 degrees) produces a rooibos-like concoction with flavors reminiscent of tobacco and rose hip. It also can make a fantastic and unexpected iced "tea."
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| Dried coffee husks are called cascara, or "rind" in Spanish. Photo: Erin Meister |
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