Soda made from coffee cherries could be summer’s trendiest drink

There was cold brew, then nitro cold brew. Matcha had a moment. And then, of course, came the Unicorn Frappuccino. Now the next “it” drink could come from a part of the coffee plant that has typically been tossed into the compost heap.

Coffee beans grow inside coffee cherries, which are harvested and hulled. But the fruit, which is usually discarded, is a flavorful, lowcaffeine and antioxidantpacked ingredient that some coffee experts are using in new drinks. They’re hoping that cascara — as both the berry skin and the drink are called - is going to become the next big thing.

And if that happens, the fruit could create an entirely new revenue stream for coffee farmers.

Until now, “Nobody has ever asked us to save the cascara,” said Yolima Taborda Rojas, who exports coffee from her family’s farm in Colombia to the United States. Preparing cascara from the coffee harvest adds additional steps to the process — “You need to dry it right away, or it’s very easy to spoil,” Taborda Rojas said — but it’s worth it, she said, because farmers can make money from it. She’s hoping to influence other coffee farmers to begin selling it to meet the increasing demand.

Building on its long history in such coffee-growing countries as Ethiopia and Bolivia, cascara has been bubbling up in third-wave coffee shops for a few years now. But this winter, it took a big leap forward in visibility: Starbucks added a cascara latte to its seasonal menu. Later, the brand’s Seattle roastery introduced a cascara mocktail, a lemon sour made with the titular ingredients, as well as cold brew and maple syrup.

The latte introduced the word and concept to consumers. Now cascara — in its many forms - is popping up on menus across Washington. “We see cascara as an opportunity to really do something different,” said Robert Peck, chief executive and co-founder of Commonwealth Joe, an Arlington, Virginia, coffee shop that has added cascara to its menu.

Though it’s made from coffee, cascara - pronounced kasscar-ah, meaning “husk” in Spanish - is actually more like tea. It’soften made into a syrup, which can then be used in a soda. To extract the coffee cherry’s flavor, the fruit’s dried husks are steeped in water like a tisane.

It tastes nothing like coffee. With a rich, caramel color, it has the flavor of plums and cherries, with notes of spice and fig. “That little skin is so flavorful, and it can react in different ways. We use it as a garnish in the cocktail — instead of adding a maraschino cherry, we add one of the husks,” said Juan Coronado, partner and creative director at Colada Shop.