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Author:
Franco Salzillo
Have you heard about cascara? It’s one of the trendiest coffee byproducts, and it has many uses for coffee lovers.
The flaky stuff, sometimes finely powdered, is basically the dried-up cherry that once protected your favorite coffee grains.
That’s right, producers pick up the coffee fruit, let it ferment and dry it, sometimes under the blistering sun to eventually remove the fruit’s pulp and peel and keep the coffee beans.
By the way, cascara comes from the word in Spanish cáscara, which means husk, peel or shell. So, what to do with cascara? An easy cascara latte coffee, of course!
There are many ways of using cascara in your caffeinated libations, including dusting your coffee with the tasty stuff.
Still, one of my favorite ways of using it is making cascara syrup, an infusion of the dried fruit, sugar and water for delicious results.
The syrup will become your favorite coffee sweetener, and you can use it to sweeten a latte and many other drinks.
So, to make a latte, I usually use a freshly brewed Arabica espresso, medium roast, and top it with equal parts steamed milk and frothed milk.
It comes without saying everyone has a favorite milk-to-coffee-to-froth ratio, but you get the idea.
If you have a fancy espresso machine, it usually comes with a frothing wand, but if you don’t, you can heat the milk in the microwave or stove-top and whisk it to create the froth.
The first times will be tricky, I must say, but you’ll soon become a milk frothing expert. That’s guaranteed.
You’ll be happy to know cascara has some caffeine, although not as much as coffee beans.
You can use it to sweeten milk, smoothies and any other drink to add an energy kick along with the loveliest cherry flavor!
To make the cascara syrup, boil one 1 cup plus 1/4 cup of water in a pot. Once boiling, remove from heat and add one tablespoon of cascara.
Stir and let the cascara infuse the water (steep for 5 minutes). Strain and add one cup of granulated sugar to the hot water. Stir until dissolved and syrupy. Bottle and cool down.
To make the cascara latte, brew the espresso and pour it in a cup. Heat the milk in the microwave for 2-3 minutes and whisk until frothy. (or use a milk frother.)
Fill the cup with one-part hot milk and one-part milk foam.
Sweeten with the cascara syrup and garnish with extra cascara.
