The best cascara I have ever tasted

The best cascara I have ever tasted

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The best cascara I have ever tasted

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The best cascara I have ever tasted

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The best cascara I have ever tasted

The best cascara I have ever tasted

minimum dose size?

Jan 31, 2024 |

I use the Hario switch to brew my coffee and am trying to reduce my caffeine consumption. Hence I would like to brew smaller cups of coffee. I am currently using 10g of coffee with 160g of water. (1:16 Ratio) I am wondering if there is a minimum amount of coffee...

The best cascara I have ever tasted

(Thumbnail photo credit: Lucia Solis)

I like cascara. It’s not the most “interesting” beverage, as it often lacks nuance and liveliness. However, there is something comforting and (energetically) warm about cascara that makes me want to drink it every morning.

My partner Paolo at Regalia often includes a bag of cascara as a treat when he mails me roasted coffee samples. The cascara he sent me last week is like no other I have ever tasted. This cascara is the first one I have ever found to be interesting, with some zingy acidity and crispness reminiscent of some African coffees.

Here is Paolo’s description of the cascara and a link to Regalia’s website. Enjoy.

Region: Sabanilla del Poas
Altitude: 1500 MASL
Process: Red Honey
Varietal: Villa Sarchi, Caturra, Catuai

Perhaps one of the finest cascaras on the market: the Chacon’s cascara is incredibly clean, with a honey-like sweetness, and a fruit quality that resembles peach and kumquat.

Dona Francisca and her husband Oscar Chacon of the Cumbres del Poas micro mill are 3rd generation coffee producers. The Cumbres del Poas micro mill is located in the Sabanillia de Alajuela in the Central Valley region of Costa Rica. Both Francisca and Oscar believe in preservation of the environment. They were some of the first pioneers of high-quality honey and natural-process coffees in Central America back in 2009 when they started experimenting with special processes. Water use at the mill is minimal, since their coffees do not undergo the washed process. During the harvest of their coffees they will measure the Brix content in the coffee cherries to determine the best time to pick their coffees to obtain the sweetest and most fruit forward profiles.

Rather than processing their cascara like they would their normal parchment, the Chacons treat theirs like one would approach dried fruits.  These are lightly washed and quickly dried on parabolic driers. 

RECIPE

If you’re new to brewing cascara, note that you are easily able to do so like one would steep tea in a satchel:

20g Cascara

360ml boiling water

8:00 steep time

Pro Tip: If you filter the final product through a paper filter, it will enhance the cascara’s fruit-quality.

(Note from Scott: I use a little lower ratio of cascara:water but steep it longer than Paolo does. Cascara doesn’t “overextract” so don’t be afraid to leave it in a thermal mug all day.)

cascara+brewing+copy.jpg

The best cascara I have ever tasted

Perfect Little Beans

Chinmey Hill Coffee uses specialty-grade beans with zero primary defects (such as black beans or sour beans) and less than five secondary defects (such as broken beans). This is important because primary defects will greatly affect the taste of the coffee. Having zero defects allows the coffee to be the most optimal flavor.

Window for Optimal Flavor

Chimney Hill Coffee ships our coffee the same day it was roasted, so you will receive it before it enters the window of optimal flavor.  This means you’ll never miss the opportunity to enjoy the coffee’s peak flavor.

Coffee Ratings

Coffee undergoes many scoring processes by professionals who achieved their Q Grader certification. Coffee is first graded when it’s green. If there are defects the coffee is determined to be “not-specialty grade”. For those coffees that pass green grading, they are sample roasted and cupped. (Cupping is the official term for critically tasting and scoring coffees. The official cupping form is standard worldwide, and where the 100-point scoring system comes from.) A coffee’s dry fragrance, wet aroma, flavor, aftertaste, body, acidity, balance, and overall impression are taken into consideration while uniformity issues and defects, will lower the overall score.

Specialty Coffee

Specialty coffee, coined by Erna Knutsen in 1974, refers to a coffee that receives a quality grading score of 80 percent or higher. While “premium” or “gourmet” seem like they’re synonymous with “specialty,” they simply are marketing terms with no defined standards. Specialty coffees are grown in specific and ideal micro-climates, and have distinctive and unique flavor profiles, with little to no defects.

Third-Wave Coffee

We’re currently in the third wave of coffee. The first wave of American coffee put pre-ground, vacuum-sealed cans in kitchens across America. The second wave started with the late ‘60s introduction of Peet’s coffee (by Alfred Peet) through the proliferation of Starbucks. The third wave of coffee focuses on origin transparency, nuanced flavors, and artisan roasting. The term “third wave” is synonymous with specialty coffee.

The best cascara I have ever tasted

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