Costa Rica Hacienda Sonora Cascara

Costa Rica Hacienda Sonora Cascara

Costa Rica Hacienda Sonora Cascara is the dried skin and pulp of the coffee cherry from the Guardia family farm in Costa Rica. It is steeped into a drink much like tea, and the cup brings floral notes, baked apple, honey and sweetness.

What is cascara?

Inside the coffee cherry are the seeds that become roasted coffee. Around them are the skin and pulp of the fruit. Once the cherry has dried and the beans are separated from it, the skin and pulp are kept, and they become cascara. The name comes from Spanish, where cáscara means husk.

Cascara is neither roasted nor ground. It is steeped in hot water like loose leaf tea, and the drink is closer to a fruity tea than to coffee.

People have made drinks from coffee cherry husks for a long time. In Yemen the drink is called qishr and in Ethiopia hashara. Today's cascara was made known by the Salvadoran coffee producer Aida Batlle, who around 2005 began steeping dried coffee cherry husks from the farm and selling them.

Cascara also works cold. As a cold brew it steeps in the fridge overnight and makes a refreshing iced drink. Cafés also use it with sparkling water, as a syrup and in mixed drinks.

Who produces Hacienda Sonora's cascara?

Hacienda Sonora is the Guardia family farm in Costa Rica's Central Valley. The land has been in the family for more than a hundred years, but it only became a coffee farm in the 1970s, when Alberto Guardia took over and planted most of it with coffee.

In 1999 coffee prices were at a historic low. Alberto built a mill on the farm to keep quality in the farm's own hands, and became a pioneer of honey and natural processing.

Alberto's son Diego has run the farm alongside Alberto since 2011. Today more than 20 coffee varieties grow on 80 hectares at Hacienda Sonora, and 20 hectares have been left as forest.

How is the cascara made?

The cascara comes from the farm's natural coffees, grown at 1 300 metres. This lot is from the 2026 harvest. After picking, the cherries are washed and dried whole in Diego's greenhouses, and as the intact fruit dries, its sugars slowly concentrate in the pulp.

The dried coffee goes to the dry mill, where the cherries are hulled and the cascara is separated from the beans. Finally, Diego sorts out parchment and other small pieces so that the result is clean.

What does Hacienda Sonora Cascara taste like?

Hacienda Sonora Cascara is a sweet and floral infusion. Its clearest notes are floral, baked apple and honey.

First, in the aroma and in the cup, comes a floral note that makes the drink light and clear.

Beneath it lies the soft fruitiness of baked apple.

The finish has a honeyed sweetness that lingers after each sip.

How do you prepare cascara?

Basic hot infusion. 12 g of cascara to 250 g of hot water (95 °C). Steep for four to five minutes, strain and drink as it is.

Spiced hot infusion. You need 15 g of cascara, 300 g of water, three thin slices of fresh ginger, half a cinnamon stick and a teaspoon of honey. Bring the water to the boil with the ginger and cinnamon and take the pan off the heat. Add the cascara, steep for five minutes, strain into a cup and sweeten with honey. The recipe takes its cue from Yemeni qishr, where coffee cherry husks are steeped with ginger and spices.

Cold: cascara tonic. First make a cold brew: 30 g of cascara to 400 g of cold water, and leave it to steep in a lidded container in the fridge overnight, about 12 hours. Strain. Fill a glass with ice, pour over 100 g of the brew and 100 g of tonic water and stir gently. Finish with a slice of orange. The brew can also be enjoyed on its own over ice.

Adjust the dose and steeping time to your taste. Cascara contains caffeine, an estimated 25 to 50 mg per cup (250 ml), roughly as much as green tea.