Coffee Fruit (Cascara) Syrup

More Information

Cascara is a sun-dried fruit, not a roasted bean, and its flavor is totally unique, with notes of cherry, brown sugar, hibiscus, and tamarind. Its complexity makes it incredibly versatile—you'd be amazed at how many ways you can use this syrup! A few favorites:

• The Cascara Latte, Coffeeshop-Style: Level up your latte by making it at home with real fruit syrup! Start with 4 ounces of very strong coffee or a shot of espresso. Add 2 tablespoons cascara syrup and about 3 ounces of half-and-half. Delicious and decadent.

• The Cascara Soda: Add about 2 tablespoons to 8 oz sparkling water. Enjoy as-is, or get wild and add a squeeze of citrus or a splash of grapefruit or tangerine Fruitations syrup.

• Cascara Cocktails: Oh gosh, you guys, this is so good in cocktails. We include recipes with every order, but it's super easy to mix up your own signature drink... start with dark rum or whiskey, lemon or lime, and a little cinnamon, or just get crazy with it. Send us your best Cascara Cocktail recipe and we may add it to our book!

This syrup contains a small amount of caffeine. We have no way to gauge exactly how much, but our guess is about 15 mg per serving (a cup of coffee is about 90 mg).

More about the health benefits of the coffee fruit

The antioxidant benefits of coffee fruit and its brew aren't from huge amounts of vitamins, but rather from potent polyphenols that offer strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. As noted above, a serving of coffee cherry tea has several times as much antioxidant power as blueberries and many other famous superfruits.

Fitness enthusiasts, take note: next time you work out, skip the vitamin water and reach for coffee cherry tea! Artificial supplements of antioxidants (such as vitamin C) have been shown to be ineffective at helping your body cope with stress and recover quickly, so your body will benefit far more from natural polyphenols from real fruit.

In addition to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, coffee cherries may offer significant benefits to the brain. A pilot study on coffee cherry extract indicates the extract may boost the brain's supply of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which protects the brain against mental illnesses, including depression and aging-related illnesses such as dementia, by an average of 143% over baseline. This is a new area of research, but results so strong are exciting--BDNF is essentially what keeps a brain "young" and the medical community is actively researching ways to fight aging and illness by boosting the aging brain's supply of this vital protein.

Dried coffee cherries, per serving, is also extremely nutrient-rich. It has three times more iron than spinach and twice the potassium of a banana. Potassium is extremely water-soluble, which makes brewed coffee fruit beverages a delicious and calorie-free way to give your body a vital nutrient.

Of course, we aren't doctors and we don't make health claims. All we can do is share research with you. But dang, coffee fruit is looking good to us right now!