Cascara Lemonade

By Naperville Magazine
June 2018 View more Recipe

Cascara Cold Brew
45 grams cascara
1 quart cold water
2 tablespoons sugar

1. Mix the water and cascara in a pitcher and stir until all the cascara is wet, if not submerged.

2. Cover and place in the refrigerator overnight (roughly 12 to 16 hours). Strain and mix in sugar, to taste.

Lemonade
6 lemons
1 cup sugar
1 cup hot water
cold water

1. Juice all six lemons into a measuring cup.

2. Combine the sugar and hot water in a separate container until the sugar is dissolved to create a simple syrup.

3. Add an equal amount of simple syrup to the amount of lemon juice and stir.

4. Once the lemon juice and simple syrup are combined, add an equal amount of cold water. Stir.

5. Combine 4 cups cascara cold brew and 2 ups lemonade with and serve over ice with a slice of lemon.

About Cascara
This dried, seeded fruit of the coffee cherry can be purchased at Sparrow Cafe for $18 per half-pound bag. The cafe’s current offering is pristine, meticulously dried and sourced entirely from the Pacamara coffee varietal of Nicaraguan origin. A simple steep reveals hibiscus and raspberry notes with hints of cherry. Brewed cascara can be served hot, or it can be iced following a hot steep.

The recipe for Sparrow Cafe’s version of the Arnold Palmer is courtesy of Matt Danko and Catherine Took.