Qishr (coffee cherry tea)

QISHR is the dried husk of coffee cherries, and in Yemen it is used to brew a traditional spiced tea. We offer a number of origins, in 5 oz or 1 oz bags.

Haraaz Cooperative®:

• Sourced from the eastern Haraaz Mountains / half-husk qishr
• Still has a few green coffee beans mixed in (you can pick them out by hand)

Hajjah mountains:

• Caramel and fruity, with an intense and heady fruit-leather aroma. Flaked qishr
• Sourced and milled by the Rayyan Mill

Haraaz mountains:

• Extra fruity, with an intense and heady fruit-leather aroma. Flaked qishr.
• Sourced and milled by the Rayyan Mill

Between these two, the Hajjah tilts caramel and the Haraaz tilts extra fruity.

QISHR is the dried husk of coffee cherries, and in Yemen it is used to brew a traditional spiced tea. Find that recipe below. Or it can be brewed straight, giving a fruity, slighty sweet tea that has a body and mouthfeel akin to black tea. But that description does it injustice, and really qishr tastes unlike any other tea. Qishr tastes like qishr. (In Latin America it's called cascara.)

If you really want to understand Yemen's coffee, that you have to know and try qishr. Coffee beans start life as a cherry, which is picked and dried in the sun. This leaves a dried fruit with two green coffee seeds in the middle. Once it makes it to the mill, the seeds are removed and the dried fruit remains. With the hardened fruit, you can make a traditional tea. Thus, qishr is a byproduct of naturally processed coffee. (Conversely, coffee is the waste product of qishr, depending on your perspective.)

When brewing the tea at home, it's like loose leaf tea. One serving can brew 1 cup of tea or 4 cups of tea, depending on your strength preference. Brew time can run from 2 minutes to forever, and you can strain or not strain the tea. My preference is 5 minute brew, send it through a coffee filter, add honey and heavy cream. Tastes AMAZING.

Recipes from the Rayyan Mill: