The McCallister: On Tap At Wormhole

It’s not so much the caffeine that kicks you in the teeth with our December 2011 signature drink, The McCallister. Though [the caffeine] is definitely on-site and present for duty.

More so, it’s the complex, rich, smoky, cherry-cranberry flavor cutting into mega-tart  and scrumptious Seedling apple cider.

We should probably stop there, but here’s a big part of why we’re especially excited about The McCallister: Cascara. In short, it’s uniquely prepared coffee with many of the qualities of tea. In long, according to Peter Giuliano, director of coffee at Counter Culture Coffee:

“The roasted seeds are not the only delicious part of the coffee plant. The dried fruit of the coffee cherry, known as cascara in Spanish, can be steeped in water like tea, creating a deliciously fruity hot beverage. Coffee has been consumed this way for hundreds of years in Ethiopia and Yemen, where it is called Hashara or Qishr.

“It is almost impossible to find outside of East Africa, but our partner Aida Batlle prepared some Cascara for us from her three farms – Los Alpes, Kilimanjaro, and Mauritania – and the results were wonderful. We loved it so much, we thought we’d share it with you! Cascara captures the flavor of the dried coffee cherry and gives a glimpse into the diversity of coffee flavor and coffee history.”

The Blueprint The long and short from Stevie Baka, our massively multi-talented barista: “We mull it for 45 minutes with the [Seedling] cider with cardamom pods, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, and fresh chopped ginger,” says Baka. “Then we steep the cascara in it for six minutes. “Next, we steam the cider and pour it over fresh muddled cranberries and blanched almonds.” This leads to the main decision you’ll face when trying this drink at The Wormhole: munch on the almonds and cranberries at the beginning, throughout, or at the end. “[Some people] sip it and eat them at the end, [the cranberries and almonds] are really good after they steep in the cascara,” continues Baka. “The cranberries were somewhat controversial,” says Baka. “They become this little floating mass on top and we tried to get cranberries to sink, but they naturally float in a bog, so it was virtually impossible.”