In the same way that conditions of a microclimate must be just right for liquid to ferment into a palatable brew, it was a set of Goldilocksian circumstances that led one cafe in Amsterdam to start serving cascara kombuchaโa fermented harmony of (usually discarded) coffee cherry husks and a literal clash of cultures.
First, there was the host environment: Scandinavian Embassy, a coffee bar and daytime eatery with a humble yet audacious, classic yet envelope-pushing approach to Nordic fare. Second, there was the foreign body: an American on a stint in the Dutch capital, where, thanks to an imported Symbiotic Colony Of Bacteria and Yeast (SCOBY) starter from Prohibition Kombucha in Minneapolis, cafe regular Justin Evidon could keep up his probiotic tea habit in a relatively kombucha-dry western Europe.
This past December, the conditions were prime. Scandinavian Embassy had become Evidonโs neighborhood coffee shop. They made sure he always triedย their choicestย roasts. He shared his homemade teas with the staff, many of them new kombucha initiates. A symbiosis of swigging was born. Soon after, cafe co-owner Nicolas Castagno wondered if Evidonโs elixir could somehow showcase the cascara they sourced from the Gesha trees of Los Lajones farm in Panama.
No time was wasted.
Evidonโs first brew, a cascara infusion mixed with kombucha tea, tasted off. A second brew, of the cascara infusion with sugar, turned out over-fermented. A hypothesis? Cascaraโs sugar content was high enough that the coffee cherry alone could feed the SCOBY. Evidon brewed again, this time without sugarย or any other additive. It worked. Before returning to the US in March, Evidon had filled several five-liter kegs with pure cascara kombucha for Scandinavian Embassy. The conclusion? Castagno enthused: โThe key to its acidity was in [cascaraโs] original sugars!โ
“Kascucha”, as the cafe affectionately calls itsย new beverage, is a global rarity.ย Still, Castagno and his business partner, Rikard Andersson, hesitate to call themselves pioneers. Not having heard of competitors does not mean none exist, they reason diplomatically. Plus, there are semantic doubts. โI donโt know if technically it is a โkombuchaโ because kombucha is tea,โ Castagno admits, having recently been upbraided online by kombucha purists.
First to marketย or not, Scandinavian Embassy hasย been happily pairing Kascucha with heavy, fatty meat dishesโand is also thinking of offering it as a breakfast dessert.
Chasing down theirย Scandi version of Eggs Benedict on rye with a Hollandaisesqueย sauce made of sheep yogurt and caviar on a recent visit, my cup was twice filled with a Colombia Cerro Azul coffee.ย But serve Kascucha by itself they did not. Castagno released a tap of the faintly effervescent tawniness into wineglasses. He then placed my glassย in the corner of an onyx tile that his colleague, Daniella Nystrรถm, had decorated with knotted magnolia petals. The blooms were foraged and, like various other in-house ingredients, pickled in white vinegar.
โWeโve got more flowers for you to try,โ added Andersson, noddingย to the garlic-flavored ramson florets Nystrรถm then removed from a jar of preserved cucumbers.
โTry a little bit of the flowers beforehand because this is really high in acidity,โ Castagno said, preparing me for my first Kascucha. He explained how the sour petals would make the kombucha โa little bit softer.” He was right.
Scandinavian Embassy describes Kascucha as tasting predominantly of โfloral, honey, and sweet tobacco typical of cascara,โ along with โtraces of lemon and green apple.โ
For me, Kascucha was like a Belgian berry beer, but its taste reigned in before hitting any hint of acute-angled acidity. The light carbonation quickly plateaued into subtle tanginess. There were undertones of earth and rustโin a good, summertime swing-set-in-the-suburbs kind of way. The taste quickly dissipated from my mouth and the drink, from my glass, left me bright-eyed and just barely buzzy.
Kascucha is nice. Pleasant, but alsoย distinct. Its essence is not so much Proustian, as it is peculiar and, in so being, highly pairable.
With Evidonโs original supply running low, Scandinavian Embassy isย now learning to brew itsย own cascara kombucha. They plan to keep the beverage on the menu for as long as their climate stays favorable and their cultures flourish.
Here’s a starter recipe for Kascucha ร la Scandinavian Embassy:
-Combine a 14:1 ratio of room temperature water and cascara
-Infuse for 12 hours
-Add SCOBY
-Let brew for about a week, tasting periodically to monitor development
Karina Hof is a freelance journalist based in Amsterdam. Read more Karina Hof on Sprudge.ย
