Ever Eat A Coffee Cherry?

[PureArabica]

Just wanted to know if anyone has ever tasted a ripe coffee cherry off the vine?

And if so, what did it taste like?
nick

[Alistair Durie]

slightly tart, like melon rind. mucusy texture. quite refreshing. very romantic.

[PureArabica]

Sounds weird.

[Alistair Durie]

ya if you describe sex to a virgin it sounds pretty weird. not designed for words.

[xristrettox]

ya if you describe sex to a virgin it sounds pretty weird. not designed for words.

.....but that sounds icky.

[nick]

ya if you describe sex to a virgin it sounds pretty weird. not designed for words.

Big difference. You can't umm, eat... umm... your own cherries instead of...
nevermind.

[Peter G]

I think coffee cherry fruit tastes very much like watermelon, with a slight jasmine overtone.

I love them, I usually eat myself sick when I am walking thorough a field of ripe cherries.

Peter

[Chris Davidson]

I must be off 'cause I get Cash 'n Carry Corn Syrup, normally very little juicy-ness or fruit flavor. It's funny 'cause you'd expect to get a bit 'gush of fruit juice when you bite in by looking at the big red cherry, but it's always a shallow bite-to-hard-seed, then a very clean low-acid sugar, then a tart tannic-acid when you chew the pulp. For me... Only in Latin America...

[Alistair Durie]

i'm a coffee cherry eatin amatuer compared to you two

the skin i thought was a touch tart, but the description of light watermelon / corn syrup i think is bang on. super clean, all the flavour is in the bean!

we don't want to give it all away - go experience for yourself!

[trish]

the yellow ones taste more like honey than corn syrup...

the other ones taste just like chicken

[Jimmy Oneschuk]

how might one import some coffee cherries... and coffee... blossoms...(?)

[K.C. O'Keefe]

coffee cherries yum! I squeez them so the seeds with the meat pop into my mouth. Honey, peachy . . .

Dr. Mario Seracin in Panama had us pick the cherries of different varieties and taste the differences . . . geisha had a distinct peachy papaya with that perfumey finish. Convinced me how much varietals do have a difference.

In Bolivia they produce a dried coffee cherry tea called Sultana. Instead of composting the cherry skins they sun dry them and then lightly toast um up. A cup of loose cherry skins + 1 stick of cinamon + boiling H20 . . . coffee cherry tea. It is called the poor man's coffee, and the coffee of the Army.

Super bright cherry skins, plum tones and rasin aromas. We mixed some in a french press with an early harvest low grown peru and shabaz!! It turned into a high grown with lemon and plum added into the cup.

Coffee Cherry Tea anyone?

[Jimmy Oneschuk]

kc, that's truly awesome... I need to go to origin!!!

[barry]

In Bolivia they produce a dried coffee cherry tea called Sultana. Instead of composting the cherry skins they sun dry them and then lightly toast um up.

it sounds like "qishr" from yemen, allegedly the <i>original</i> coffee beverage.

[James Hoffmann]

The thing I find frustrating about qishr is how wildly reported recipes seem to vary - from a dried pulp infusion to a parchment tea.
The only thing uniform in them seems to be the addition of a lot of sugar and ginger.

[Munali]

Cherry's are quite mild tasting so the beans are definately where the taste is. Monkeys like them though, get quite a cafeine boost from them:)

We tried doing coffee berry jam, it was quite refreshing, but the skin is tough and need lots of chopping so we haven't got around to try again.

[Tim Dominick]

I liken the flavor to very sweet, peak of harvest beets and plums. Sweet, but not too sweet with just a hint of tannin in the skin.

Peter, just like you I have eaten myself into a case of the cherry trots, then again I do the same thing when our Italian prune plums ripen in the garden.

[Andy Schecter]

I think coffee cherry fruit tastes very much like watermelon, with a slight jasmine overtone.

I love them, I usually eat myself sick when I am walking thorough a field of ripe cherries.

Peter, you could turn your love for eating coffee cherries into a profitable sideline. Due to its extreme rarity, Kopi Giuliano could go for an even higher price than Kopi Luwak.

[Richard Hartnell]

I think coffee cherry fruit tastes very much like watermelon, with a slight jasmine overtone.

I love them, I usually eat myself sick when I am walking thorough a field of ripe cherries.

Peter, you could turn your love for eating coffee cherries into a profitable sideline. Due to its extreme rarity, Kopi Giuliano could go for an even higher price than Kopi Luwak.

I was wondering when someone was going to make the necessary Kopi Luwak reference in this thread. I'm pretty amazed it lasted this long without one.

[sweetmarias]

like kc mentions, I think certain cultivars have very distinct coffee chery flavors. this is true for gesha, definitely, but also imho for pacamara. yellow cultivars are different too, and i think the skins seem thinner on at least the yellow bourbon and caturra. i grow a lot of cultivars too but i think the cherry flavor is altered by the fact that this is the bay area, and my cherries take like 9 months to ripen.

btw: there are a lot of fly larvae in cherries that are the rebusco, ie have been on the tree a long time, past harvesting, a bit out of season. also, i would point out that broca-infested cherry has a distinct shit flavor, as i found out in colombia.

tom

[Jim Saborio]

broca-infested cherry has a distinct shit flavor

...known for his colorful descriptions.

[Robert Goble]

How about Jam? Anyone make jam from coffee cherries?