Qishr Recipe: Yemeni Coffee-Husk Tea with Ginger

What Is Qishr Made From?

The coffee ingredient is the dried husk of the cherry, rather than roasted beans. Sheba Yemeni Food describes qishr as a light, tea-like Yemeni preparation and gives kishr and gishr as alternate spellings. Its recipe uses ginger, cinnamon and caraway; other spices and sweetness vary.

A named café example makes that distinction useful when ordering. Qamaria describes its Sheeba drink as qishr with ginger and cinnamon. On the same menu, Juban combines coffee and qishr. Those are different ingredient choices, even though both appear among Yemeni coffee drinks.

The ginger-and-cinnamon version below gives you a clear starting point. It is an editorial home adaptation, not a tested reconstruction of one family's recipe or a café's proprietary formula. The gram measurements are ours; they are not a conversion of someone else's loosely filled cup of husks.

Qishr Recipe with Ginger and Cinnamon

Makes two servings in about 15 minutes. Allow 10 minutes at a gentle simmer after the pan reaches a boil. Stove heating time varies.

Ingredients

• 20 g food-grade dried coffee-cherry husks
• 500 ml water
• 6 g fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 1 g cinnamon stick
• 8 g granulated sugar, divided

Method

1. Put the water, coffee husks, grated ginger and cinnamon stick in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil.
2. Reduce the heat and simmer gently, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Watch the pan so it does not boil dry.
3. Strain through a fine mesh strainer into a heatproof jug. Divide the collected infusion equally between two cups.
4. Stir 4 g sugar into each cup. Let the drink cool to a comfortable temperature before sipping.

500 ml is the water you start with. Evaporation and liquid retained by the husks reduce the collected amount. Divide what you strain into two equal portions; do not describe each as a measured 250 ml finished drink.

Use a saucepan with space above the ingredients, rather than filling it to the rim. A fine strainer helps catch the grated ginger as well as the husks. There is no need for a grinder, espresso machine or milk frother.

Sheba Yemeni Food's published method provides the approximately 10-minute stovetop reference. Our version uses a gentle simmer, chooses only ginger and cinnamon, and adds sugar to the cups after straining. The original recipe's other quantities and additional caraway are not presented as ours.

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Choose the Husks, Then Adjust the Spices

Buy coffee-cherry husks intended for brewing, also sold as food-grade cascara. Check the pack's ingredient, preparation and storage information. Husks sold for this use should not be confused with miscellaneous coffee-processing waste or with cascara sagrada bark. The cascara tea guide explains that naming distinction and a simpler unspiced steep.

Weigh the husks. Their irregular shape makes a spoon or cup an unreliable replacement for the specified 20 g unless your supplier documents a conversion for that product.

Fresh ginger brings a different flavor from ground dried ginger, so avoid treating 6 g fresh as 6 g powder. The cinnamon is a 1 g piece of stick, not “one stick” of any size. Break off and weigh a piece rather than dropping in a large stick by count.

Keep the other amounts unchanged when comparing a variation. If the finished drink is too concentrated, add a little hot water to the cup. A vigorous boil can reduce the liquid much faster than a gentle simmer, so check the heat before increasing the recipe's water or sugar next time.

Qishr Caffeine, Calories and Sugar

Qishr made from coffee-cherry husks contains caffeine. Calling it tea, herbal-style or husk coffee does not establish a low or zero amount. We do not have a measured caffeine result for this 20 g, two-serving preparation.

Each cup in this recipe receives 4 g added sugar, contributing about 15 kcal on its own. The infusion's extracted nutrients have not been quantified, so that is not a whole-drink calorie total. Omitting sugar removes that known addition; it does not establish a zero-calorie beverage.

This ingredient list includes no milk or cream. Check purchased husks, spice blends and café versions for their own ingredient and allergen information; the home recipe does not establish an allergen guarantee for another preparation.

Qishr vs. Cascara and Other Yemeni Drinks

The easiest way to order is to ask what supplies the coffee flavor, whether milk is included, and when sweetener is added. Qamaria's published menu illustrates why names alone can be confusing:

These are that café's descriptions, not fixed definitions of every household's version. For the cream-and-coffee branch, see mofawar. For the broader roasted-coffee context, see Arabic coffee.

Cascara and qishr are closely connected because both use coffee-cherry material. This guide concentrates on the Yemeni spiced preparation; the cascara page covers buying the ingredient, unspiced brewing and published supplier ratios.

Common Questions

Editor's Take

Sources and Further Reading