A coffee cherry is the fruit that grows on coffee trees. It looks roughly like a small red cherry, hence the name. The “bean” we eventually grind and brew is the seed inside the cherry.
What it looks like
Coffee cherries start green and turn yellow, then red, then deep red-purple as they ripen. A few rare varieties ripen yellow instead of red. A ripe cherry is about the size of a small grape, with a thin skin, sticky pulp, and two seeds nestled together inside.
Inside the cherry
Each cherry typically contains two seeds (the green coffee beans we recognize). The seeds are separated by a thin layer called the silver skin. Around each seed is a tougher protective layer called the parchment. Around the parchment is the sticky mucilage, then the pulp, then the outer skin.
Occasionally a cherry contains only one round seed instead of two flat ones. This is called a peaberry, and some farms separate and sell peaberries as a distinct lot.
What happens to the cherry
Processing involves removing some or all of the layers around the seed. Washed processing removes the skin, pulp, and mucilage before drying. Natural processing dries the whole cherry intact, then removes everything afterward. Honey processing falls in between.
Cascara: drinking the fruit
The dried cherry skin and pulp, called cascara (Spanish for “husk”), can be brewed as a tea-like drink. It tastes of dried fruit, hibiscus, and faintly of cherry. Cascara had a moment of popularity in third-wave cafes around 2015 and remains available from some specialty roasters.
Why it matters to drinkers
Knowing what the cherry is helps you understand processing terminology. When you read that a coffee was “depulped and dry-fermented,” you know that means the skin and most of the pulp were removed, leaving the parchment-coated bean to ferment without water. The vocabulary becomes useful instead of arbitrary.