And then of course there is the “cafecito” or the Cuban espresso, loved by every Cuban. Most people hearing “Cuban coffee” think of the drink instead of the bean and if you ever go through the airport of Miami you should grab the opportunity to try it out (just don’t count on it having any real Cuban coffee). Essentially the cuban cafecito is an espresso drink, strong dark coffee served in small cups with cream on it. And it’s sweet, quite sweet.
Here is the recipe for this drink:
A good cafecito has a thick layer of sweet cream floating over strong espresso. Just prepare your espresso the way you always do (but be sure to use a dark roast), because the real hearth of the cafecito is the crema (cream). So the secret is in getting the cream right. My personal opinion is that you should at least use cane sugar or even better Demerara sugar, to get the best results. Start whipping about 1 tablespoon of the espresso with the sugar until it turns foamy. You cannot overdo the whipping so give it your best until it really turns foamy and then pour the pot of espresso over it. Let the foam rise to the top.
Sounds easy, doesn’t it? But it really is worth the effort.
Coffee used to be one of Cuba’s principal export products and it’s a pity it doesn’t receive more attention. Cuba’s history proves it has the potential to be a great producing country with coffee growing regions able to produce excellent coffees. Coffee is grown in the main mountain ranges in the east (Sierra Maestra), the central part (Escambray) and in the west (Pinar del Rio). All coffee from Cuba is exported by the government regulated “Cubaexport”.
Maybe the most important coffee growing region of Cuba is the Sierra Maestra: a mountain chain with the two highest summits of Cuba: el Turquino 1,974 meters above sealevel and el Cuba con 1,872 m. The third one is called el Pico Suecia with an altitude of 1,734 m. Besides a long history of guerilla warfare and close to inaccessible coffee farms, the Sierra Maestra is one of the most beautiful parts of Cuba with rich soils that are ideal for organic coffee.
The other main coffee growing region in Cuba is the Escambray Mountains in the center of Cuba. Their highest peak, Pico San Juan, rises to 960 m above sea level and it harbors “Topes de Collantes”, a famous nature reserve park.
After the triumph of the revolution (60 years ago), the political context, the ongoing US embargo and nationalization of the industry have affected the production levels quite a lot. Production has fallen to nearly a 10% of its historic level and Cuba needs to import coffee to meet their internal demand. Some years ago the government established a development program to cut the deficit, but I have no idea of its results so far.
Cubaexport pays regulated prices to coffee growers and they were so low around 2005 that coffee growers were the worst paid farmers in the agricultural sector. Lack of attention has led to obsolete production methods, lack of the use of available technology and lack of interest from the producer’s side. This might sound all bad, but it opens the door for transition to the production of organic coffees (but that’s another story) although of course it means low production and heavy losses after the harvest.
That said, there are great and excellent Arabica coffees from the high altitude farms available in some selected markets, mainly in Japan and France, but also in Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand. You can buy it online (England) here:
https://www.cubadirecto.com/cuba-coffee or https://iflycuba.com
Not quite that expensive and worth a try.
Previous article from coffee series you can find under tag #cafescope.
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Article was also published on Cafescope
