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Coffee came to Cuba from Haiti in the
mid-1700s, and today its East, West and Central regions of Arabica
plantations provide about 0.27 of one per cent of the world's
coffee. The altitude range is only from 350 to 500 meters, and
considering how good the coffees are, it's a shame Cuba's slopes are
not higher. The state controls production, and the grading is
numerically standardized, so exotic names really only denote beans
sorted by size (descending from "Extra Turquino" through "Turquino",
"Altura", and "Montana", and arriving at the "Cumbre" coffee, which
is sorted peaberries). Only those bags which have a grade of 1,2, or
3 (out of 9) are exportable, as the numbers indicate the proportion
of defective beans. In fact, the island government imports low grade
coffees for internal consumption in order to export the top-quality
produce. For a number of years most of the Cuban crop went to the
USSR and its satellites; today more of its "Turquino" is available
as a gourmet coffee, or was, until the Japanese discovered its
similarity to Jamaica Blue Mountain. |
