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 According to statistics, Cuba is far from the first place among the producers of coffee beans. About 20,000 tons of coffee - almost the same amount is produced, for example, in Haiti. And the area of coffee plantations on Liberty Island is the same as in Costa Rica - 90,000 hectares. Although in Costa Rica, due to its high yield, coffee is harvested seven times more than in Cuba.
Cuba is famous not only for its coffee, sugarcane, from which delicious rum is obtained, but also for its high-quality local tobacco. But, having visited Liberty Island, you will be convinced of the indisputable advantage of Cuban coffee, the exquisite taste and aroma of which are known far beyond the borders of the country. It is for this that coffee is so appreciated by admirers, since a cup of Cuban coffee is an integral part of the national gastronomic ritual, which is combined with a traditional cigar "tabaco" or "abano" and a glass of fantastic rum.
According to the well-established tradition, Cuban coffee is prepared very strong, they always drink from small cups, filling them only halfway and always washed down with cold water. For coffee, Cubans do not spare sugar, because there is always plenty of this product on the Island. And how to make the right Cuban coffee, they can tell you in detail in the "Cassa del Café" - a specialty store with a tasting room. House of Coffee, which is how the name of the store is translated from Spanish, is located in the heart of the capital. There is no other store in Havana that is so close to the city center. Here, on Arsenalnaya Square - Plaza de Armas, next to the monument, a solemn festive mass was served in honor of the founding of the legendary city by the famous Columbus. Casa del Rón, the home of Cuban rum, is a little further away.
At Casa del Café you can taste different varieties of Cuban coffeeand also listen to music and interesting stories about how coffee appeared on the Island. Cubita is the main trademark of Cuban coffee. The state-owned company, which produces different types of "Qubita", in 2008 celebrated the 260th anniversary of the first coffee plantations in Cuba, and prepared for this date a special type of ground coffee "Memorable Date". On branded cardboard boxes, along with the "Qubita" logo - the outline of the Island - the text part of the romantic content is placed. It deals, in particular, with the appearance in Cuba and the Caribbean islands of the first coffee and the decisive role in this event of the famous French navigator Gabriel de Clay. In 1720, on his ship, he intended to deliver several coffee seedlings to the American colonies. Due to a long storm, the boat could not land on the shore, and the crew was running out of the last supplies of drinking water. Clay extracted part of the water from his meager norm to water the seedlings, and one tree was saved. So coffee got to the French colonies (in particular, in Haiti), and from there it was brought to Cuba in 1748.
A drink expertly prepared from coffee beans, was worthily appreciated on the Island and almost elevated to the rank of a national symbol. And on the wall of one Havana coffee restaurant you can read a well-known quote, the words of which are attributed to the poet of the 19th century. Jose Marti. “Coffee has an inherent property to enter into union with the soul. He guides a person on the path of purifying the Spirit, sharpens the capabilities of the body. " The revolution of 1798 and the escape of French planters from Haiti to Cuba contributed to the spread of coffee throughout the country. The rebellious slaves, led by the dark-skinned general of Toussaint-Louverture, threw the French out of their Island, after which their plantations were divided among themselves.But in Cuba, planters tried to reproduce on the new lands not only the previous economic structure, but also the way of life. Thus, to the west of Havana, rich estates appeared in the mountains. At the moment, most of these plantations are in disrepair, but the unusual lifestyle of their owners allows modern tourists to contemplate the unusual architecture of landscape gardening.
In the middle of the 19th century, during the development of coffee production, there were about 2 thousand plantations in Cuba, which supplied about 20,000 tons of coffee beans. Production was predominantly export-oriented. But over time, it decreased due to weather conditions: cyclones that hit the island destroyed millions of coffee trees, most of the plantations were damaged.
Coffee production was partially restored in the 30s of the twentieth century, and then due to the decline in sugar production and high import tariffs. Cuba in 1934 had 84 million coffee trees, with about 90% of the plantation area located in the eastern provinces.
Asya Novikova
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