Dark Roast Cuban Coffee The Best

I love Cuba and I love Cuban Coffee, for me it has to be dark roasted, this roasting brings out the oils and the delicious flavours that genuinely transport me back to Havana. The coffee there is usually espresso but I enjoy mine in a cafetière when I can’t be bothered to fire up the espresso machine, and it still tastes fantastic. Up in the mountains it is roasted in a simple pan above an open fire, the roasted beans crushed and then hot water added, stirred and let the grounds sink, an astonishing experience, especially as you can sit under the coffee trees full of flower, green and red cherries.
Cuban coffee is one of the best in the world, personally I think rivalling Jamaican Blue Mountain. The Sierra Meastra range of mountains includes the steepest and highest mountain, Pico Turquino at 2005 metres. This high grown coffee is definitely special and is one of Cuba’s highest grades that are produced; it is also called Extra Turquino Special.  Sierra means mountain and Meastra is mistress.
Most Cuban coffee makes for a fantastic espresso but can be prepared in whatever is your normal method. Cuban coffee rarely appears on the International market, due to the North American illegal and immoral boycotting of Cuba, but hopefully this will be re-appraised now Obama and Raul Castro are talking.
Coffee was first grown in Cuba in 1748, but it was in 1789, with the arrival of thousands of French planters from Haiti, that Cuban coffee cultivation first really took off. The main coffee strains grown are Bourbon, Typica, Caturra, Catui and Catimor. The cherries are wet processed (Lavado) and then sun-dried.


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