Island-Style Coffee Cuban Coffee How to Brew Cuban Crystal Mountain Coffee? Cuban Coffee Bean Grading System

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The Rise of Island-Type Coffee

Island-type coffee rose to prominence between the 18th and 19th centuries, with coffee growing regions located in vast oceans without connections to mainland. When mentioning island-type coffee, most people immediately think of either Blue Mountain coffee or Kona coffee. In fact, Taiwan province, Bourbon Island, Saint Helena, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Cuba can all be classified as island-type coffee origins. In this article, FrontStreet Coffee will take everyone to understand Cuban coffee together.

The History of Cuban Coffee Cultivation

In 1720, a French naval officer planted the first Typica mother tree in Central America on the French island of Martinique in the eastern Caribbean Sea. Subsequently, nearby islands such as Jamaica and Cuba, due to their geographical advantages, quickly ignited the coffee cultivation craze and sold well to European colonial powers, enjoying up to two hundred years of coffee golden age. By the 20th century, major political shifts occurred, involving complex political and economic situations. Island-type coffee-producing countries that had not risen to prominence were reduced to second-tier producers. Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Haitian coffee farmlands shrank dramatically, production value declined, and the once-booming coffee industry eventually returned to obscurity. Coffee quality was affected, declining from its original magnificent fragrance and mellow richness to dull and bland flavors, ultimately becoming third-tier producers, which is truly lamentable.

Until 1959, after the success of Castro's revolution, coffee volunteer forces were led to reorganize the coffee industry. However, these volunteers had no experience in coffee cultivation and also eliminated the experienced coffee farmers in the eastern region, causing coffee quality to decline even further. After 1990, Cuba encountered the dissolution of the Soviet Union and once again fell into economic difficulties. Coffee farmers one after another retreated to urban areas to make a living, farmlands were left unattended, and ultimately Cuba's coffee industry was beyond redemption.

Although Cuban coffee had declined dramatically, there was still a small amount of specialty coffee that was purchased by Japanese who loved island-type coffee. At that time, the Japanese became benefactors of Cuban coffee. Later, as Japanese demand increased but Cuban coffee production continued to decline—from nearly 3,000 tons in 2004 to a sharp drop to 500 tons in 2008—to meet the demands of purchasing countries, Cuba shifted from cultivating Typica to growing ordinary quality Arabica and even Robusta beans. From then on, Cuban coffee never appeared in the specialty coffee market again.

Coffee Growing Regions

The name Cuba comes from the now-extinct Taino indigenous people of the West Indies, originally meaning "fertile land everywhere." When speaking of Cuban coffee, FrontStreet Coffee thinks of Crystal Mountain coffee. Its coffee flavor is similar to Blue Mountain, so it is often called "Cuban Blue Mountain" by many people to add to the topic of Cuban Crystal Mountain coffee.

Crystal Mountain (Sierra Cristal) has an elevation of 900-1200m and is located in northeastern Cuba. It is the second highest mountain range and, together with the main mountain range in the southeast (Sierra Maestra) and the Escambray range in the south-central region (Sierra Escambray), forms Cuba's three major coffee-producing regions. However, the Crystal Mountain coffee on the market does not all come from the Crystal Mountain area—it may come from the other two mountain ranges. The reason this coffee is named Crystal Mountain is mainly because Crystal Mountain was primarily exported to Japan, France, Italy, and Germany. The Japanese considered Crystal Mountain to be the highest grade among Cuban coffees, so they gave Cuban coffee the elegant name "Crystal Mountain Coffee."

Coffee Varieties

The main coffee variety cultivated in Cuba is Typica. Typica has an elegant flavor but is physically weak with low disease resistance and is easily infected with leaf rust. FrontStreet Coffee believes that the most distinctive characteristic of Typica coffee trees is their bronze-colored terminal leaves, which some people call "red-topped coffee." Typica beans are relatively large, forming pointed conical or slender pointed shapes, different from the round beans of the Bourbon variety. Typica coffee has its unique clean and subtle flavor, as well as balanced characteristics, with high clarity in taste.

Coffee Bean Processing Methods

Cuban coffee mainly uses the washed processing method. FrontStreet Coffee believes that washed processed coffee has more pronounced acidity, better clarity, medium texture, and the most consistent green bean quality.

First, large amounts of water are added to the coffee cherries to wash away unripe fruits and impurities floating on the surface for bean selection. Then, a depulping machine is used to remove the skin and pulp. Next, they are placed in fermentation tanks for 18-36 hours, allowing fermentation bacteria to dissolve the mucilage on the surface of the coffee cherries. After fermentation and mucilage removal, the coffee berries in the tank are washed with an appropriate amount of water. During the washing process, stirring removes mucilage decomposition products from the coffee bean surface. After washing, only the coffee parchment, silver skin, and green beans remain.

The washed coffee beans will be sorted to remove defective coffee beans. Immediately after, they will be sent to drying locations (tarps, cement floors, raised beds, etc.) for drying treatment. The drying time will depend on environmental climate and other factors, generally ranging from 5 to 14 days. At this time, the moisture content of the coffee beans will drop from 55% to 11%. The dried coffee beans will be called parchment coffee—green beans with parchment layer. The parchment beans will be sent to warehouses for storage and will undergo hulling before export.

Cuban Coffee Flavor

Cuban coffee is a typical island bean with a clean taste and delicate flavor. Its uniqueness lies in the ultimate balance between bitter and acidic flavors, with a delicate and smooth texture, bright and elegant color, rich and fragrant aroma, and a faint smoky aroma, like walking into a small village to enjoy simplicity and nature.

Cuban Coffee Grading System

The Cuban Coffee Association grades coffee beans into nine levels according to particle size and flavor:

• Crystal Mountain
• Extra Turquino
• Turquino
• Altura
• Montana
• Cumbre
• Serrano Superior
• Serrano Corriente
• Caracolillo

The grading classification is based on coffee bean size, divided into ETL (extra grade), TL (medium grade), and AL (ordinary grade). Crystal Mountain is Cuba's most proud high-quality large premium coffee beans.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Tips

Cuban coffee is a typical island-type coffee, mostly roasted to medium-dark to enhance the coffee's richness. When brewing medium-dark roasted coffee, FrontStreet Coffee uses a Kono filter.

The ribs of a Kono filter don't reach even halfway up the filter's height. This design is actually to ensure that after wetting, the filter adheres closely to the filter wall, restricting airflow. This increases the water absorption time of the coffee powder particles, resulting in more uniform overall extraction and enhancing the rich mouthfeel. Additionally, the concave skeleton at the bottom of the Kono filter is a key design that allows the subsequent brewing to produce a siphon effect.

FrontStreet Coffee suggests using brewing water temperature of 88-89°C. Too high a temperature will easily extract off-flavors from the coffee, while too low a temperature cannot bring out the richness and sweetness of medium-dark roasted coffee beans.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

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