Cuban coffee guide–Cuban Crystal Mountain Coffee

Cuban coffee enjoys a high reputation in the coffee industry. Along with Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee and Kopi Luwak coffee, they are recognized as the best coffee in the world.

Cuban coffee history

Coffee was introduced to Cuba from the Dominican Republic in 1748. Since then, Cuba seems to be the preferred place to cultivate coffee. With its unique tender flavor, Cuban coffee has enraptured coffee lovers around the world. By the 1920s, coffee production had become Cuba’s main economic source. To this day, coffee remains a major export item for Cuba.

The fact that Cuba has a natural environment conducive to coffee cultivation explains all of this. The country is located in the Caribbean region. This region is blessed with fertile land, a humid climate, and abundant rainfall. Coffee trees grow at high humidity and low temperatures. The slow maturation of coffee beans allows them to accumulate caffeine and aromatic compounds more effectively. As a result, Cuban coffee is renowned for its superior quality. 

Cuban coffee beans

The coffee varieties grown in Cuba are predominantly typical. This is a classic premium Arabica variety. Many of the current commercially improved varieties are derived from this species. It has excellent flavor performance and is recognized as a fine coffee variety. However, it has a long growing cycle and low yield and is susceptible to rust disease. Therefore, it requires more labor to manage.

In Cuba, most of the black coffee beans are hand-picked. The coffee beans are picked about once every half month during the ripening period. During or after the picking process, the beans are sorted and those that are not ripe and bad are removed to ensure the quality of the coffee.

What is crystal mountain coffee?

Located in the Escambray mountain range, Crystal Mountain reaches a height of more than 800 meters. And Crystal Mountain gets its name from the abundant mica and quartz crystals in the soil. For a long time, this area has been Cuba’s premier coffee-growing region. Crystal Mountain coffee is synonymous with the best coffee in Cuba.

In fact, Crystal Mountain is geographically adjacent to the Blue Mountains of Jamaica.  And this region has similar climatic conditions. As a result, the flavor of the  Crystal Mountain coffee is comparable to that of Jamaica’s Blue Mountain coffee. It is also known to the outside world as: “Cuba’s Blue Mountain”.

How is crystal mountain coffee made?

Cubans usually process coffee beans in two ways – solarization and washing.
The sun-drying method is the simplest, cheapest, and most traditional method of Cuban coffee processing. It involves letting the coffee beans dry in the sun instead of fermenting them. The typical drying time is about four weeks.
The washing rule allows the fruity aroma to be better integrated into the coffee beans. Usually, coffee treated with the water washing method has a clean flavor, stronger acidity, weaker consistency, and fewer impurities.

Cuba coffee brands

In Cuba, the most famous Crystal Mountain coffee brand is Cubita coffee. As a rule, Cubita coffee beans are all strictly selected from the non-polluting Crystal Mountain coffee beans from the high-altitude regions.

The original coffee beans are large and high in maturity. All the Cubita beans are hand-picked and refined using the water-washing method to remove the defects and other impurities to a large extent. Together with the careful roasting by experienced roasters, results in rare coffee beans that are unique in the world. On the market, the majority of Cubita coffee is exported to Japan, the United States, France, Germany, and other countries.

What does Cuban coffee taste like?

Crystal Mountain coffee beans are typical Caribbean beans. They have a clean and delicate taste with a slight acidity, not strong but persistent.  It also has a fruity aroma and a sweet aftertaste.

The Cubita coffee has a slight bitterness and sweetness like wine, and even a hint of smoke. At the same time, it has an almost perfectly smooth, refreshing, and light taste. The taste of ordinary coffee is like the intensity of heavy metal music, but only Cubita’s taste is delicate and balanced like the softness of a country tune.

How to pack Cuban coffee into a drip coffee bag?

Contact the drip coffee packing machine supplier

Looking for a machine that can help produce delicious and consistent drip coffee? Look no further than the Drip coffee bag packaging machine. This machine is fast, efficient, and can handle all of the packaging steps automatically – from filling the bags with ground coffee to sealing and slitting them. Plus, the gas-filled overwrap helps to seal in the flavor of the coffee, making it taste even better. Contact our Pack Machine Experts