During our recent vacation in Cuba we befriended one of the waiters in the annex-bar of the hotel. Coffee was the starting point of our relationship, as my wife and I asked him for “authentic” Cuban coffee. With a smile and a shake of the head he said, “Oh, no, you would find it far too strong”. We persisted however and eventually he made us a cup of “Cuban style” coffee, which we drank with great gusto and effusive praise. The next day he appeared at our table with four bags of coffee, but not the stuff sold in the gift shop to the tourists. This was what he and his family drank he claimed, and his wife had bought it for us – some to bring home as a gift and one bag to consume while we were there. He then made us our first cup of The Real McCoy; the local coffee of Cuba as prepared not for the Gringo, but for the local people. He served it “in the style of his grandfather” with a stalk of raw sugar cane to dip into the coffee and sweeten it. If you’ve never tried sugar cane it is quite an experience. Imagine a celery stalk that when you bite into it, gushes out a copious sweet nectar.

He has worked twelve years at the hotel even though he has a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree. As a vet he would make the same 20 pesos a month (about $25 CDN), as any other worker in Cuba – from the local trash collector to the surgeon. But as a waiter he can make that in a day in tips; a job that puts him in the upper echelon of Cuban earners. Nevertheless, by the time that money is shared with co-workers and then with every member of his immediate and extended family, there is little left. But I digress. Our new-found friend told us that in the 12 years that he has worked at this 5-star hotel, we were only the second couple to ever ask him for real Cuban coffee! It turns out that the thousands of tourists who visit annully have little interest in the local culture and people.

This morning I made my own cup of real Cuban coffee at home. I chose to make it in the stove-top expresso maker, following the local Cuban methodology. I am sipping it as I write and it is delicious! And here’s the amazing part: It has very strong hints of cigar tobacco, a result doubtless, of the shared soil minerals and water that nourishes both the coffee bean and the tobacco leaf. As a former cigar aficionado, this makes Cuban coffee doubly pleasurable. Cuba fascinates me and I look forward to going back, next time to Havana and a chance to meet the family of my Canadian Cuban friends who have extended an invitation to visit.