Uncover how BioCubaCafè is reworking Cuba’s espresso business via sustainability, blockchain know-how, and farmer empowerment.
BY VASILEIA FANARIOTI
SENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT
Pictures courtesy of Michele Curto
Cuba’s espresso business has a wealthy historical past, deeply intertwined with the nation’s tradition and financial system. Nonetheless, a long time of financial hardship, coupled with the U.S. embargo and declining manufacturing, have considerably impacted the sector.
As soon as a serious exporter, Cuba now struggles to fulfill each home and worldwide demand for its espresso. The BioCubaCafè venture, a collaboration between the Lavazza Basis, the Cuban Grupo Agroforestal (GAF), and the Italian Company for Financial and Cultural Interchange with Cuba (AICEC), goals to revive Cuban espresso to its former glory whereas guaranteeing environmental and social sustainability.
We sat down with Michele Curto, the president of BioCubaCafè, to debate the venture’s imaginative and prescient, challenges, and influence on Cuba’s espresso sector.
The Imaginative and prescient Behind BioCubaCafè
Michele describes the initiative as greater than only a espresso venture. “Earlier than being a venture, BioCubaCafè was a imaginative and prescient,” Michele says. This imaginative and prescient encompassed sustainability, financial empowerment, and the reestablishment of Cuba as a number one espresso producer. At this time, the initiative leverages Cuba’s distinctive agroforestry system, which has seen the nation’s forest cowl develop from 18% in 1959 to 42% by 2022, making it one of many world’s most important reforestation efforts.
A key element of the venture is its dedication to reinvesting income. “The Lavazza Basis has dedicated to not withdrawing income, guaranteeing that they’re repeatedly reinvested within the native espresso sector,” Michele says. This mannequin ensures that BioCubaCafè shouldn’t be solely commercially viable but in addition a pressure for constructive change inside Cuba’s espresso communities.
Innovation and Sustainable Practices
Not like at typical espresso farms, Cuban espresso is cultivated inside a forest-based system, fostering biodiversity and eliminating the necessity for chemical fertilizers or pesticides. “Cuban espresso is not only natural; it’s free from pesticides and contaminants, rising inside its pure forest surroundings,” Michele says.
One of many venture’s major objectives is to reinforce traceability and high quality management. “We’ve got developed a sophisticated blockchain system that data 96 key efficiency indicators (KPIs), from soil moisture and temperature to socioeconomic knowledge on producers,” Michele continues. This technique ensures transparency within the provide chain, serving to customers join with the origin of their espresso whereas additionally supporting native farmers.
Empowering Espresso Producers
BioCubaCafè works with practically 5,000 espresso producers throughout 15 municipalities. Many of those farmers beforehand relied on casual markets, however the venture has incentivized them to reintegrate into the formal espresso financial system.
“We doubled the worth of high quality espresso cherries, linking manufacturing to truthful export markets,” Michele says. Moreover, the venture reinvests a portion of overseas foreign money earnings into important items for farming communities, providing them at backed costs to mitigate the results of inflation.
The initiative additionally emphasizes knowledge-sharing amongst farmers. “We arrange conferences the place a whole bunch of producers trade greatest practices, strengthening the native espresso sector from inside,” Michele provides. By simplifying the provision chain and eliminating extreme bureaucratic hurdles, BioCubaCafè ensures that extra worth reaches the farmers themselves.
The Highway Forward for Cuban Espresso
Regardless of vital progress, challenges stay. Balancing home demand with the necessity to export high-quality espresso is a fragile process. Nonetheless, Michele sees this as a chance. “By selling Cuban espresso internationally whereas guaranteeing provide for native customers, we improve each Cuba’s world fame and its inside market,” he says.
Trying forward, BioCubaCafè goals to plant 4,000 acres of robusta and 1,500 acres of arabica over the following 4 years. “If we succeed, we gained’t simply be exporting espresso—we will probably be reestablishing Cuba as a key participant within the world espresso panorama,” says Michele. The venture additionally plans to extend native espresso roasting capabilities, permitting Cuba to export not simply uncooked beans however completed merchandise.
For these eager about experiencing Cuban espresso firsthand, Michele extends an invite. “Go to us at ExpoCaribe in Santiago de Cuba or the Pageant Chocolate con Café in Guantánamo. These occasions showcase not simply our espresso, however Cuba’s deep connection between tradition, music, and low.”
BioCubaCafè represents a daring step ahead for Cuba’s espresso business. By mixing custom with innovation, and sustainability with financial development, the venture is setting a precedent for a way espresso will be cultivated in concord with nature and society. As Michele places it, “We aren’t simply planting espresso; we’re planting the way forward for Cuban espresso tradition.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vasileia Fanarioti (she/her) is a senior on-line correspondent for Barista Journal and a contract copywriter and editor with a major concentrate on the espresso area of interest. She has additionally been a volunteer copywriter for the I’M NOT A BARISTA NPO, offering content material to assist educate individuals about baristas and their work.
Subscribe and Extra!
As all the time, you possibly can learn Barista Journal in paper or digital format. Learn the February + March 2025 challenge free of charge with our digital version.
And for greater than three years’ price of points, go to our digital version archives right here.
