Cuban ‘Coffee Crisis’
The price of coffee has been going up throughout the world as a result of poor crops. In the past 7 months alone coffee prices have more than doubled with coffee stocks at their lowest for about 50 years. As well as poor weather conditions the shortage is due in part to an increasing taste for coffee in some countries; notably China, Indonesia & India.
For most of us this means paying more for our coffee in the supermarket. According to the Office for National Statistics, in Britain, a 227g bag of ground filter coffee cost £2.60 in March, compared with £2.28 a year ago, while a 100g bag of instant coffee – which is apparently what the majority of us drink here - was up from £2.27 to £2.47. In coffee shops the increase is less.
For Cubans, however it’s a very different story. There the authorities have responded to the current ‘coffee crisis’ by deciding to mix coffee with roasted peas. In fact this somewhat surprising & extreme sounding tactic is actually the reintroduction of a time honoured money saving measure in Cuba when things get tough. When coffee production slumped & then collapsed after the revolution in 1959 this was exactly what they did.
A trade ministry note announced in the communist party newspaper Granma: “It has been decided to once again produce coffee mixed with peas for the rationed quota.”
The decision has been met with mixed responses from Cubans. Isa Morena, a guesthouse owner in Havana said: “It’s got a thin, sharp taste. I never liked it. It didn’t help that we had no choice. It was that or nothing.”
For others, however, when an economic recovery occurred in 2005 & the pure coffee was restored, many found it unpalatable having become accustomed to the added flavour of the roast peas. “I like it better with peas,” Juan Hernandez Pedroso, a street sweeper, said. “I don’t know, maybe it’s because it’s what I’m used to.”
Indeed many Cubans refused to revert to drinking pure coffee, resorting to making their own roasted pea brew.
If, like me, you’d never heard of this before, you’ll be no doubt very surprised to learn about it. However, what is even more astounding was to hear about a further cost saving exercise announced by the Cuban ministry of trade “The rationed quota issued to consumers up to six years of age will be terminated. These measures will be applied as of this month.” Under sixes with a coffee ration – well I never!
