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Cuba

The Sierra Maestra, UNESCO-listed coffee ruins, and a crop that never recovered its former scale.

Production
0.1M bags (60 kg)
Altitude
400–1,200 m
Species
100% Arabica
Harvest
September–January

Production figures are for the 2025/26 crop year.

Overview

Cuban coffee grows in two mountain systems: the Sierra Maestra in the east, which produces the great majority, and the Escambray in the centre. Production is a fraction of its mid-twentieth-century peak — the country now imports coffee to meet domestic demand — and the state marketing structure means very little reaches the specialty market abroad.

What survives of the historical industry is unusual enough to be protected: the archaeological landscape of the first coffee plantations in south-eastern Cuba, built by French planters who fled Haiti after the revolution, is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The terraces, aqueducts and drying platforms there are the physical record of how Caribbean coffee was farmed two centuries ago.

Growing regions

  • Arabica

Shaded provinces contain growing areas; the crop covers only part of each.

400–1,200 m
Arabica

The eastern range above Santiago — most of the national crop, and the UNESCO landscape.

Harvest
  1. J
  2. F
  3. M
  4. A
  5. M
  6. J
  7. J
  8. A
  9. S
  10. O
  11. N
  12. D
Washed Typica Bourbon Caturra Catuai

400–900 m
Arabica

The central massif above Trinidad — smaller, and lower.

Harvest
  1. J
  2. F
  3. M
  4. A
  5. M
  6. J
  7. J
  8. A
  9. S
  10. O
  11. N
  12. D
Washed Typica Caturra

In the cup

Low acidity, heavy body and a strong tobacco-and-cocoa sweetness — the classic Caribbean register. Cuban coffee is traditionally roasted dark and drunk as a sweetened espresso, and the beans are usually chosen and processed with that in mind rather than for filter clarity.

Chocolate Nutty Full body Earthy

History

Coffee arrived in the mid-eighteenth century and expanded rapidly after 1791, when planters fleeing the Haitian revolution brought capital and technique to the eastern mountains. Cuba was briefly one of the world's largest exporters. Sugar displaced it, and after 1959 state control, labour shortages in the mountains and the loss of Soviet trade reduced output to its present level.

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Sources

  1. USDA Foreign Agricultural ServiceProduction, Supply and Distribution — Coffee (2025/26) (read August 31, 2026) Cited for Production, Species
  2. International Coffee OrganizationHistorical Data on the Global Coffee Trade (read August 24, 2026)
  3. World Coffee ResearchArabica Coffee Varieties (read August 24, 2026) Cited for Varieties

Country outlines and shaded relief from Natural Earth, which places them in the public domain.

Growing-region markers indicate an area. They are not surveyed farm locations and should not be read as any.