Nespresso Will Be The First Company To Export Cuban Coffee To The US / 14ymedio

A farmer selects ripe coffee. (EFE)
A farmer selects ripe coffee. (EFE)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio (With agency information), Havana, 20 June 2016 — The Cuban coffee will again be exported to the US after more than 50 years. Nespresso, of the Nestlé group, will be the first company to do so, as reported Monday by the Reuters agency.

Cuban coffee is one of the island’s non-state products that the US State Department authorized for import this April. Cuba’s National Bureau of the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP) rejected the measure and charged that it was an attempt to influence Cuban peasants and separate them from the state, saying that it “cannot be permitted, because it would destroy a Revolutionary process that has provided participatory democracy, freedom, sovereignty and independence.”

Nespresso said Monday that the US market launch of Cuban Cafecito will occur in the fall of this year, although initially the product will be available in limited quantities.

The president of Nepresso USA, Guillaume Le Cunff, explained the firm will work with the nonprofit organization TechnoServe to support independent coffee growers on the island.

“We want consumers in the US try this amazing coffee and enjoy it now and in the coming years,” he added.

Starbucks Corp, one of Nespresso’s main competitors in the US market, told Reuters that at present it has no plans to import coffee from Cuba.