Mixture of coffee pea returns to Cuba

  Cuban coffee drinkers are defined for a change in taste Cuba is taken from the roasted coffee blend pea in a bid to the increase in international coffee prices toauthorities say.

The mixture for domestic consumption will reduce costs, given that the price of coffee reached 69% last year, said the announcement.

Cuba needs to import coffee as its production, despite recent investments, may not meet the local demand.

Mixture of peas was common in Cuba-loving coffee for many years.

A statement in the Official Journal of the Communist Party Granma said the resumption of the production of coffee mixed with peas.

The price of coffee, Granma reported, had increased by $1,740 (￡ 1,053) $ 2, 904 (￡ 1,758) per tonne in the past year, in common with many food products.

Pea had increased by 30%, but at $500 a tonne the price was still well below the price of coffee, Granma added.

At the same time, the rations of coffee for children up to six years are eliminated.

Bitter brew

The measures mean that the authorities will be able to continue the distribution of coffee with the subsidized price to 4 pesos (17 US cents) for a bag of 115 g (4 oz), said the statement.

Imports of coffee help to meet the local demand

Cubans tend to drink small cups of very sweet coffee, are used for the mixture of peas-coffee.

"It is much, much more bitter than pure coffee, which is more smooth," Froilan Valido Havana resident told the AP News Agency.

"But many people is accustomed to it."

Cuba used to be a significant exporter of coffee, but in recent years, the crops have fallen short of local demand.

Last month, the head of the State-run coffee company, Antonio Aleman, said that $9. 5 m had been invested over the past five years to modernize production.

But he said that Cuba to import of some 12 000 tonnes of a total demand of 18 000 tonnes.

The return of pea-blend a coffee is sign of last December, when the Cuban President Raul Castro said that Cuba would not have the resources to keep expenses of 50 m $ to import coffee and distribute food to all Cubans regardless of age.

"If we want to continue to drink pure coffee, a-rationed, the only solution is to produce in Cuba, where it has been proven that all the conditions required for its culture exist," he said.