"Cuban" Coffee beans from Montreal.

[Puros Y Vino]

A friend dropped off three freshly roasted, Cuban coffee bean bags to me.  The company is based out of Montreal.  According to their site, these are genuine Cuban beans.  While I've had many of the Cuban coffee brands, I highly doubt I'll be able to confirm the veracity of their claims.   Nonetheless, I am excited to try these.  Anyone else heard of this?

https://terracaf.ca/collections/our-coffees/origin-caribbean

 

[LOMTL]

Thanks for the tip, I'll grab a bag and see how it goes!!

[Bijan]

Thanks! I just placed a small order.

[BrightonCorgi]

I've bought two brands of Cuban coffee beans; both in Montreal for that matter.  I thought someone on St. Catherine roasted Cuban coffee beans?

[SCgarman]

How do you authenticate their provenance? Or you don't? Does Cuban coffee even have a distinctive flavor and aroma like the tobacco? Just curious. 

[Puros Y Vino]

38 minutes ago, SCgarman said:

How do you authenticate their provenance? Or you don't? Does Cuban coffee even have a distinctive flavor and aroma like the tobacco? Just curious. 

Memory I'd say.  I've had the Cohiba coffee and plenty of Turquino.  But then it'd only be a guess. 

[Hammer Smokin']

I buy Cuban beans directly from a supplier here in Hamilton at our farmers market. It definitely has a distinct teeth tingling flavour. Plus you get the "oil slick" on the surface if you drink it black. 

[LLC]

I’ll be curious what you think of them Frank. 

[Corylax18]

1 hour ago, Hammer Smokin' said:

I buy Cuban beans directly from a supplier here in Hamilton at our farmers market. It definitely has a distinct teeth tingling flavour. Plus you get the "oil slick" on the surface if you drink it black. 

I was about to mention the "Oil Slick". I've seen it to a lesser degree with other, very freshly roasted coffee, but never to the same level as Cuban Coffee. They also typically roast the coffee VERY dark down there. I dont how well that applies to beans purchased from these smaller roasters though. 

[Puros Y Vino]

37 minutes ago, LLC said:

I’ll be curious what you think of them Frank. 

I'll be grinding some of the "Cohiba" one tomorrow.  I'll post my impressions here.  I'll be making an espresso.

[GoodStix]

4 hours ago, SCgarman said:

How do you authenticate their provenance? Does Cuban coffee even have a distinctive...

When your iced coffee has a plugged straw you know it's authentic 😉

[Puros Y Vino]

Just made my first cup of Espresso with the "Cohiba" beans.  I used a stovetop espresso pot, so no crema on top to speak of. I guess without that it sorta has an "oil slick" appearance to it.   The coffee is a deep, chestnut brown.  Aroma is..uh..coffee! Though, sniffing it does remind me of Turquino.  To me, that has a taste and aroma similar to Nutella.  After a few sips, it seems a bit watery. Perhaps I didn't grind the beans down enough or pack enough in?  It does have a bit of bitter chocolate at first with a hint of a sweeter chocolate towards the end.  To my tastebuds, I taste Nutella. I am enjoying it though.  So, no regrets on the purchase.  I must admit, my morning cups are Nespresso's of 10+ "strength", which I do enjoy. I find this to be a notch above those. I do prefer a proper espresso, but I'm a bit lazy and cheap when it comes to investing in a proper setup.  😁  My next cup will come from my larger stovetop, which is properly sized for my stamper.  I'll see how that turns out.  Maybe I'll re-run the grounds through the grinder to get them a bit more fine.  In all, these beans were "free", but I am pleased so far.  Worth the risk IMO.

[helix]

Cuban coffee has never impressed me. Mediocre at best . African coffee is my go to. 

[Corylax18]

40 minutes ago, helix said:

Cuban coffee has never impressed me. Mediocre at best . African coffee is my go to. 

I love a great Cuban Coffee, prepared their way. But the beans themselves are pretty run of the mill. I'd love to get my hands on some green beans to test different roast levels, all the Cuban Coffee I've had has been over roasted. 

[Fugu]

26 minutes ago, Corylax18 said:

all the Cuban Coffee I've had has been over roasted. 

Always escapes me what they do to their beans...

[helix]

roasted just before combustion..LOL.

[Puros Y Vino]

FYI. These were roasted in Montreal. So they must've sourced them "raw".

[Bijan]

yeah you can choose from 4 different roasts from this vendor (light, medium, dark and some proprietary technique of theirs)

[Bijan]

Got the sierra in dark roast and it's too strong as straight espresso or ristretto. I'm going to try it with sugar next even though I never have sugar.

I have the sierra in another roast and I also have some turquino in two different roasts.

Edit: no amount of sugar could save it... I'll try it with milk....or as an Americano.

 

Edit 2: wasn't too bad with the sugar if sipped slow enough.

 

[Jack]

On 6/15/2022 at 6:51 PM, Bijan said:

Got the sierra in dark roast and it's too strong as straight espresso or ristretto. I'm going to try it with sugar next even though I never have sugar.

I have the sierra in another roast and I also have some turquino in two different roasts.

Edit: no amount of sugar could save it... I'll try it with milk....or as an Americano.

Edit 2: wasn't too bad with the sugar if sipped slow enough.

 

 

That darkness of roast is reminiscent of some I've had in Los Angeles - that tried to imitate some Pacific North West brands.

It seems much darker than even Sothern Italian roasts.

Having roasted (as an amateur) a few pounds of Cuban beans, I'm not convinced that taking them that dark is helpful to the flavor profile.  I don't necessarily dislike the bitterness that comes with that roasting level, but it doesn't suit all bean types and hopefull the turquino will be more of a medium roast.

In my short experience that much oil being brought to the surface, and that dark of a bean tends to muddy the inherent flavor.

I swear you could throw me a 50/50 blend of Mexican robusto and Columbian arabica at that roast level and I couldn't tell it from good Cuban beans.

[Bijan]

4 hours ago, Jack said:

That darkness of roast is reminiscent of some I've had in Los Angeles - that tried to imitate some Pacific North West brands.

It seems much darker than even Sothern Italian roasts.

Yeah I'd only seen this level on the Starbucks french roast. It used to get stuck in the automatic espresso machine at my last job and we'd have to dig at the beans in the hopper with a spoon to get them to drop down into the grinder.

Edit: thankfully any darker than this and the beans will likely spontaneously combust 😂

Also it's hard to gauge sometimes. I'm in the greater Toronto area and a lot of Toronto coffee roasters seem obsessed with light roasts. So a medium roast here is generally way lighter than I'd want, and a light roast I'd rather not drink at all...

Guess Montreal roast levels are more accurate.

Edit: on another positive note i seem to be able to drink these super dark roast espressos while working, though I end up having less than half the coffee i normally would.

[Bijan]

Tried the same coffee in their proprietary roast.

Much better! Very good balance.

Although I was starting to get used to that ludicrous dark roast towards the end.

[Puros Y Vino]

Just finished grinding the last of my "Cohiba" beans.  I've been enjoying it from the mocha pot.  Once it's done, I'm going to go for the "Turquino" beans.  That one is the most distinct bean for me in the Cuban range.  If they can nail the flavour I'll be pleasantly surprised.

[Cigar Surgeon]

On 6/10/2022 at 12:28 PM, helix said:

roasted just before combustion..LOL.

The ever elusive '3rd crack'.

[Puros Y Vino]

Just made some of their "Turquino" beans as espresso.  Bang on!  This is what my tastebuds remember about that coffee.  Pretty impressive.