Coffee Is All I Want

How sweet coffee tastes, more delicious than a thousand kisses, milder than muscatel wine. Coffee, I have to have coffee and, if somebody wants to pamper me, ah, then bring me coffee as a gift!” – Johann Sebastian Bach

By Rosa Martinez

HAVANA TIMES – Have you ever asked yourself what life would be like without coffee? Have you? Well, I haven’t, I haven’t imagined life without it, nor do I want to.

The thing is I’ve had a close connection to coffee ever since I was a small girl.

It’s a custom in my family to give a sip of light coffee (a sweet drink with very little caffeine) to babies after they are six months old. According to my elders, a little bit of this magical drink from time to time, prevents oral disease in children.

My brothers and sisters and I grew up eating bread with coffee for breakfast. We would impatiently wait for my grandmother to prepare the first strain of coffee. We would always be driven to despair, because we used to think that the clear coffee, that we would drink, would come before the intense flavor for the adults. But it didn’t work like that.

I remember my younger brother kicking up a real fuss one day, because he’d say that it was’t fair that the adults would drink coffee first, before the youngest ones. He cried so much out of rage that time. He later understood why we were ones to have our coffee last. This ocurred even though we were the first ones in my grandmother’s heart.

Fond memories

This delicious aroma, early in the morning, brings back very fond memories. First of all, of my closest brother, the youngest one, this confidant who I’ve always spoilt and, as a result, I’ve earned his adoration. Of course, my grandmother was the sweetest person to walk this Earth. Although I’m aware people say every grandmother is like this. My family would huddle around in the big kitchen, kicking up a ruckus from the moment the Sun rose.

My beloved grandmother passed away a long time ago, and family reunions, well they aren’t the same anymore. However, my younger brother’s love grows every day, as does my caffeine addiction.

I’ve gone through phases in my life of drinking more or less of this elixir of the gods.

I remember that when I was at high school, I was told that my teeth would turn black because I drank so much and I wanted to stop drinking it immediately. I couldn’t let my teeth get ruined because of a drink that wasn’t anything out of this world, I would tell myself back then.

When I entered university, while I was still concerned about my appearance, I needed to study long hours into the night. So, my eternal friend took a hold of my life again, this time forever.

Now, I’m a regular Cuban worker, a mother of two beautiful teenage girls, living in a country with great financial hardship. Madness has sunken its claws into me when I can’t get this and that for my family, I mean basic essentials, which are really needed to survive. Which improve, brighten up or make life more satisfying… well it’s best not to get into that.

The friend that helps me get by

I think it’s been thanks to this loyal companion of mine that my days are a little more bearable. It doesn’t matter if somebody gets sick, if it’s been hard to put a meal on the table, if school grades haven’t been the best, if a friend or relative has left Cuba, if I had to deal with family problems on my own…

My coffee is there, by my side. It makes my heart beat slower and it soothes my soul.

However, it’s been a few days since I’ve had a sip. The Hola coffee brand (mixed coffee and chickpeas) ran out at the bodega rations store a while ago, and even though it’s been criticized a lot, everybody wants it now. I used to have the option of buying the coffee beans and for a neighbor to roast it. But this possibility has also disappeared, you can’t find it anywhere for any price. I only had the dollar stores left, and there, I had to get it with more pain (dolor) than dollars.

However, before going to the store, I wanted to find out why this grain is in such shortage. Taking into account that here in Oriente (Santiago being the largest grower) 90% of all national coffee is produced. We never experienced such coffee shortages, not even during the toughest moments in the “Special Period” crisis of the ‘90s.

I looked on the Internet for a few days straight, trying to find some information. However, all I could find were some old news articles. All of them speak about coffee production growing and an increase in exports to new markets. But like I told you, these were old news articles.

Once again its the people’s fault…

Today, I searched again and boom! I came across a recent article, from just a few days before. It was published on the official Cubadebate website. I read and reread the article to find out the reasons for coffee shortages on the national market. As well as in my kitchen.

I couldn’t believe it. According to Antonio Aleman Blanco, the general director of state-led company Cuba-Cafe, one of the reasons for coffee shortages today in Cuban homes is social distancing. He said it has led to Cubans drinking more coffee. That’s to say, I’m also to blame…

Read more posts by Rosa Martinez here.