www.hamblegroup.com32

Businessman and former Tory Treasury minister, Phillip Oppenheim, discovered Cuban coffee more than a decade

ago after trekking in the sierra maestra mountains in Cuba’s glorious deep-south and came across a farmer – one of Cuba’s campesinos – on horse back.

The campesino invited him into his wooden house, thatched with palm fronds, and his wife offered Phillip a cup of coffee – made from his own beans, with milk fresh from the cow.

“it was the best coffee i had ever tasted,” says Phillip – “smooth, strong and totally fresh!”

That got him thinking about Cuba’s coffee. Phillip knew the island well through his involvement with Cubana, the famous London Cuban bar-restaurant which introduced mojitos to the uK in the 1990s. He already imported rum and raw organic sugar from Cuba for mojitos and knew who to talk to.

it still took a lot of time. Cuba was opening up only slowly. But he discovered that the island had, until the 1950s, been the world’s biggest coffee exporter producing some of the finest coffee beans money could buy. The crop had been introduced to Cuba by French planters fleeing from Haiti in the 1790s.

Cuba’s mountains, with tall native trees and Caribbean breezes, complemented by deep, loamy soils, were perfect for high quality coffees which prefer shade, altitude and proximity to the sea for the ‘cherries’ to develop their complex flavours slowly.

This was coffee worth working for. The plantations had declined since the ‘50s, but the potential of a large coffee growing mountain range just 70 miles across the Caribbean from Jamaica’s celebrated Blue mountains was obvious.

it took seven years of meetings in faceless Havana ministries and countless long drives to the mountains before Philip began to get what he wanted.

Phillip had by then teamed up with Peter de Bruyne, who runs the Blue mountain Coffee distribution in europe and his partner Gonzalo solis, a celebrated Costa Rican coffee farmer who is legendary among discerning asian coffee aficionados for his superb collection of high grown varieties. Peter and Gonzalo were also fascinated by Cuban coffee and were introduced to Phillip by the Cuban embassy in London, whose commercial attaché had befriended them.

added to the mix was David mathew, an old university friend of Phillip and emerging markets specialist who had worked in China during the early days. David raised

the finance and at the end of 2013, alma de Cuba coffee was launched, initially as an online e-commerce brand.

This was the very first time an overseas company had invested directly into the previously closed Cuban agricultural sector. The deal permits alma de Cuba to provide technical support to help finance material assistance for small Cuban farmers and the associated raw coffee processing plants located in the coffee growing mountains between santiago de Cuba and Baracoa (in the island’s far south-east – not far from Jamaica’s well-known Blue mountains).

in return, alma de Cuba has obtained a supply of the very best quality gourmet Cuban coffee – which is very limited in availability. alma de Cuba batch roasts and packs this the uK for freshness and ships globally via its e-commerce website.

says Phillip Oppenheim, managing director of alma de Cuba: “We needed to secure an increasing supply of really special coffee beans and this deal with the Cubans allows them to re-develop what was once – and still remains – a superb coffee growing industry. We get these very rare coffee beans and the Cuban farmers get what they need to grow more.

The deal involves alma de Cuba investing some $4m over four years. This will help to fund new equipment for the de-pulping

AlmA de CubA––––– At the bottom of every cup is a great story… –––––

| BUSINESS

plants, which take the outer ‘cherry’ from the green coffee beans, as well as providing micro-plants which farmers in the higher altitudes will use to process their own coffee cherries, allowing them to keep more value and reducing transport costs.

The investment will also go towards new testing laboratories, improved logistics and even veterinary support for the mules which provide a lot of the transport capacity in the high mountains where the best coffee is grown and where there are no paved roads.

alma de Cuba will obtain a steadily increasing supply of top quality Cuban coffee for sale globally. it will also develop micro-regional coffees to sell under the alma de Cuba brand and as green beans to coffee roaster.

although alma de Cuba will be developing a trade in Cuban green coffee beans, its main strategy lies in developing its e-commerce platform for direct sale to consumers as well as a wholesale facility for selected flagship retailers including Le Grande epicerie, Paris for its gourmet roast coffee gift tin, along with high-end hotels, coffee shops and restaurants.

www.Almacuba.com

www.hamblegroup.com 33

03-Alma de Cuba pp32-33.indd A4 V 29/09/2014 18:47

Businessman and former Tory Treasury minister, Phillip Oppenheim, discovered Cuban coffee more than a decade

ago after trekking in the sierra maestra mountains in Cuba’s glorious deep-south and came across a farmer – one of Cuba’s campesinos – on horse back.

The campesino invited him into his wooden house, thatched with palm fronds, and his wife offered Phillip a cup of coffee – made from his own beans, with milk fresh from the cow.

“it was the best coffee i had ever tasted,” says Phillip – “smooth, strong and totally fresh!”

That got him thinking about Cuba’s coffee. Phillip knew the island well through his involvement with Cubana, the famous London Cuban bar-restaurant which introduced mojitos to the uK in the 1990s. He already imported rum and raw organic sugar from Cuba for mojitos and knew who to talk to.

it still took a lot of time. Cuba was opening up only slowly. But he discovered that the island had, until the 1950s, been the world’s biggest coffee exporter producing some of the finest coffee beans money could buy. The crop had been introduced to Cuba by French planters fleeing from Haiti in the 1790s.

Cuba’s mountains, with tall native trees and Caribbean breezes, complemented by deep, loamy soils, were perfect for high quality coffees which prefer shade, altitude and proximity to the sea for the ‘cherries’ to develop their complex flavours slowly.

This was coffee worth working for. The plantations had declined since the ‘50s, but the potential of a large coffee growing mountain range just 70 miles across the Caribbean from Jamaica’s celebrated Blue mountains was obvious.

it took seven years of meetings in faceless Havana ministries and countless long drives to the mountains before Philip began to get what he wanted.

Phillip had by then teamed up with Peter de Bruyne, who runs the Blue mountain Coffee distribution in europe and his partner Gonzalo solis, a celebrated Costa Rican coffee farmer who is legendary among discerning asian coffee aficionados for his superb collection of high grown varieties. Peter and Gonzalo were also fascinated by Cuban coffee and were introduced to Phillip by the Cuban embassy in London, whose commercial attaché had befriended them.

added to the mix was David mathew, an old university friend of Phillip and emerging markets specialist who had worked in China during the early days. David raised

the finance and at the end of 2013, alma de Cuba coffee was launched, initially as an online e-commerce brand.

This was the very first time an overseas company had invested directly into the previously closed Cuban agricultural sector. The deal permits alma de Cuba to provide technical support to help finance material assistance for small Cuban farmers and the associated raw coffee processing plants located in the coffee growing mountains between santiago de Cuba and Baracoa (in the island’s far south-east – not far from Jamaica’s well-known Blue mountains).

in return, alma de Cuba has obtained a supply of the very best quality gourmet Cuban coffee – which is very limited in availability. alma de Cuba batch roasts and packs this the uK for freshness and ships globally via its e-commerce website.

says Phillip Oppenheim, managing director of alma de Cuba: “We needed to secure an increasing supply of really special coffee beans and this deal with the Cubans allows them to re-develop what was once – and still remains – a superb coffee growing industry. We get these very rare coffee beans and the Cuban farmers get what they need to grow more.

The deal involves alma de Cuba investing some $4m over four years. This will help to fund new equipment for the de-pulping

AlmA de CubA––––– At the bottom of every cup is a great story… –––––

plants, which take the outer ‘cherry’ from the green coffee beans, as well as providing micro-plants which farmers in the higher altitudes will use to process their own coffee cherries, allowing them to keep more value and reducing transport costs.

The investment will also go towards new testing laboratories, improved logistics and even veterinary support for the mules which provide a lot of the transport capacity in the high mountains where the best coffee is grown and where there are no paved roads.

alma de Cuba will obtain a steadily increasing supply of top quality Cuban coffee for sale globally. it will also develop micro-regional coffees to sell under the alma de Cuba brand and as green beans to coffee roaster.

although alma de Cuba will be developing a trade in Cuban green coffee beans, its main strategy lies in developing its e-commerce platform for direct sale to consumers as well as a wholesale facility for selected flagship retailers including Le Grande epicerie, Paris for its gourmet roast coffee gift tin, along with high-end hotels, coffee shops and restaurants.

www.Almacuba.com

03-Alma de Cuba pp32-33.indd 32 29/09/2014 18:47