A necessary introduction
It seems that this challenge was made for me because from October 16 to 22 of this year I had a week of vacation in a tourist enclave in the center of the country. But, the most important thing that is related to this initiative is that this area is one of the most important in Cuba in terms of coffee production and commercialization.
As a good lover of this beverage, I decided to learn as much as I could about coffee and, in this sense, my objective was to increase my coffee culture and to be able to share the experiences I had learned in this community.
In this challenge I will discuss the experiences of the Debatable Prompt: You receive a 5-day train ride through the countryside as a work bonus. The best part? It's a themed experience with coffee. Tell us about the coolest things you've seen during this vacation.
That's why this debatable question has all the reality of what I did and did not do on this seven-day vacation.
The vacation spot
If you look for a map of Cuba and locate the Guamuhaya Massif you will notice that it is a mountainous area, in fact, it is the second mountainous group of the country, only surpassed by the Sierra Maestra which is in the east of the country. I explain this because the large coffee growing areas of the country are located in areas of high relief, with great vegetation because the coffee is planted in these places to provide shade, which is where they reproduce in a better way.
This was my second trip to this place and, unlike my first time, I was very clear about the things I wanted to discover in terms of coffee because in my first adventure to this place I missed many places and some of them are directly related to coffee.
The most interesting things that I enjoyed on this vacation related to coffee
I was able to see a garden of coffee varieties.
Visiting the Casa del Café, one of the most important places in the country in terms of coffee,
At the Casa del Café I was able to learn about the different utensils that have been used throughout history to produce and make coffee,
I met one of the most important baristas in the country that has achieved national and international recognition for the quality of the coffee that she prepares,
We were given an explanation about the benefits of coffee and the harm it can cause us if we drink it excessively,
I was able to enjoy the preparation of different varieties and combinations of coffee and taste them.
I was able to learn how coffee came about and in which region of the world it first appeared,
Learn how coffee was introduced in Cuba and the main coffee commercialization routes around the world,
I was able to see different coffee plantations,
I visited three of the local coffee shops,
I drank coffee in different varieties and combinations.
A final comment
I have always said that the greatest pleasure I get when I am having fun is that in the process I also learn and, this happened again this time because, besides resting from work and the bustle of the city I was able to learn about various elements of Geography, Tourism, Climate, Excursions and of course coffee.
Note: All photos were taken with my Samsung J2 phone.
As I am not fluent in English I have used the translator DeepL Translate.