What is it about Cuban coffees? I'm so hooked on it, I can't even enjoy anything else. I mean, it is head and shoulders better than any other coffee I've ever had. At least I think so.

I'm probably making it wrong, but I don't care. I make a strong pot of Cafe Bustelo, add Splenda and a sugar-free french vanilla creamer and then pour it into a glass filled with ice. It's the best thing in the world, and I make it every day. Sometimes I make it twice in a day.

I've had Pilon which is similar to Bustelo, but neither are anything like regular coffee. I think this must be a class of coffees, because they and others like them are together on the same shelf at the supermarket and away from the other coffees. They are labeled "espresso" coffees, but people tell me that's just the way it's ground. I'm reading online that it's a very strong coffee, very bitter (not really), very bold, and maybe that's it. It says it's a "dark roast" on the can.

Also, I don't think I can get it anywhere else in the country except Florida, unless I find a Latin grocery. So, I'm in big trouble if I ever move away from Florida.

So, can anyone tell me? What is it about these Cuban coffees that make them different (and so good)? There are some coffee experts here at RfM, and I could use your knowledge as I can't seem to find any information about it online. Or maybe I'm just imagining the flavor is better.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2011 05:33PM by Makurosu.

Let me tell you that Cuban coffee is like heroin. You can actually get cafe Bustelo and Pillon online at several places.
Here's one: http://www.cubancoffee.com/
Amazon.com is another. But there are many to shop around for prices.

I don't know the answer. I thought the reason is both the roast and the way it's prepared with demerara sugar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_espresso

I just use regular expresso these days and prepare it with the sugar to get as close as possible. I'm surprisingly ignorant about this other than having grown up drinking cuban coffee all my life.

Well, you know, until the Mormon missionaries came and told me cuabn coffee was a sin.

I remember when a Cuban woman from work first told me about Cafe Bustelo, and her eyes rolled into the back of her head thinking about it. It's cheap too - only $3.39 for a 10 oz. can. I suppose I'll just have to order it online if I ever move.

Cubans really know how to live. I think if it came down to a choice between eternal life and Cuban coffee, I'd tell the Mormons that I'd have to sleep on it. You know, just to get them out of my house.

WOW, I drank about maybe 3-4oz yesterday at 3pm the Cuban way of course and I am usually a heavy starbucks red eye, 16-24oz pitch black coffee dark roast coffee drinker....needless to say it is 6am and I swear I laid down to sleep just stared at the back of my eyelids. this stuff is strong, and im not crashing at all, im not even tired, drinking this Bustelo you could probably run 5 marathons, I have to get a smaller expresso cup.

ya gotta use either of those two(pilon or Bustello).....they are processed at the same facility in miami in/near Doral Florida.... iused to work real close to there!! that coffee willsmell for miles...oops got on a tangeant....
anyway Mak...ya gotta toss out the first little bit of the coffee.... and with about a 1/4 cup of the coffee.... ya gotta mix it with all of the sugar you are gonna use.....dont know if it works with splenda..... and ya mix it by whipping it with a spoon by hand.....so you have almost a paste..... and then you add the rest of the coffee and there is a foam that rises to the top that really makes the difference in the coffee and the experience....
Ralphy May has a TOO funny bit in his comedy routine.....he drank more than a colada!! which is the same size as an American 8 oz cup....but usually will serve about TEN!!! ya gotta hear it sometime.....ok back to your regularly scheduled program!! :)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2011 06:27PM by bignevermo.

I have to use a LOT of Splenda to get it sweet enough. I want that foam! I'm going to have to experiment. :)

One time years ago I went to Florida and brought back to Utah 6 bricks of Cafe Bustelo in my luggage. You know how they pack those in bricks that look exactly like bricks of cocaine?

I didn't stop to think the airport scanners would pick up on suspicious packed bricks in the luggage. But they must have because when I got my luggage the locks had been ripped off and one or two bricks had been opened and taped back up.

Never did that again. That's when I switched over to regular espresso from the super market rather than come back looking like a cocaine mule.

ROTFLMAO!!!

AT least they didn't pull you aside for a body cavity search.

and their delish coffee, let us NOT forget the one...true...Cuban dish: lechon. Nobody but the Cubans can turn a humble pig into pure sacrament. Slow cooked in a pit, baptized with sour orange and anointed with plenty of garlic ... a side of black beans & rice ....

My mouth is watering.

One Christmas eve when I was about 10, my dad and uncle bought a live pig to roast for Christmas eve. They spent the morning drinking (they were not drinkers so they got drunk too easily). When time came to kill the pig they were too drunk to do it right. So they stabbed the pig, it got away and ran all over the yard covered in blood. At some point they stumbled upon it and overtook the pig. But from inside the house I sensed the ugly truth and was very traumatized. Don't think I ate lechon that Christmas eve.

Otherwise it is really good!

already nicely slaughtered and dressed and ready for the Caja China!

You can order one from Publix.

I don't know if Publix sold them 37 years ago (I'm 47). :)

Cubans really know how to live...and how to traumatize small children.

My Cuban friends have some stories similar to that one.

Lmfaoooooooo true that

MMMmm.... Guava pastelitos and cafe cubana. :: drool ::

Really, Makusuru... you must get off the Splenda. That crap is poison. You're in Florida, you can find demerara sugar in any ethnic section of any Publix.

I can't tell you what makes Cuban coffee taste like manna from heaven, but I would give my left leg for it.

A couple of preparation tips for you.

• Mix the sugar (real sugar, not that Splenda garbage) with the grounds and then add the hot water. The hot water helps dissolve all the sugar so the coffee is uniformly cloyingly sweet, as it's supposed to be.

• If you're going with the Cafe con Leche route (with milk), use whole milk, warm a bit in the microwave for about 30 seconds and then whip into a foam with a tiny whisk or a fork. When you've pressed out the sweetened coffee, add the foamed milk on top.

Okay, I'm off to the Latin coffee shop around the corner. Y'all have a great day. ;>)

dogzilla Wrote: [in brief part]:
-------------------------------------------------------
> MMMmm.... Guava pastelitos and cafe cubana. ::
> drool ::
>
>

The only thing better than a guava pastelito is a guava and CHEESE pastelito. That is manna from the Cuban heaven.

Skunk Puppet Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> The only thing better than a guava pastelito is a
> guava and CHEESE pastelito. That is manna from
> the Cuban heaven.

I couldn't agree more. :>)

I could teach you how to make homemade pastelitos!

But the Pillsbury frozen puff pastry sheets from your grocery store. Buy Guava paste with the jelly middle. A Bar of Cream cheese (Philadelphia).

Mix the bar of cream cheese with 1/4 cup of sugar.
layer on as much cream cheese and guava as you'd like fold it up, cook at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. while it is cooking take 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of sugar and put it in a pan on low heat until the sugar dissolves. Take your pastries out, brush on the sugar water mixture, sprinkle some sugar on top (coarse ground if you can find it) and then back in the oven for 10-15 more minutes.

as hard as it will be, make sure you let them cool enough before biting into it if you want to taste anything within the next month.

Dogzilla, where is the Latin coffee shop? The only place I can think of is Gordo's, but I think of that as being more of a campus hangout. I don't live on the north side, though, and that's where most of the cool or funky places are located. I spent so much time in Miami after Hurricane Andrew I became addicted to all things Cuban.

Well, back when I wrote that post, there was one in the Lake Ella Publix shopping center -- which later turned into Lee's Wine Bar, and then some other bar and now it's vacant.

And that place closed in the middle of the damn night. Imagine my disappointment when I stopped in one morning to get my fix and they were just closed! No sign, nothing. Just pulled up stakes and disappeared.

I googled for you and it appears there is a Latinx cafe on West Tennesee between Ocala Road and White Drive. Latin Xpress? Don't know if it's still there; I'm hardly ever in that part of town.

Followed closed behind by coconut pastelitos. (patelitos de coco).

My sil is Cuban. He makes me coffee whenever I see him.He uses Cafe Bustelo that his family sends him every month. He also makes a killer Flan in the pressure cooker. He's promised to do a pit roasted suckling pig this summer.

His Cuban influence in the family has been fun. And wow is my little granddaughter gorgeous with that Latin blood in her veins. She's two and can dance like crazy. She's been dancing to music since she could sit up. It really is in the genes.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/12/2017 07:36PM by janis.

Available in markets here across New Mexico.
Go online and can read up and order online. Available at Target too.