Sweetening the Cuban Coffee Deal – Who Done It

Sweetening the Cuban Coffee deal, just exactly who done it? We take a look at the recent Cuban coffee deal in an effort to “get the facts straight.”

Nespresso USA recently announced their deal to provide Cuban coffee to the American market to deliver “exclusive, unique coffee experiences,” said Guillaume Le Cunff, Nespresso USA president.”

Well done. Love it. American has been starved of Cuban coffee for over 50 years and that’s a long, long, long time.

Today, Nestle’s Nespresso earlier deal with Cuba Mountain Coffee company in the U.K. has just been announced in a British press release.

A few weeks ago, the Cuban specialist investment firm Leni Gas Cuba acquired a 10% interest in the Cuba Mountain Coffee (CMC) company. Leni Gas Cuba’s objective is to assist CMC’s goal of increasing coffee production in Cuba and exporting it worldwide.  LGC will be moving to Canada full time to join up with TSXV listed corporation Knowlton Capital, and renaming as LGC Capital in the coming weeks.

Established in 2012, CMC is a British company which imports green beans and gourmet coffee from the Guantanamo region under the brand name “Alma de Cuba”.

In April of this year, Nestlé Nespresso and Cuba Mountain Coffee signed the Memorandum of Understanding to work together with the non-profit organization, TechnoServe, to increase coffee production and quality in the Guantanamo region. With the goal of sustainability and to benefit Cuban coffee farmers, subject to the approval of Cuban authorities and in compliance with local laws, the project is now in the final stages of negotiation and is expected to launch in Guantanamo in 2017.

David Lenigas, Executive Chairman of Leni Gas Cuba Limited, says he’s doing his part to bring Cuban coffee into the United States through Nespresso and Washington-based poverty alleviation group Technoserve. He believes this is fantastic for LGC, for Cuba and for the U.S. On the press release this morning he stated:

“This is significant news from The Cuban Mountain Coffee Company. Leni Gas Cuba is enthusiastic about this venture, designed to assist improve the Cuban coffee industry, and to be potentially working with the likes of Nestlé Nespresso and TechnoServe is a very positive development indeed.“