In 1748, the first coffee plants were brought to Cuba by Don José Antonio Gelabert when he founded the first coffee plantation on the outskirts of Havana. Boosted by the arrival of French settlers in 1791, expansion, growth and better production methods were introduced, producing both the Arabica and Robusta beans. Prior to the Castro era, in the 19th and 20th century, the Cuban coffee industry prospered and was once the lifeblood of the island. Plantations grew and expanded from Pinar del Rio to Sierra Maestra and the Escambray mountain regions. Today's Cuban coffee industry is on the rise and showing positive growth, with demands for export, but left standing are the remnants of a once booming country with 171 abandoned historic coffee plantations.

The Cuban connection to coffee was integrated into every aspect of Cuban life, and became part of Cuban culture and a national identity. This "Cuban coffee culture" has spread north of Havana and into south Florida, enriched by over 60 years of Cuban migration. The widespread enjoyment of Cuban coffee is now a lifestyle, a daily ritual, and for many, a nostalgic taste of the homeland. Due to political policies and national shortage, the resourceful and ever-inventive Cuban people have developed creative techniques to enhance the taste and strength of the Cuban coffee styles we drink today.