Despite a $9.5 million investment the past five years to modernize the coffee sector, Cuba must still import from around the world to cover the brisk pace of domestic consumption. This according to Antonio Aleman, director of the state-run coffee company Cubacafe in a released statement Thursday.

While Cuba’s annual coffee harvest currently stands at 6,000 tons, Aleman confirmed the island is buying 12,000 tons of beans.

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“Cubans are coffee lovers,” Aleman said. “Wherever you go, they greet you with a cup of coffee.”

In the early 1960s, annual production reached 60,000 tons and Cuba was a net exporter – these numbers have fallen off sharply since then, resulting in some drastic measures in recent years. Mr. Aleman hinted that “authorities plan to begin mixing coffee with peas to make the domestic supply go further.”

Cubans are accustomed to the coffee-pea blend, which was sold here until 2005. In fact, some complained when they started getting pure coffee five years ago that it tasted funny.

Current El Presidente Raul Castro, brother of Fidel, recently announced that the coffee-pea blend would be due back on the (controlled) market sometime in 2011.

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