Nespresso Cuban coffee pods—explain this to me?

[zeedubbya]

 I have been trying for a couple days to figure out how Nespresso is able to sell a genuine Cuban product in the US? I was under the impression under an embargo, all goods regardless of where they are imported from are not allowed. Any solid ideas here on how they pull this off?  
 

**unsure if this is considered political, Mods please delete if not allowed.  

[chasy]

Isn’t Cuban coffee just a style? It’s widely available in Miami and I doubt it’s all from Cuba.

[chris12381]

Nestle has to obtain a license to sell Cuban origin of coffee in the US. Among several restrictions, they're only allowed to sell coffee that was obtained from independent coffee producers (not the Cuban government).  

https://havanatimes.org/features/nestle-helps-cuba-skirt-the-us-embargo/

[zeedubbya]

5 hours ago, chris12381 said:

Nestle has to obtain a license to sell Cuban origin of coffee in the US.  Among several restrictions, they're only allowed to sell coffee that was obtained from independent coffee producers (not the Cuban government).  

https://havanatimes.org/features/nestle-helps-cuba-skirt-the-us-embargo/

Thank you, this was exactly what I was looking for. Much appreciated @chris12381 guess my hope of buying whole bean for my Breville Oracle Touch (best household gift I’ve ever received possibly), is out the window, for now.  

[BrightonCorgi]

I wonder if this will extend into packaged coffee beans. Even if it's a new to market brand just for the US.

[zeedubbya]

21 hours ago, BrightonCorgi said:

I wonder if this will extend into packaged coffee beans. Even if it's a new to market brand just for the US.

I do wonder. Also makes me wonder how it doesn’t kick the door open for someone in the tobacco business to be able to buy Cuban tobacco and use it for cigars to be shipped to the US. How is it any different to take an agricultural product out of Cuba and roll it somewhere else and then ship it to the US? Someone did some unreal lobbying for this to happen, and I’m sure premium cigars have enough backing to argue the precedent has been set with the coffee. Seems to me this has slipped under the radar from an older vague rule put in place by previous administration. I have been trying to find the actual documents where the law was modified to allow this. What is to keep a company like Fabrica 5 from bringing tobacco to Honduras to roll a Cuban cigar for export? Surely this can’t have gone unnoticed by big tobacco, or maybe they just don’t care enough to attempt it?  

22 hours ago, chasy said:

Isn’t Cuban coffee just a style? It’s widely available in Miami and I doubt it’s all from Cuba.

I wondered this myself as there is lots of “styles” of Cuban coffee out there, the Mayorga Cubano Roast being one which I really enjoy, but no Cuban coffee at all in it—as you said, it’s a style. All marketing and news points to this Nestle produced version to be pure 100% Arabica coffee from Cuba. It’s out of stock online but found 5 sleeves at local Nespresso shop near me. I do have an old Nespresso Vertuo machine and it’s a decent cup, but I wouldn’t seek it out any more once my sleeves are gone. However, if there’s a whole bean option I would probably be interested. I am about a 7/10 on the scale of coffee snobbery.  

[teamrandr]

Bring back Clear Havanas.

[ha_banos]

Wonder how @Ryan is getting on with his coffee!?

[Ryan]

10 hours ago, ha_banos said:

Wonder how @Ryan is getting on with his coffee!?

First harvest coming in later this month. 

Here it is in the warehouse a couple of weeks ago in Pinar del Rio ready for shipping.

The day before, we gave out the prizes for the first sponsored coffee-themed art competition in the local primary and secondary schools.

My wife with the winner in the primary school, David, 10. We managed to get that model back to Ireland.

I've managed to source fully recyclable packing. 

Also, there is a company near me in Dublin making compostable Nespresso pods for the first time, in Ireland anyway. That will be handy in some markets though I'll have to adjust the roast profile for those pods.

[Puros Y Vino]

I'm always on the lookout for those Cuban Nespresso pods. It seems like they come out ever 2-4 years, which makes sense given Cuba's tumultuous weather, logistics and political challenges. FYI. The Miami pods are very close to the last Cuban pods.

[BrightonCorgi]

14 hours ago, zeedubbya said:

I wondered this myself as there is lots of “styles” of Cuban coffee out there, the Mayorga Cubano Roast being one which I really enjoy, but no Cuban coffee at all in it—as you said, it’s a style.  

Mayorga is one of our main coffee beans we use as well. Costco has a good deal on them. Sometimes they have one that is not the Cuban blend in addition. The Cuban blend is quite popular at our Costco. Never been and it's not there.

[peterk430]

I just noticed it is completely removed from the Nespresso site. Not out of stock, just gone. Glad I ordered 12 sleeves a month or so ago. Faily good cup of coffee and better than any Keurig I've tried. Maybe that tightening of the embargo got rid of it. 

[Capn_Jackson]

Was this only in the vertuo line, or also original pods?

[zeedubbya]

7 hours ago, Capn_Jackson said:

Was this only in the vertuo line, or also original pods?

I believe it only came in vertuo this time around, but it was available in the original pods when first released, selling on eBay for a large markup whew. Maybe I should consider buying them out at the store if they have them still on next trip. But really, who wants to hold onto some coffee pods for 5 years and then sell them for a 2x profit 🙄, still amazes me what people will flip.

[zeedubbya]

18 hours ago, Ryan said:

First harvest coming in later this month. 

Here it is in the warehouse a couple of weeks ago in Pinar del Rio ready for shipping.

The day before, we gave out the prizes for the first sponsored coffee-themed art competition in the local primary and secondary schools.

My wife with the winner in the primary school, David, 10. We managed to get that model back to Ireland.

I've managed to source fully recyclable packing. 

Also, there is a company near me in Dublin making compostable Nespresso pods for the first time, in Ireland anyway. That will be handy in some markets though I'll have to adjust the roast profile for those pods.

Wow!  Amazing!!   Any chance [redacted]

**DM sent @Ryan

[phlipp]

On 7/7/2025 at 12:08 PM, BrightonCorgi said:

I wonder if this will extend into packaged coffee beans. Even if it's a new to market brand just for the US.

Doubtful. This coffee has actually been available for almost 10 years in the US now and very sporadic in its release. I would think if it were to open doors, we would have seen it by now or at least this coffee would be more readily available. 

[chris12381]

On 7/7/2025 at 12:08 PM, BrightonCorgi said:

I wonder if this will extend into packaged coffee beans. Even if it's a new to market brand just for the US.

I'm pretty sure the license only permits Cuban coffee in pod form so they'd need to petition to have it amended...and I think Nestle is happy to keep their customers locked in to their pods.

I used to be able to order Cubita and Serrano from Canada, but I haven't seen it available in over 5 years. I've switched to Puerto Rican coffee.  

[BrightonCorgi]

3 hours ago, chris12381 said:

I'm pretty sure the license only permits Cuban coffee in pod form so they'd need to petition to have it amended...and I think Nestle is happy to keep their customers locked in to their pods.

I used to be able to order Cubita and Serrano from Canada, but I haven't seen it available in over 5 years.  I've switched to Puerto Rican coffee.  

I used to purchase both brands when visiting Montreal, but novelty wasn't worth it beyond those take away buys.

[zeedubbya]

4 hours ago, chris12381 said:

I'm pretty sure the license only permits Cuban coffee in pod form so they'd need to petition to have it amended...and I think Nestle is happy to keep their customers locked in to their pods.

I used to be able to order Cubita and Serrano from Canada, but I haven't seen it available in over 5 years. I've switched to Puerto Rican coffee.  

Same here, I used to get both courtesy of a friend who went to Cuba often, and I agree with @BrightonCorgi, it wasn’t exactly worth the trouble when there’s so much great coffee from Guatemala, Costa Rica and even (as you said) Puerto Rico. Had some Nicaraguan recently I enjoyed quite a lot.  

What @Ryan is doing with the coffee from Pinar is really next level!  Just a briliant idea—single origin from Pinar Del Rio.  With so many cigar smokers drinking coffee it’s easy to see this being a massive hit.