Santiago de Cuba’s Coffee Trails

Near Cuba’s first Cathedral, right where Heredia and Corona streets cross at the historic heart of the city, a construction that dates from the 19th century reveals interesting information on the history of coffee in the province.

Click on Santiago de Cuba: A City of 500 Years

Nowadays, the former house of French landowner Mr. Carlos Dranguet Thomas is the target of a multidisciplinary team that works for “The Coffee Trails” project, fostered by the City Curator’s Office, French Malongo Foundation and the European Union.

Yaumara Lopez Segrera, Coordinator of the project, explained that the Coffee Performance and Promotion Center is going to be based there as a cultural space where, besides learning the history and tradition of coffee in the region, visitors will have the opportunity to taste the delicious beverage.

Qualified members of the Monument Restoration and Preservation Office kicked off the first stage of the work, which “is to be done by late May”, according to Pilar Franco Nogues, investor of the project.

Conference hall, exhibition space and research center are some of the areas to be featured by the property, but Dranguet house, as experts know it, also has a professional relevance.

“Restoring the decorative friezes and applying techniques from the 19th century is quite a privilege because I’m going to make the most of my knowledge and professionally improve myself, Patricia Hernandez Fong, Specialist in Restoration and Preservation, said.

The house number 101 at Corona Street was owned by French Mr. Carlos Dranguet Thomas, one of the landowners that cultivated coffee at Santiago’s mountains during the 19th century.

The specialists are already focused on the work, due to its impact on the city’s cultural sphere within the framework of the celebration of Santiago de Cuba village’s 500th anniversary.