My Big Fat Cuban Family

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The Smell of Home – Gaviña Coffee Basket Giveaway

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I remember being about 5 years old when I really took notice that my family brewed coffee a dozen times a day. It was almost a Sacred Ritual. This also happened, I took note, in every single Cuban home I had ever entered.

The daily brewing of the perfect Cuban cafecito is something that happens repeatedly throughout the day in Cuban households and ventanitas everywhere ("little windows" – these are mostly found in Miami, but that's not important right now).

Gavina coffee my big fat cuban family

I think one of my very first sensory memories has to do with the fragrance of a beautifully brewed, hot, sweet espresso. The aroma is something that evokes warmth and family and men in guayaberas and women in crisp aprons and lots of loud talking. The smell of home.

A few weeks ago I announced that My Big, Fat, Cuban Family had partnered with Gaviña Gourmet Coffee. I'm so pleased that they are my newest sponsor.

In light of this wonderful parnership, I think we need to celebrate, don't you?

And what better way to celebrate than to do a giveaway of a Basket of Coffee Awesomeness from Gaviña? Can I just tell you that my morning cafecito tastes sooo much better when drunk from one of these adorable Cafe La Llave tacitas. It does. I promise.

Gavina Coffee Gift Basket my big fat cuban family

The Cafe La Llave Cuban Coffee Basket consists of the following:

  • 2- 10oz. Cafe La Llave espresso bricks
  • 1- 8.8oz. Cafe La Llave decaf. espresso brick
  • 4- 1.75oz. Cafe La Llave espresso samples
  • 4- "tacitas" – demitasse cups and saucers

1) To enter this drawing for this beautiful Cafe La Llave Cuban Coffee Basket, please leave a comment on this post and answer one or both of the following questions:

  • Do you remember the first time you had a perfectly brewed espresso?
  • Or is this a taste you acquired later in life? Tell me.

Please leave your comment on this post and I'll choose a winner on Friday, March 28th, 2014 at 11am PST.

2) For an extra entry, please go "like" Cafe La Llave on Facebook and come back and leave me another comment telling me:  

  • "I like Cafe La Llave!"

So that's not one, but two entries. De nada.

If you want even more coffee awesomeness, please click on the sponsored La Llave Coffee link to the right and be sure to enter Cuban20 at checkout for 20% off Cafe La Llave.

Also, please let them know that Marta from My Big, Fat, Cuban Family sent you. It doesn't make any difference to how I choose the winner. I just want them to know you are reading about it here, but that's not important right now.

You might also like:

Mami Loves Cuban Coffee – A Giveaway “Mas café por favor!” (MBFCF Giveaway #5) Gaviña Coffee Basket – A Winner La Llave Coffee Basket – A Winner

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Fine coffee is a luxury beyond compare. I look forward to that freshly brewed pot every morning. The first time I had an unforgettable espresso was at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.Coffee = <3

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  2. Don’t make Cuban coffee as good as others but I have learned to make it “good enough” y con espumita. Learned how to make it in my teen years but perfected it only a couple of years ago…Son las 3 de la tarde ( cuando mataron a Lola) hora para un cafecito…
    To learned about Lola’s story, just google it; it’s an interesting true story

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  6. I don’t remember specifically when I first had perfectly brewed espresso, but when I was little, I was given cafe con leche in a bottle.My mom taught me to make cafe with espumita when I was a teenager, 14 I think. I’ve been drinking it regularly every since, like a good Cubanita! =)

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  9. My first memory of drinking cuban coffee was the shot of coffee my mom or abuela put in my milk bottle every morning. I’ve been drinking cafe con leche ever since I can recall holding my bottle. Today, I won’t start my day without it…. minus the bottle. 😉

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  10. Ahhh the smell of Freshly brewed espresso is probably my earliest memory. I grew up in a Cuban household (my parents and 5 of my siblings are immigrants), café con leche was a common breakfast for us. Looking back I was younger than age 5 when I had my first coffee, a thought that shocks me because I would never give my young kids coffee! Ha!

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  11. I didn’t start drinking coffee until a few years ago. I mourn all the lost time when I lived in Miami and traveled in Italy, Spain, and South America when I did not drink coffee. But now that I do drink, I am drinking with a vengeance! I cannot start my day without coffee now and it is one of the few indulgences I allow myself during the workday. I haven’t had a pedicure since December, but I go for my latte’ with my Brazilian/Italian friend at least once or twice a week.

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  12. Este es mi cafe favorito. No es amargo como los otros. Nothing wakes me up quicker then a hot cup of Cafe La Llave in the mornings.

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  14. First time? I was at Hume Lake Christian Camps & ordered it at their Cafe. It was served in a 12oz. cup & I almost went back to ask, “Where’s the rest of it?” I held back, thinking they must know something I didn’t! But it was good & after that I was hooked.

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  16. The smell of un cafecito was always the smell of home! My mother made it throughout the day, greeted my father at the door with his tacita everyday when he came home from work. As an adult I loved the smell of my dad’s kitchen long after my mother died—it smelled of the same lovely fragrance of freshly brewed cafe, which was oh so soothing. To this day I associate that smell to “home”. And of course, I, like most Cuban babies, had cafe con leche in my bottle. I cannot recall a time that I did not drink it.

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  17. My first perfectly brewed cafecito? I was a child, maybe 6 or 7, when my father sat me on his lap and let me sip from his demitasse cup. I remember the cup clearly…thick ceramic, white, with gold trim. It was sooo sweet! I instantly loved it, and have been drinking cafe Cubano ever since. In loving memory of Papi, who taught me how to enjoy life every day.

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  18. The first time was in Miami. I had moved there to go to school. My friend took me to a small Cuban restaurant and introduced me to the perfect cup of coffee. I was 29 so it was a taste I acquired late in life.

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  20. Do you remember the first time you had a perfectly brewed espresso?The first perfectly brewed expresso I had was at Lago Maggiore, Italy, in 1977. Cold, rainy day at a small cafe facing the beautiful lake. I can almost taste it.

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  21. I used to have it in my bottle with milk. Later on we would visit my Grandmother’s house and everyone would have coffee. The kids would get a little bit. I loved the taste and feeling grown up.

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  25. I Love Cafe La llave, is great!! I drink cafe con leche sinces I was five years old and still do. I love the smell of coffee in the morning and getting together with my family and friends and sharing that wonderful cup of coffee.

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  26. My family were always brewing coffee ever since I can remember. Actually, many moons ago my family was in the coffee business…so I guess I more than like it, I love Café La Llave! Not a day goes by without having my cafecito!! <3

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  27. Cafe La Llave is the one we drink and the one we recommend. The first time I had a great cafecito was probably in my home made by my dear mom. Cafe con leche was the thing to drink in the mornings, and of course, it had to be with the espresso and the foam! Such great memories. I would love the basket!..;))

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  28. I can remember making my father coffee from scratch before he headed to his evening job! I used “el colador” filled with Cuban espresso coffee, boil the water and pour it over the colander. Ah! The smell of freshly brewed coffee permeated our home for a long while. My parents still make their coffee about 3x’s a day but with the newer “cafeteras”, of course. I make coffee at home especially to my dinner guests who are always anxious to taste that fresh cup of brew..MMM!

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  30. I don’t remember the exact age I was when I had my first taste of cuban coffee. I just remember my grandmother giving it to me in a bottle and until this day I love it… Cortadito, cafecito, cafe con leche. Anyway you serve it up I’ll have it. I love cafe La Llave…

    Reply

  31. I remember as a little girl the smell of it brewing. I loved the aroma, but didn’t care for the taste until I was much older. I love it!

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  33. Like many other Cuban kids, my first espresso came in the form of cafe con leche. When I was a kid my mom would make my sisters and me cafe con leche for breakfast, and oftentimes we’d have it right before going to bed (I know, right?).

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  36. Almost nothing speaks to me as does the smell of brewing coffee. I was raised in a home where coffee was the morning smell, and I began drinking it before any of my friends. Many years ago, probably the mid 1970s, a friend served me Turkish coffee. I swooned. Thus began my love affair with real coffee. No more grocery store coffee in a can. These days, it’s fresh roasted coffee, brewed strong. I do not have an espresso maker, but I would gladly use on if I had it!

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  37. I can’t say that I remember the first time I ever drank espresso, but when I was little and still couldn’t walk – my Abuela would make cafe for my Abuelo and leave it in the fridge at night so that in the mornings she could make him his cafe con leche. She says that many a morning she would get to the container and find it empty because I would get to it during the evening in my walker!

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  40. I cannot think of a time that I did not drink café. Whether it was café con leche, cortadito, or straight up. I remember my mother putting café in my biberon every morning to make warm café con leche, the fact that I was eight is irrelevant. When I moved to Northern California, I had café shipped in from Miami until it was available at my local stores. The sweet smell of café brings back memories of my childhood, my mom, and my abuela… sweet memories.

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  42. I can remember the smell of Cafe Cubano as early as when I was five years old and my Abuelita Lia would make it using a colador (cloth coffee strainer). When we came to the US it became the one and only way my Mami would be able to wake me up in the morning – something that I have passed on to my husband and my two boys. As an adult it is still the way I wake up each day – from the bed to the cafetera. Cafe Cubano is a great part of our heritage. Que rico!

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  43. Two of the things I remember when I was growing up in my Cuban household: The smell of Cuban coffee AND radio reloj in the morning. Like the majority of Cuban mothers mine used to dip my “tete” in the coffee and give it to me. That is what my Mom told me. So I guess I got my first taste at a very young age. To this day my parents still have their coffee in the morning and in the afternoon. Que rico un cafecito, cafe con leche o un cortadito!

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  45. I remember the smell of cafe from my earliest days, but it wasn’t until I was in college that I had my first cup of the rocket fuel. So delicious!

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  47. The deliciously intoxicating smell of cafe colando reminds me of my Viejita querida. She used to always leave me a tiny little sip in those oh so cool little tazitas. I always felt so cool drinking cafe with wela…I was about 5 when this little tradition started.

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  48. My wife introduced me to Cuban coffee over 20 years ago. The first time I tried it, I was not able to sleep thru the night. I personally call it “Rocket Fuel”. Needless to say, my kids have grown up drinking cafesitos.

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  50. Yo me crie con mis abuelos. El cafe se preparaba varias veces al dia. A mi abuelo siempre le servian en la tacita pero se lo tomaba del platito! El olor es cosa que trae los mejores recuerdos y el cafecito Cubano es algo q siempre servire en mi casa.

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  52. Ay, cafecito! What would I do without you?! I can’t tell you exactly when I began drinking cafecito because I was too small to even remember. Cafe is in my blood. I have very fond memories of my dad or aunt dipping my tete (pacifier) in their tacita, and hearing my mom scold them, “!Ella esta muy chiquita!” (She’s too little). Now that I’m older, cafecito is part of who I am. It’s how I bond with my parents and older family members. I go out of my way in the mornings to drive by my parents house just to sit with my father and drink cafecito. We talk about anything and everything over una tacita de cafe. There’s nothing like the smell of espresso to bring back delightful memories of the past while creating new memories. I now have an eight month old who loves cafecito on his tete too as I once did, and I too now scold my dad and husband as my mom once did, “Oye, he’s too small to be drinking that!” But, as I’m saying it I’m thinking, maybe he too will one day enjoy drinking his cafecito with me as I do with my parents.

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  53. OH Martha,I acquired my taste for coffee – at Bob’s Big Boy – after football games at St. Bernard High School. We would go there and order either french fries or a big chocolate sunday and good ol’ coffee. Those were the days

    Reply

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