01.03.12
Cash, CUC's and Cuba
Michael Szyliowicz

Buying anything in Cuba is a tale of two currencies. I arrived in Havana with many, many U.S. dollars in my pocket. I knew that I couldn’t use a credit card, and I assumed that like in most places around the world, American currency would be used if necessary. But I quickly learned that as a foreigner, my transactions would be in CUCs, or kooks, as they are called.

The CUC, or convertible peso, is worth approximately $1.00. However, there is a service charge on every exchange, so the real value is $0.87.  Stores and restaurants in Havana only take CUCs. And the idea that Cuba is an inexpensive place to visit isn’t necessarily true.

Visiting the Buena Vista Social Club for an evening of listening to jazz was 25 CUC. The legendary nightclub The Tropicana could be visited for 95 CUC. Cocktails cost between 5 and 10 CUC. Even though these prices are on par with those find in other large cities around the world, they seemed incongruous in Havana. Targeting tourists or wealthy Cubans, it is an easy, if expensive system to navigate. 

For people living in Cuba, the story is different.  Workers in Cuba...

Diary of a Chocolatier, Travel
cuba, CUC, tourism, travel
12.12.11
Bienvenidos a Cuba
Michael Szyliowicz

I recently visited Cuba on an official mission through Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO), of which I have been a member for almost 10 years.

EO is about encouraging entrepreneurship worldwide, and the purpose of the mission was to introduce business leaders to Cuban business, as well as political, cultural, and daily life.

EO is a global organization, so although most of the group was from the United States, we also had entrepreneurs from India, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, and New Zealand. There were 80 of us on the trip.

The visit was structured to allow us access to many different facets of Cuban society, and to say it was jam packed with meetings and visits would be an understatement.

Over the course of four days, I visited a Santeria temple, the National University of the Arts, received a briefing from the U.S. Interest Section about the political situation in the country, was addressed by the speaker of the General Assembly, met with the leader of the Jewish Community and toured the Patronato synagogue, visited private art galleries and...

Beverages, Diary of a Chocolatier, Travel
cuba, entrepreneurs organization, entrepreneurship, travel
06.27.11
Un latte per favore
Michael Szyliowicz

I ordered my first latte in Sicily from the barista at the café and was delivered a large glass of frothy, steamed milk. I looked carefully, but could find no trace of either espresso or coffee in the drink. I laughed.

Americans are used to ordering a latte at any coffee shop and being treated to a tall drink with several shots of espresso and lots of steamed milk. Yet the word for milk in Italian is “latte”, and I received exactly what I had asked for. I then asked the barista for an espresso, which he placed on the counter next to my glass of milk. I poured it in and tasted the drink. This was more like what I was expecting.

On my next visit to a cafe, I specified a caffè latte, and received the drink that I was expecting. But for the rest of my trip, each time I ordered a caffè latte, I received a different drink. Some were tall, others short. Some contained espresso whereas others had coffee added. Some had a dark, strong taste while others had a weak flavor. And, like in so many cafes, the quality varied in each one.

Each order became an adventure into seeing what I would end up getting. But at least I was no longer being given a glass of hot milk.

Beverages, Diary of a Chocolatier, Travel
cafe latte, italy, latte, sicily, travel
05.17.11
See you in Chicago!
Michael Szyliowicz

The Mont Blanc Gourmet team will be at the NRA Show 2011 this weekend in Chicago, and we hope to see you there! This year, our booth is located at 1175E in the Organic and Natural Pavilion, and we’ve invited UTZ CERTIFIED Good Inside to help inform convention-goers about sustainably-sourced coffee, cocoa and tea practices.

UTZ CERTIFIED Good Inside is a market-oriented sustainability program for cocoa, tea and the world’s largest supplier of sustainable coffee. As architects of sustainable supply chains, UTZ CERTIFIED ensures a balanced standard regarding People, Planet and Profit. Unique to the UTZ CERTIFIED program is the focus on entrepreneurship of the farmer through cost efficient environmentally and socially responsible farming practices.

Our Director of Business Development Mark Crawford sits on the Board of Directors at UTZ CERTIFIED Good Inside, and our team wanted to inform NRA attendees about sustainable sustainably-sourced coffee, cocoa and tea...

Beverages, Diary of a Chocolatier, Innovation, News, Sustainability, Tradeshows, Travel
chicago, chocolate, cocoa, coffee, nra, sustainable, tea, travel
02.01.11
Tea of Ceylon
Michael Szyliowicz

Sri Lanka is the fourth largest producer of tea in the world, and tea is responsible for almost 15% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). It has a long history on the island, dating back more than 150 years to the mid-1800s when the British began planting and cultivating tea. Ironically, tea became the dominant crop after a virus attacked and destroyed all of the coffee plants in the country. When the British arrived, they converted the existing coffee farms and factories to tea production. On a recent trip, I visited two different plantations. Mackwoods, one of the oldest tea estates in the country, was founded in 1841 and is the second oldest company in Sri Lanka. Halpewatte is a smaller factory that purchases tea from other planters. In both visits, I was taken through the different steps involved in preparing tea for consumption. ...

Diary of a Chocolatier, Travel
sri lanka, tea, travel