Coppelia, the “Cathedral of Ice Cream” in Cuba, in the heart of Havana’s Vedado, has always been characterized, more than for the quality of its product –always far from that sixties dream of Fidel Castro of producing more and better flavors than the United States–, due to the numerous queues to be endured before entering under the shadow of its concrete ceilings.
In recent weeks, those queues, like the flavor of their ice cream balls, which they have been manufacturing since March with soy milk instead of cow’s milk, they have disappeared. “Come up for tower, It’s empty!”, shouted the employees to the clients who agreed this Friday to cool off in the heat of May, asking them to go upstairs, traditionally the most frequented.
On the ground floor, half of the tables were also empty, something unusual since the place was founded, in 1966.
“It’s just that lately it has very few flavors,” argued a girl, who admits that she goes to Coppelia less than she used to. “When the price increase started, they increased the variety and improved a little bit. Now they all taste the same.”
“When the price increase started, they increased the variety and improved a little. Now they all taste the same”
One of the generalized complaints is the scarcity with which they distribute the ice cream scoops for the salads, which are, in the opinion of a young client, only half of what they should.
Another regret is that in the salads they offer for sale –two per person at 70 pesos–, there is less and less variety of flavors (this Friday, only vanilla and guava). The chocolate, which is part of the obligatory combination, vanishes in a few hours.
“Boy, if you combine the salads with the same flavors, how come you run out of chocolate first?” a lady complained to one of the employees, who tried an unlikely response: “In the areas where the employees went out to lunch, they still have a little left”.
The woman was not satisfied. “Here what happens is the usual, intrigue and business”, she murmured between her teeth. “They are doing something with that chocolate. Because if the same amount of chocolate enters as guava and vanilla, it cannot be that it ends hours before.”
Beyond lucubrations, the reasons for Coppelia to be emptied must also be sought in the increase in competition. In recent years, other private ice cream parlors have proliferated, offering a slightly more expensive product, but of much higher quality.
Another young man, who usually frequents these businesses, is blunt: “Here in Coppelia the ice cream is bad and they have raised the price, and that’s it. This ice cream should be served to the visitors of the Cumbre del Alba, so that they know what it is integration”.
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