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The Coppelia de Sancti Spíritus reopened on June 3 after years of near-total inactivity, but customers who arrived with high expectations found themselves facing minimal portions, crystallized ice cream, and prices that many consider excessive for the quality received.
"I felt like I had wasted 250 pesos," laments a customer quoted by 14ymedio after trying two scoops of flan-flavored ice cream. The portions, they describe, were barely equivalent to "two large tablespoons," and the ice cream had so many ice crystals that the flavor disappeared even before leaving the establishment.
The reopening took place through an agreement between a local micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise and the Base Business Unit Complex Mar y Cielo, which is part of the provincial Gastronomy. The official press celebrated the return "in honor of the 95th birthday of Army General Raúl Castro" and presented it as "a new phase" for the iconic ice cream parlor, inaugurated in 1986 as part of the celebrations for July 26 in the province.
The menu features mango, strawberry, butter pecan, and vanilla scoops at 125 pesos each, although the chocolate —also listed— was unavailable at the time of the visit. The minimum order of two scoops without any accompaniment totals 250 pesos. A four-liter tub costs 5,500 pesos, and a half-liter bottle of water is 240.
The contrast with the previous reopening in December 2023 is striking: at that time, each scoop cost 20 pesos, and the ice cream was provided by the Río Zaza Dairy Products Company. Now, the product comes from a private micro, small, and medium enterprise based in Ciego de Ávila, the name of which has not been disclosed by the official press.
"For someone who isn't even a fan of ice cream, it was very little. Each scoop was about the size of a large spoon. It's excessively expensive for that amount," pointed out another customer.
The crystallized texture of the ice cream points to issues in the cold chain, possibly during its production, storage, or transport from Ciego de Ávila. "It wasn't melted, but at some point, it lost its chill. It tasted like ice cream, though with so many lumps that it was far from being a creamy ice cream," recounted a customer. The new management installed solar panels and batteries to safeguard refrigeration during the prolonged blackouts affecting the province, but the texture suggests that the problem occurs before the product reaches the shop.
The history of Coppelia in Sancti Spíritus reflects the structural crisis of the island: in 2017, the ice cream was already melting before a costly rehabilitation of the facility; by 2023, the lack of water and limitations in the dairy industry reduced the supply to amounts sufficient for hardly five days of sales over an entire month.
Other negative details marred the experience: the portions are served in small clay containers that "seem like they're going to break just by touching them," as one visitor sarcastically remarked; in the bathroom, due to the lack of toilet paper, a used notebook was placed on the toilet tank; and two electrical boxes were left uncovered on the walls without switches or covers. The lack of connectivity also prevented payment by transfer, forcing customers to use cash.
The establishment, which operates from Tuesday to Sunday between ten in the morning and ten at night with a single active room that has a capacity for about 70 customers, was nearly empty in the late morning. "I was served quickly and the place was quiet. But I left without even remembering the taste of the ice cream. The only thing I recalled was the 250 pesos," summarized one of the visitors.
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