Spanish Speakers (Dominican), Please Help.

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Yes, I have come to suck the knowledge out of the BoM once again.

The question:

What does jaba mean in the following context?

“She was one of those golden mulatas that French-speaking Caribbeans call chabines, that my boys call chicas de oro; she had snarled, apocalyptic hair, copper eyes, and was one whiteskinned relative away from jaba.”

All I can think of is the colour of the coffee bean and google didn't know either...

 

Spanish is my second language so I'm not an expert, but I'm thinking that the word "jaba" is refering to the colour of coffee. I'm wondering if the writer of this excerpt has Spanish as a first language. Usually the V sound is pronounced as a B sound. In that case the word jaba could be a spelling mistake.

 

Well, it's from a novel by Junot Díaz and Spanish is his first language...Guess no using that quote for me.

 

I don't know any Spanish, so I don't know if this is correct, but a quick Google search gave me the following answer:
"The word “jaba” is a negative informal expression from the Dominican Republic that is the equivalent to the term “high yellow” used here in the United States, meaning a very light skinned black person."

 

That certainly makes a lot of sense with the context. My vote is with your answer Mesmero

 

Thanks Mesmero! I didn't use the quote, but it's always nice to know.