Source Work
Our sourcing philosophy centers on building long-term relationships with producers who share our commitment to quality and sustainability. We visit origin regularly, working directly with farms and cooperatives across Latin America.
Our Origins
Origin Countries
Ethiopia
It began with an internship. It all began when Abdi visited Jim in Nayarit... Abdi is an Organic Inspector with Yeti Agro-Forestry PLC in Nekemte, Ethiopia. He traveled to Mexico for an internship with CAFESUMEX during the coffee harvest in 2014.
Our Relationship
Abdi's internship paved the way for Jim's bottom-up approach to expand from Mexico to Ethiopia. In 2018, Abdi was consulting a new group of producers in the West Welega Zone of Ethiopia. The group was called Asikana, meaning “we start from here” in the Oromo language. Asikana was working to achieve an organic and Bird Friendly certification, but they needed to improve their coffee quality management techniques in order to achieve market access and maximize income for their farmer members. Abdi suggested to Asikana that they connect to Jim to learn about our FincaLab® standards and track record of success in Mexico. In 2019, Asikana sent an intern named Mengistu to Nayarit. Mengistu was an intern with us for five months. The purpose of his internship was to take quality control knowledge back to Ethiopia to improve the efficiency and quality of Asikana's harvest. Mengistu returned to Ethiopia after his internship and installed a FincaLab® cupping lab in the town of Aira. In 2020 San Cristobal bought their first container from Asikana. It was the first container ever exported from Ethiopia with fully traceable bar code bag tags with serial numbers. There was even an article about it featured in Roast Magazine!
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Mexico
San Cristobal began working with producers in the Mexican state of Nayarit back in the early 1990's. We were incorporated in 1996 to give market access to the small-holder coffee producers of Nayarit; a huge step towards environmental and economic sustainability in the area. At the core of everything was education, equality, and cooperation.
Our Relationship
James Kosalos theorized that unbiased, science-based process controls would help growers improve their coffee quality and consistency, growing away from the commodity market and into the specialty arena. Today, San Cristobal is vertically integrated at source with Grupo Terruño Nayarita, an organized group of coffee producing societies across seven different communities. The group is constantly growing, developing economy of scale that helps with everything from exportation to bank loans to organic certification. All members carry an equally weighed vote as shareholders, they determine the how/where to invest (ie infrastructure), how they want to grow and whether new societies can join, following a probationary year. San Cristobal also carries a vote at these meetings.
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Interested in our Origins?
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