Source Work
Our philosophy is built on long-term partnerships at origin, grounded in our vertically integrated model. Through our on-the-ground operations in Mexico and close collaborations in Ethiopia and Peru, we work alongside producers to manage quality, processing, and traceability from harvest through export.
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Our Origins
Country Profiles
Origin Countries
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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Ethiopia
It began with an internship, 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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Peru
In 2024, San Cristobal expanded its Fincalab® QMS to Peru after another transformative internship… SCM and CSM are partnering with Cooperativa Agraria Groupthink Yapaz (COOPAGRY) in Peru to implement the FincaLab® Coffee Quality Management system. This proven science-based approach, developed with GTNay in Mexico, will help COOPAGRY improve quality, efficiency, and exports.
Our Relationship
COOPAGRY is based in the town of Yapaz Bajo, which is located in Peru's central jungle in the region of Junín. Yapaz Bajo, which is situated at about 1,400 meters, is one of dozens of small coffee-growing towns in an area of approximately 6,000 households known locally “El Valle Palomar” (The Palomar Valley). The Peruvian government has declared the area a Parque Nacional de Café (Coffee National Park), due to its natural beauty and the importance of its coffee economy. COOPAGRY was born from the vision of the Vivanco family, who are third-generation coffee farmers. Despite El Valle Palomar’s reputation for producing lots of coffee, small producers have long struggled with economic inequality. Middlemen dominate the market, purchasing coffee cherries or parchment at low prices and selling them to large cooperatives or exporters who export the coffee at significant profits. For small farmers, these export-driven profits are essentially out of reach. For the Vivanco family, this imbalance was especially evident when an investor established a large 70-hectare, full sun, coffee farm and set-up a sophisticated wet mill just down the road from their home in Yapaz Bajo. While the investor’s company employed locals, including members of the Vivanco family, to manage operations and perform quality control, the family realized they had no direct market access for their own coffee and the organization's profits we not being passed down to them. In 2021, three young members of the Vivanco family—Alex, Flor, and Jean Pierre—along with their uncle David, met up at a café in the nearby city of Villa Rica. Over the course of their conversation that day, they sketched out a long-term vision: establish their own family exporting organization. They called it COOPAGRY (Cooperativa Agraria Group Think Yapaz). Two years later, on April 15th 2023, their cooperative was officially established. In early 2024, Alex and Flor (brother and sister) traveled to Mexico to intern with CSM (www.cafesumex.com) in Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico. It was an eye opening and transformative experience for them both. During their four-month internship, they studied coffee quality management, the formal evaluation of daily lots, producing organization management, international trade, and economies of scale. They also collaborated with CSM’s engineers to adapt our FincaLab® software for quality management in Peru. This internship, sponsored by San Cristobal Coffee Importers, equipped Alex and Flor with the skills and tools necessary to bring their vision for COOPAGRY to life. COOPAGRY's first successful export in 2024 boosted the income of all participating families and laid the foundation for growth in future harvests. In the ensuing harvests, the Vivanco family has invested their income in the construction of a centralized wet mill to increase efficiency, as well as a permanent cupping lab. San Cristobal is the official North American distributor of COOPAGRY’s Peruvian coffees, with FincaLab® harvest support administered remotely by our Mexican staff at CAFESUMEX.
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