Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Calif.-grown coffee at Bird Rock Roasters – $100/pound

17,000 new trees planted in San Diego this spring

A cupping of California grown beans at Bird Rock Coffee Roasters
A cupping of California grown beans at Bird Rock Coffee Roasters

Before the end of this year, local java fans could be paying a premium to drink coffee grown right here in San Diego.

At a series of ticketed cuppings last weekend, Bird Rock Coffee Roasters introduced its first take on California-grown beans, an organic coffee of the Cuicateco varietal, harvested by the Good Land Organics coffee farm in Santa Barbara. Bird Rock’s roast earned a 92-point expert rating from CoffeeReview.com, which will count it among the world’s best coffees in 2019.

Place

Bird Rock Coffee Roasters

5627 La Jolla Boulevard, San Diego

Good Land owner Jay Ruskey started efforts to farm coffee there fifteen years ago, and the project has grown into a new, more ambitious company, Frinj Coffee, which now partners with 35 farms throughout Southern California, and has planted 35,000 trees and counting.

Twenty of those farms, and roughly 20,000 of those trees, are in and around San Diego County, ranging from Rancho Santa Fe up to Temecula. Most of the farms were, and continue to be, avocado or citrus farms.

Sponsored
Sponsored
These coffee beans were grown in California.

Coffee trees “have exactly the same temperature requirements as avocados,” says Ruskey, which creates an interesting opportunity for small avocado farmers who’ve struggled as imports from Mexico, Chile, and Peru have relegated the once booming local agriculture to commodity pricing. According to Raskey, Frinj has taken on most of its farming partners as investors, and aims to “provide another opportunity for lemon and avocado farmers to diversify.”

An aversion to commodity pricing has long been a distinction of specialty coffee, as so-called third wave coffee Roasters like Bird Rock. Coffee on the commodities market currently trades at 95 cents a pound, barely covering more than half the average cost of farming it. Specialty roasters pay premium prices via direct trade agreements with coffee farmers, forming years-long relationships intended to keep coffee farming economically viable, while improving the quality of beans available to gourmet coffee consumers, which Reuters recently reported now compose 61 percent of the coffee market.

Coffee origin: So Cal

However, most of the world’s coffee is farmed in relatively depressed economies: Guatemala, Ethiopia, Keyna, El Salvador, and Brazil. Labor costs on U.S. soil are considerably higher, and with California’s minimum wage, Ruskey says production costs range from 22 to 25 dollars a pound; more than a third of that cost is harvesting.

Consequently, the wholesale price for California-grown coffee is steep. “I’ve never sold a coffee for under 60 dollars a pound, green,” reports Ruskey. The Cuicateco beans roasted by Bird Rock wholesaled at $100 per pound.

This places Frinj Coffee squarely in the emerging super specialty coffee market, a niche initially carved by rare varietals of Geisha coffee beans, which have been known to auction at over $150 per pound.

“Two percent of the specialty market is super specialty,” says Ruskey, “and it’s growing about 17 percent per year, domestically.” However, the price for super specialty is often driven by high demand for expensive beans in China, Korea, and Japan. Adds Ruskey, “A lot of the world’s best coffees have been sucked into the vacuum of the south Asian marketplace that wants a rare, unique complex coffee with a great story.”

Locally, Bird Rock has embraced this high-end market, often distinguishing itself by serving hard-to-get coffees. “That’s one of the niches Bird Rock focuses on,” says owner Jeff Taylor, “exclusive coffees that other roasters can’t find or get a hold of.”

Able to secure just 20 pounds of Cuicateco, Bird Rock announced its availability exclusively through an email newsletter to its subscribers. It sold the entire allotment within hours, despite a price tag of $100 for 200 grams (slightly less than half a pound).

Coffee trees take four years to mature, and most of the trees planted by Frinj thus far have yet to bear fruit. But that’s changing. “We did about 500 pounds this year,” says Ruskey, “Next year, we should do two to three times that.” By 2020, he expects 5,000 pounds to be available.

Meanwhile, Frinj is planting more trees. In San Diego County alone, he expects to add 17,000 new trees this spring, and hopes to add more throughout the year. “This summer will be exciting,” he adds, “I think we’re going to get our first harvest of some San Diego crop.”

Bird Rock hopes to offer San Diego-grown beans by late summer, and Taylor expects great things. “I’ve had a chance to cup some coffees from San Diego already,” he says, “and the quality is there.”

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

SDSU pres gets highest pay raise in state over last 15 years

Union-Tribune still stiffing downtown San Diego landlord?
Next Article

Croome Brothers Trio, Jack Tempchin, Ricky, Swami & the Bed Of Nails, Kahlil Nash

Acoustic and electric in Del Mar, La Jolla, Little Italy, and City Heights
A cupping of California grown beans at Bird Rock Coffee Roasters
A cupping of California grown beans at Bird Rock Coffee Roasters

Before the end of this year, local java fans could be paying a premium to drink coffee grown right here in San Diego.

At a series of ticketed cuppings last weekend, Bird Rock Coffee Roasters introduced its first take on California-grown beans, an organic coffee of the Cuicateco varietal, harvested by the Good Land Organics coffee farm in Santa Barbara. Bird Rock’s roast earned a 92-point expert rating from CoffeeReview.com, which will count it among the world’s best coffees in 2019.

Place

Bird Rock Coffee Roasters

5627 La Jolla Boulevard, San Diego

Good Land owner Jay Ruskey started efforts to farm coffee there fifteen years ago, and the project has grown into a new, more ambitious company, Frinj Coffee, which now partners with 35 farms throughout Southern California, and has planted 35,000 trees and counting.

Twenty of those farms, and roughly 20,000 of those trees, are in and around San Diego County, ranging from Rancho Santa Fe up to Temecula. Most of the farms were, and continue to be, avocado or citrus farms.

Sponsored
Sponsored
These coffee beans were grown in California.

Coffee trees “have exactly the same temperature requirements as avocados,” says Ruskey, which creates an interesting opportunity for small avocado farmers who’ve struggled as imports from Mexico, Chile, and Peru have relegated the once booming local agriculture to commodity pricing. According to Raskey, Frinj has taken on most of its farming partners as investors, and aims to “provide another opportunity for lemon and avocado farmers to diversify.”

An aversion to commodity pricing has long been a distinction of specialty coffee, as so-called third wave coffee Roasters like Bird Rock. Coffee on the commodities market currently trades at 95 cents a pound, barely covering more than half the average cost of farming it. Specialty roasters pay premium prices via direct trade agreements with coffee farmers, forming years-long relationships intended to keep coffee farming economically viable, while improving the quality of beans available to gourmet coffee consumers, which Reuters recently reported now compose 61 percent of the coffee market.

Coffee origin: So Cal

However, most of the world’s coffee is farmed in relatively depressed economies: Guatemala, Ethiopia, Keyna, El Salvador, and Brazil. Labor costs on U.S. soil are considerably higher, and with California’s minimum wage, Ruskey says production costs range from 22 to 25 dollars a pound; more than a third of that cost is harvesting.

Consequently, the wholesale price for California-grown coffee is steep. “I’ve never sold a coffee for under 60 dollars a pound, green,” reports Ruskey. The Cuicateco beans roasted by Bird Rock wholesaled at $100 per pound.

This places Frinj Coffee squarely in the emerging super specialty coffee market, a niche initially carved by rare varietals of Geisha coffee beans, which have been known to auction at over $150 per pound.

“Two percent of the specialty market is super specialty,” says Ruskey, “and it’s growing about 17 percent per year, domestically.” However, the price for super specialty is often driven by high demand for expensive beans in China, Korea, and Japan. Adds Ruskey, “A lot of the world’s best coffees have been sucked into the vacuum of the south Asian marketplace that wants a rare, unique complex coffee with a great story.”

Locally, Bird Rock has embraced this high-end market, often distinguishing itself by serving hard-to-get coffees. “That’s one of the niches Bird Rock focuses on,” says owner Jeff Taylor, “exclusive coffees that other roasters can’t find or get a hold of.”

Able to secure just 20 pounds of Cuicateco, Bird Rock announced its availability exclusively through an email newsletter to its subscribers. It sold the entire allotment within hours, despite a price tag of $100 for 200 grams (slightly less than half a pound).

Coffee trees take four years to mature, and most of the trees planted by Frinj thus far have yet to bear fruit. But that’s changing. “We did about 500 pounds this year,” says Ruskey, “Next year, we should do two to three times that.” By 2020, he expects 5,000 pounds to be available.

Meanwhile, Frinj is planting more trees. In San Diego County alone, he expects to add 17,000 new trees this spring, and hopes to add more throughout the year. “This summer will be exciting,” he adds, “I think we’re going to get our first harvest of some San Diego crop.”

Bird Rock hopes to offer San Diego-grown beans by late summer, and Taylor expects great things. “I’ve had a chance to cup some coffees from San Diego already,” he says, “and the quality is there.”

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Making Love to Goats, Rachmaninoff, and Elgar

Next Article

San Diego Reader 2024 Music & Arts Issue

Favorite fakers: Baby Bushka, Fleetwood Max, Electric Waste Band, Oceans, Geezer – plus upcoming tribute schedule
Comments
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
May 9, 2019
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.