Welcome to the new San Cristobal Coffee Importers website! We’ve updated our site to make it easier to explore our coffees and learn more about what we do.

Specialty Green Coffee, Direct from Origin

Founded in 1996, San Cristobal Coffee Importers is a vertically integrated green coffee company rooted in Mexico with partners around the world. We work directly with producers to improve quality, strengthen traceability, and increase income at origin.

We connect roasters with exceptional, shade-grown coffees backed by real, long-term quality management with boots on the ground, not just “sourcing” top lots.

View Current Offerings
Coffee wet mill at origin
Since 1996 Years of Excellence
Direct Producer Partnerships
Traceability on Every Bag
Real People Old-School Service
End-to-End Freight & Logistics

Current Inventory

Latest Arrivals

Mexico
Veracruz
Decaf
Mexico EA Veracruz Citlaltepetl Rio Blanco Decaf

Citrus, Almond, Chocolate, Brown Sugar, Syrupy Body

4 bags Costa Oro Seattle
Mexico
Chiapas
Decaf
Mexico Organic HG EP SWP Decaf
Organic
4 bags Costa Oro Seattle
Mexico
Chiapas
Decaf
Decaf Mexico EA (Sugar Cane) Natural Process

Lemon-like Acidity, Baking Chocolate, Malty, Smooth

2 bags Costa Oro Seattle
Ethiopia
Yirgacheffe
Natural
Yirgacheffe Gedeb Worqa, Aleme Didole Drying Site (Kurume Varietal), Natural Grade 1
Berhan Solomon

Peach, Tropical Fruit, Bergamot, Berry, Floral, Cocoa, Creamy Body

1 bags Costa Oro Seattle
Ethiopia
Nekempti
Natural
Ethiopia Nekempte Natural G4 - 1 Bag Lot

Mild, and not crazy fruit. It is a clean stand alone or blender.

1 bags Costa Oro Seattle
Ethiopia
Harrar
Natural
Ethiopia Harrar Gr. 4 Natural

Golden Raisin, Caramel, Dark Chocolate

3 bags Costa Oro Seattle
Ethiopia
Guji
Ethiopia Guji Gr. 4 Natural Organic GP
Organic
2 bags Costa Oro Seattle
Ethiopia
Limu
Natural
Ethiopia Limu Gr. 3 Natural

Bright and complex, floral, mango, minty, juicy heavy body, honey, brown sugar, tropical fruit finish

7 bags Costa Oro Seattle

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From the Source

Our Story

Quality is the result of process controls applied at every step

The town of El Malinal, Nayarit

The town of El Malinal, Nayarit, where it all began

In the early 1990s, our founder, the geophysicist James Kosalos, began working directly with smallholder producers in Mexico, who lacked access to the tools and markets needed to earn a sustainable income.

Rather than working within a system that left producers behind, he set out to build a new one: in 1993, that work began in the community of Malinal, Nayarit, where he partnered with a small group of farmers to create shared wet mills, a centrally managed cupping lab and dry mill, and a feedback loop that gave producers real data on what they were growing and how they were processing it.

San Cristobal Coffee Importers was founded on the belief that better coffee comes from a systematized approach at origin.

Each day's harvest must be kept as a separate lot, carefully processed and dried individually before any decisions are made. The best coffee disappears the moment it gets mixed into the rest.

The approach works. What started with a single producing organization, El Ejido Malinal, has grown to encompass producers across the region. Producers earn significantly more than selling into the commodity market, and the resulting exports are fully traceable, as a result of accountability at every step of production.

Today, over 30 years later, through Cafés Sustentables de México, Grupo Terruño Nayarita, and our global partners, we continue to focus on one core idea: improving quality so coffee producers can earn more and build lasting stability.

"Leave everything you touch better than you found it."

James Kosalos
James Kosalos

President of San Cristobal Coffee Importers

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