SAN DIEGO, U.S. — Bird Rock Coffee Roasters announced today an exclusive partnership with Mraz Family Farms, owned by multi-Grammy winning singer/songwriter Jason Mraz, to provide the first-ever San Diego grown coffee to consumers in the U.S. This is the first time a Geisha varietal has been grown and harvested on San Diego soil and made available online and to local consumers.
The unique availability of intercontinental-grown coffee is made available due to Frinj Coffee’s proprietary coffee plants that have proven viability in partnering with avocado farms in Southern California. Mraz Family Farms is one of the early Frinj Coffee growers, is a certified organic operation, and located in northern San Diego.
Partnering with Frinj Coffee in 2015, they planted their first coffee plants, integrating them into their existing avocado farm. As co-partners, they worked together to grow high quality, single-origin varietals for coffee enthusiasts.
Frinj Coffee is credited with managing the post-harvest process for Mraz’s production and the preparation of the highest quality lots for sale to Bird Rock Coffee Roasters. This year marked the largest harvest to date and is the first time Mraz Family Farm coffee will be available to San Diego, and only through Bird Rock Coffee Roasters.
“It has always been our mission to provide San Diego with the best specialty coffee the world has to offer, and now we can include San Diego County in that lineup of excellence,” said Jeff Taylor, co-owner of Bird Rock Coffee Roasters. “Now, unlike any other moment in history, we have access to Geisha, one of the world’s rarest, multiple award-winning and delicious coffees, grown right in our backyard. We see this as the beginning of a sea change in coffee producing and are thrilled to be on the forefront with our outstanding coffee partners, Frinj and Mraz Family Farms.”
This launch follows Bird Rock Coffee Roasters’ and Frinj Coffee’s partnership earlier this year where an exclusive cupping event took place, featuring a California-grown certified organic Cuicateco, which received a score of 92 in a third-party review from Coffee Review. The coffee was grown by Frinj’s flagship and organically certified farm, Good Land Organics. All beans available for purchase sold out in one day.
“This is a true milestone in California’s culinary history and I am proud to see it,” says Jay Ruskey, CEO of Frinj Coffee. “What you are tasting in this cup is the tireless refinement of 20 years of farming from a very dedicated group of people on the Frinj and Mraz Family Farm Team. Thank you Bird Rock for supporting us.”
Frinj Coffee is on a mission to develop coffee production along the southern coast of California. There are 47 partnering Frinj farms between Santa Barbara and San Diego with more than 57,000 coffee trees planted in the ground. Coffee, an entirely imported product, has now been growing in California for over 17 years. The increasing demand for super-specialty coffee is what is fueling the commercial growth. Another result of this pioneering industry is the opportunity to provide the struggling local farming industry with an alternative to the existing commercial crop production of avocados and citrus with a high-valued crop.
“In 2015, with the help of family & friends, Mraz Family Farms was established to produce a diverse array of organic fruits in a sustainable and conscious fashion. At that time, we planted our first coffee trees and teamed up with Frinj Coffee to help us grow high quality, single-origin varietals for serious coffee enthusiasts,” said Jason Mraz, owner of Mraz Family Farms. “Bird Rock Coffee Roasters will be the first and closest coffee shop in California to sell Frinj’s California Geisha grown by Mraz Family Farms. We are proud to have partnered with both of these companies. After 20 years, it is an honor and a thrill to still be sharing my joy in coffee shops.”
The Mraz Family Geisha has tasting notes of jasmine tea, honey, key lime pie, and elderflower. The coffee will be available by the cup at all six Bird Rock Coffee Roaster’s locations for $35 per cup as supplies last. The whole beans will be available online and offered at 4oz for $199 per unit.
Further harvests from Mraz Family Farms are expected in the Spring of 2020 and to be available at Bird Rock Coffee Roasters.
