It’s not common to see Oceanside, San Diego, or Santa Barbara, California, listed as the growing region on a bag of coffee—yet. But it might not be long before California-grown coffee is on the shelves of specialty shops and national chains across the US.

Most coffee is grown in the “coffee belt” in countries between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. But in 2002, Jay Ruskey, began research at his farm, Good Land Organics near Santa Barbara, California, to cultivate a coffee plant that would thrive in the Southern California climate.

Ruskey, an agricultural innovator and farmer, founded FRINJ Coffee in 2017 to create a coffee-growing industry in California. His aim was to provide farmers with a whole systems solution for California coffee production,  arming them with the nutrition, irrigation, and coffee growing information they need to have a successful crop.