Reflections on the lasting legacy of Jay and Kristen Ruskey.
BY MELINA DEVONEY
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
Featured photo by Timothy Styczynski
The coffee industry was absolutely floored by the recent passing of Jay and Kristen Ruskey, owners of Good Land Organics and co-founders of Frinj Coffee in Goleta, California, early this month. Within this limbo of anxiously awaiting the autopsy reports, memories of the Ruskeys replay in my mind in every quiet moment.
I owe the budding of my coffee career to the Ruskeys; they donated a chest freezer-full of coffee cherry pulp for my Master’s project on upcycling cascara at University of California, Davis (UC Davis), and Jay inspired my very first article for Barista Magazine in 2023.
Articles across the web already tout the Ruskeys’ achievements, so I wanted to add to their archive reflections from coffee professionals who saw the Ruskeys as so much more than pioneers of Californian coffee. Here are their words:
Jeff Chean (Co-founder, Groundwork Coffee)
“As an adult, I have found that it’s not often that I meet someone and can then connect so deeply and so quickly as Jay and I did.
I met Jay in 2017 at a BStrong Foundation event where we were both speakers on a panel. Prior to our presentations, he overheard me speaking with someone who asked me what my favorite coffee was. That’s a loaded question for me and my answer is often long and doesn’t always answer the question to the questioner’s satisfaction. Jay, leaning against a wall, holding a drink, and with his signature smirk on his face said, ‘best answer to that stupid question I have ever heard.’ Thus was born a great friendship!
Jay was my convention buddy! We would meet at SCA Expo every year and hang out, walk the show, grab meals, and then drinks at night. Talking coffee, business, life, and youth soccer which both of our kids played.
Jay was a fierce and creative advocate for organic and sustainable agriculture, for which I admired him greatly. From his success growing tropical fruit, he somehow made the leap to try and grow coffee.
‘Grow coffee in Santa Barbara? That’s crazy!’ I wonder how many times he heard that comment. But he felt confident and went ahead to prove everyone wrong. Along the way, he built a coalition of 70 other farmers who bought into his vision of creating a new coffee growing region in Southern California. And not just grow coffee, but grow excellent, high scoring (and very expensive) coffee.
Running a business is tough. Running his type of business was even tougher. Managing his 70 coalition members was like herding cats. Jay encountered big challenges over the last few years, but emerged from his troubles (somewhat) intact and still on his quest to build California as a coffee origin. All the while promoting/pushing his non-certified partners to transition to certified organic.
I never met Kristen, but he spoke about her (lovingly) in our conversations.
We had discussed my planning a trip up with my girlfriend to stay at the farm and have dinner with his family. Sadly, that never happened. Apparently, I needed to learn this lesson – again – that life gets in the way of things happening because we let it get in the way. It’s really not life getting in the way. It’s about choices we make or don’t make, assuming or taking for granted that we have more time to do something than the Universe is going to allocate for us to do it. I believe that we are here to connect to one another and express love. I am learning – again – to do it now rather than later because later may never come. I am mourning the lost opportunity to know Jay better, to connect more closely, and to meet his family.
I hope one day his kids read this, and if you are, I want you to know that your dad was a rockstar. Your dad was a pioneer and a genius innovator. Your dad was a good friend. I will miss him deeply.”
Dr. William Ristenpart (Professor of Chemical Engineering, UC Davis)
“Jay was not only a visionary and a pioneer, he was also a fantastic educator. We loved bringing students down from UC Davis to visit Jay’s farm so they could learn directly from him about how coffee is grown and processed.
It’s heartbreaking, not only for those of us lucky enough to have benefited from Jay’s teaching, but also for future generations of students who won’t have that opportunity.”
Griffin Hall (Former Director of Operations of Good Land Organics, current Quality Assurance Manager at Verve)
“I grew up surrounded by agriculture in my hometown, but never had any interest in it. Being around Jay and Kristen opened my eyes to a lifestyle that brought so much joy through a deep connection to the land and its tasty gifts.
Working at Frinj inherently meant you knew the Ruskeys and were involved in their family. Their kids would walk into the barn (our HQ), and I could see the passion Jay and Kristen instilled in them for their surroundings. It felt like a second home, where I knew I was always welcome.
There were many ups and downs, from celebrating successful harvests, beating heat waves, preparing for potential wildfire evacuation.
Jay was a pillar of the community on Farren road. He knew all the properties like the back of his hand, and was the go-to guy for any emergency. He was trusted to make the right call in tough and stressful situations. He deeply cared about balancing the welfare of his community, and educating people about their place in it.
We drove all up and down the coast, visiting farms and taking the time to ask the hard questions to get to the source of truth. Because he cared to make growing coffee work, and be sustainable for the people who invested and trusted him to lead the movement to grow coffee in California.
He valued going out into a farm, striking his signature “farmer squat” and just being, observing.
He knew water and its movement. He could read the land and taught me how to predict what would slide in a heavy rain. We walked the farm in pouring rain when farm crews were limited. We got covered in mud and dug drains to make sure water flowed.
He loved geology. I would walk into his office and see him pouring over old geological maps, evaluating where the next best to place to plant coffee was.
He took a deep interest in plant breeding, and was excited to make the best coffee hybrids in the world. He claimed he hired me because I had worked in a floral ecology lab and ‘knew how to handle flowers.’
He could talk to anyone.
He has a fixation on people’s shoes and claimed he could tell about their personalities depending on what they wore.
We went surfing before farm visits in San Diego county. He respected the lineup and I could tell the ocean was his happy place. I heard he once offered someone a job in the water. He called it ‘a board meeting.’
He loved basketball, and he always took at least a few minutes to hoop with his kids when they showed up at the barn. No matter how busy he was, he always made time for them.
He wanted to leave a legacy, but also wanted to spend meaningful time with the people in his family and community.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Melina Devoney (she/her) is a barista and freelance writer in Los Angeles zeroed in on coffee and agriculture. She aims to amplify the voices of farmers and a diversity of perspectives within the coffee industry, and she’s happiest when running on wooded trails and dancing at concerts.
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