Mexican Coffee Must Not Disappear Behind Intermediaries: A Conversation with José Manuel Hernández García

José Manuel Hernández García grew up in Coatepec, Veracruz, one of Mexico’s most recognized coffee producing regions. He was surrounded by coffee farms and the people who work them. But instead of staying on the farm, he became a mechatronics engineer.

Instead of exporting coffee the traditional way, he built digital traceability systems, opened new trade routes to the Middle East and Eurasia, and founded “Todos Somos México,” a movement that uses coffee as a tool for economic diplomacy. At only 29 years old, he is now developing a Latin American platform to connect producers from Mexico and beyond with strategic markets in Dubai, Armenia, Russia, and the GCC.

In this interview, he speaks openly about drought, EUDR regulations, fair returns for small farmers, and why he chose Armenia over Turkey as a gateway to Eurasia. Do not just drink your coffee. Know the story behind it.

Here is the full interview.

As a mechatronics engineer who grew up in Coatepec, one of Mexico’s most recognized coffee producing regions, how has your technical background influenced the production systems and digital traceability processes at Casa Tostadora Briones?

Growing up in Coatepec gave me a direct connection to coffee culture from an early age, while my background in mechatronics engineering helped me approach the coffee industry from a systems, technology, and process perspective.

At Casa Tostadora Briones, we focus heavily on organization, traceability, quality control, and long term scalability. My technical background has influenced how we structure information, manage producer relationships, monitor quality standards, and develop more efficient commercial and export processes.

One of the projects we are currently developing focuses on improving traceability directly at the farm level. Our goal is to build systems that allow buyers to follow the coffee journey more closely, from the moment harvesting begins to the movement and processing of each coffee lot.

We are also exploring the implementation of AI assisted technologies for coffee quality analysis, including colorimetry and density evaluation systems, to help improve consistency, transparency, and quality control throughout the supply chain.

I believe technology can help create stronger connections between producers and international markets while bringing more transparency and value to Mexican coffee.

Mexican coffee producers are facing major climate related challenges, including droughts, along with ongoing instability in global coffee prices. How are these factors affecting the consistency and quality of your specialty coffee, and how do you balance fair returns for producers while staying competitive in international markets?

The 2024 2025 coffee harvest in Mexico was heavily affected by severe drought conditions, which significantly impacted production volumes and contributed to a major increase in coffee prices across the market.

In many coffee producing regions, farmers faced water shortages, irregular rainfall, and higher stress on coffee plants, directly affecting consistency, cherry development, and overall production planning.

One of the biggest challenges today is not only maintaining coffee quality, but also adapting farms to increasingly unstable climate conditions.

In response to this, some coffee farms in Mexico are beginning to implement new water management strategies, including the construction of water reservoirs, the development of water wells, and more efficient irrigation systems to help secure water access during critical periods.

At the same time, technology is becoming increasingly important. We are working toward implementing monitoring systems that help analyze water needs at the farm level, allowing producers to make more informed decisions based on environmental and production conditions.

Regarding fair returns for producers, our approach is to avoid competing only through low prices. If the international market demands specialty coffee, traceability, consistency, and origin, then the producer must also receive a fair value for that work.

We balance this by building relationships with markets that understand quality and origin, especially in regions such as the Middle East and Eurasia. Instead of reducing the value paid to producers, we work on improving market positioning, logistics, traceability, and commercial strategy so Mexican coffee can remain competitive internationally without weakening the producer’s income.

For us, competitiveness does not mean paying less at origin. It means creating a stronger value chain where the producer, the exporter, and the international buyer can all participate in a sustainable and transparent way.

With the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) introducing strict geolocation and traceability requirements, how are you preparing to meet these standards while ensuring that small coffee farmers are not left out of global trade opportunities?

The EUDR represents a major turning point for the coffee industry. Traceability is no longer only a commercial advantage. It is becoming a requirement for access to some of the most important international markets.

At Casa Tostadora Briones, we are preparing by strengthening traceability directly from the farm level. This includes producer identification, farm and plot geolocation, documentation of coffee lots, and better digital organization of information throughout the supply chain.

One of the most important elements of our work is that we already have producer groups in different coffee growing regions of Mexico. For example, in one region of Veracruz, specifically in Cordoba, we work with a group of around 200 small producers. They have the quality, the knowledge of the land, and the potential to produce excellent coffee, but many of them are not familiar with the international rules, documentation, certifications, and traceability requirements that global markets increasingly demand.

This is where our role becomes very important. We do not only act as an exporter. We also work as a bridge between producers and international markets, helping them understand what each market requires and supporting them in the process of improving coffee quality, organizing information, and moving toward standardization according to buyer expectations.

We are also working toward integrating technology that allows us to follow the movement of coffee from the moment the harvest begins, through processing, commercialization, and export. The goal is to give international buyers more transparency while helping producers become better prepared for new global requirements.

One of the biggest risks of regulations like EUDR is that small producers could be left behind simply because they do not always have access to digital tools, technical support, or administrative systems. We believe companies like ours must help prevent that.

For us, compliance should not become an exclusion filter. It should become a path toward better organization, stronger traceability, and greater participation for small producers in global trade.

The future of Mexican coffee depends on combining origin, technology, traceability, and inclusion.

You are currently leading expansion efforts from Dubai to strengthen the presence of Mexican coffee in the Middle East. What makes this region strategically important for you, and how do you plan to position Mexican coffee in such a highly competitive specialty coffee market?

Dubai, and the United Arab Emirates in general, are strategically important for us because coffee is one of the most important beverages not only in the UAE, but across the Middle East. Coffee is deeply connected to hospitality, business, family, and daily life in the region.

We are also seeing important changes in nearby markets. For example, Russia has traditionally been a tea consuming market, but coffee consumption has been growing significantly, creating new opportunities for coffee producers and brands.

The UAE is also one of the most important logistics and commercial hubs in the world. From Dubai, we can import green coffee, roast it locally to preserve freshness, and distribute it across different channels. This gives us a major advantage because freshness is essential for positioning high quality coffee in a competitive market.

Our current focus is to enter and develop the HORECA sector by adapting Mexican coffee to the local culture of consumption. In the Middle East, every country has its own way of drinking coffee, and if you do not adapt, you are out of the market.

That is why our strategy is not only to sell Mexican coffee as an origin, but to understand how it can perform in espresso, specialty brewing, Turkish style preparations, and other local preferences.

From Dubai, we also see the opportunity to re export Mexican coffee to the GCC and other strategic markets. This allows us to use Dubai as a platform to build a long term presence for Mexican coffee across the Middle East and beyond.

The goal is to position Mexico as a serious, consistent, and adaptable coffee origin in one of the most dynamic coffee regions in the world.

Your expansion strategy has also included Armenia as a gateway to Russia and the wider Eurasian market. Why did you choose Armenia for this role, and what were the biggest challenges in opening these new commercial routes?

Armenia became part of our expansion strategy because we saw an opportunity to build a new bridge between Mexico, the Middle East, Russia, and the wider Eurasian market.

Russia is a large and important market, but because of the current restrictions and sanctions environment, doing business directly with Russia is not simple. At the same time, this has created a market where many international players have stepped back, leaving space for new routes and alternative commercial structures.

At the beginning, we considered Istanbul as a possible hub for Eurasia. However, when you analyze the geopolitical and logistical situation, Turkey presents certain limitations for this specific strategy. Doing business with Russia can be complex, and there is also no open land border between Turkey and Armenia, which makes regional coverage more difficult.

Armenia, on the other hand, has strong commercial ties with Russia and is part of a trade framework that allows access to Russia and other Eurasian markets under more favorable conditions. This gives us the possibility to receive payments, work with regional partners, and explore re export opportunities to countries within that framework.

For us, Armenia can become a strategic platform. Our vision is to import Mexican green coffee, evaluate where it is most efficient to roast or process it, and then re export it to Russia and other Eurasian destinations.

One of the biggest challenges we have faced in Armenia is the high import tax, which can reach around 20 percent. That is where the strategy becomes important: understanding where the coffee should be imported, where it should be roasted or processed, and from where it should be re exported in order to remain competitive.

Opening this type of route requires solving logistics, customs, payments, documentation, local partnerships, and market adaptation at the same time.

Another important challenge is education. Mexican coffee is not yet strongly positioned in Armenia or Russia, so we have to explain the origin, the quality, the regions, and the value behind the product.

For us, Armenia represents a strategic door into Eurasia and a way to continue opening international routes for Mexican and Latin American coffee beyond traditional markets.

Through your leadership in the “Todos Somos Mexico” initiative, how were you able to turn coffee from an agricultural product into a tool for economic diplomacy and international representation for Mexico?

“Todos Somos Mexico (We are all Mexico)” was born when we decided to take Mexican coffee to new horizons, especially to the Middle East.

When we began exploring these markets, we realized that Mexican coffee was not strongly positioned internationally. But we also realized something deeper: in many cases, there was limited knowledge about Mexico itself, its coffee regions, its producers, its culture, and its capacity to participate in high value global markets.

We also saw that Mexican coffee often does not go far beyond the United States. Many small producers remain disconnected from international opportunities because they do not have access to the right networks, market information, export structures, or institutional support.

That is why we decided that our mission could not be only to sell coffee. We needed to position Mexican coffee and Mexico at the same time.

We began visiting farms, listening directly to the needs of coffee growers, and understanding the reality behind each region. From there, we started bringing together small producers, civil associations, state governments, and institutions under one shared vision.

The Ministry of Tourism of Mexico also joined this effort, allowing us to present not only coffee, but also Mexico’s culture, identity, and regional diversity at World of Coffee Dubai 2026. Mexican embassies in the Middle East and consulates also became part of this representation.

That is how “Todos Somos Mexico” was born: as a movement to unite coffee producing regions, producers, institutions, governments, embassies, and consulates under one international message.

For me, coffee became a tool for economic diplomacy because it allowed us to speak about Mexico through its people, its land, its culture, and its productive capacity.

The message is simple: no one should be left out of this great representation. Mexican coffee must become a bridge that opens doors for more producers, strengthens Mexico’s image abroad, and creates long term opportunities in strategic markets.

After bringing together producers, organizations, and diplomatic representatives under one shared vision, what real impact did local Mexican coffee farmers experience on the ground?

The first real impact was visibility.

For many years, many small coffee farmers in Mexico produced high quality coffee, but once their coffee entered the commercial chain, their identity often disappeared. Exporters or intermediaries would buy the coffee, but the final presentation usually focused only on the exporting company or the final brand, without mentioning the farm, the producer, the region, or the story behind that coffee.

From the beginning, we decided to change that.

For us, origin and traceability are not only technical concepts. They are also a way to give recognition back to the people who produce the coffee. That is why one of the first steps was to document the farm, the region, the producer, and the story behind each coffee lot, so the final buyer can understand where the coffee comes from and who is behind it.

Through “Todos Somos Mexico”, producers began to see that their coffee could be represented internationally with their own identity, not only as an anonymous product inside a supply chain.

On the ground, this created more awareness about what global markets require: traceability, quality consistency, documentation, standardization, and storytelling. Producers started to understand that international positioning requires more than a good cup. It requires organization, information, and long term preparation.

Another important impact is that this work also encourages other exporters and companies to become more conscious about how small producers are treated. When the market begins to value the farm, the region, and the producer behind the coffee, the entire supply chain is pushed toward more transparency and responsibility.

In our case, the objective is also to generate more resources and reinvest part of that value back into coffee growing communities. This reinvestment is essential because coffee production in Mexico has not been growing as it should. In many regions, instead of increasing, production has been decreasing.

Mexico has excellent coffee, diverse microclimates, rich soil, altitude, and strong producing communities. The potential is there. But without reinvestment, technical support, infrastructure, and long term planning, it is very difficult for producers to increase production and improve consistency.

That is also part of our objective: to use international positioning to create a stronger cycle where better markets can generate more value, and that value can return to the communities to help increase production, improve quality, and strengthen the future of Mexican coffee.

Of course, this is a long term process. The impact is not immediate for every producer, and there is still a lot of work to do. But the first step was to return visibility to the producer and open a door that did not exist before.

For us, the real impact is creating a path where more producers can access better markets, better information, better recognition, reinvestment, and better opportunities without losing their identity along the way.

You are now developing a Latin American platform aimed at connecting producers and coffee brands with strategic markets in the Middle East and Eurasia. What are the main operational and technological features of this platform, and how will it support transparency and fair trade?

The Latin American platform we are developing is designed to connect producers and coffee brands from Mexico and Latin America with strategic markets in the Middle East and Eurasia.

The idea is not to create a simple buy and sell marketplace. We want to build a commercial, technological, and marketing arm for producers, allowing them to reach international buyers without leaving behind their farms or losing control of their origin.

When I first arrived in Dubai, this is exactly the kind of support I would have wanted to find. I would have wanted a structure, guidance, market access, local support, and a platform that could help me understand how to enter such a competitive and complex market.

That experience became part of the vision. What we had to learn by ourselves, we now want to make possible for producers across Mexico and Latin America.

Through the platform, producers will be able to present their coffee directly to buyers, including information about the farm, region, process, quality profile, available volume, and traceability. The goal is to bring the final buyer closer to the producer, instead of hiding the producer behind layers of intermediaries.

Operationally, the platform will support direct negotiation, local roasting, local distribution, storage, HORECA opportunities, retail access, and market positioning in strategic locations such as Dubai. This means a producer in Mexico or Latin America could access the Middle East market without having to immediately open a company, travel constantly, or build an entire local operation from zero.

The technology behind this platform is already developed. We are currently refining the final details before announcing the official launch. The same visibility work that we started with Mexican coffee, documenting producers, farms, regions, stories, and origin, will now be expanded to Latin America.

This technology will allow buyers to receive information when harvesting begins, follow the movement of coffee lots from the farm, and access more transparent information throughout the supply chain.

But the platform is not only about sending one container to the Middle East and considering the work finished. In many cases, sending a container can be the easy part. The real challenge is creating a market for each producer or coffee brand, with its own narrative, identity, and story.

This is extremely important because if a buyer changes suppliers, the producer should not disappear from the market completely. If the farm, the region, and the story have already been positioned, the producer has a stronger foundation to continue building commercial opportunities beyond one single buyer.

In terms of fair trade, the platform supports transparency by giving producers visibility and a more active role in the commercial process. When the producer can be seen, contacted, and recognized, the value of the coffee is less likely to disappear inside the supply chain.

For buyers, the platform creates direct access to origin, better information, stronger traceability, and a more human connection with the people behind the coffee.

For producers, it becomes a way to negotiate, position their brand, access local roasting and distribution, and enter strategic international markets while continuing to focus on what they do best: producing coffee.

Our long term vision is to help Mexican and Latin American coffee compete globally with stronger organization, better technology, and a more direct connection between origin and demand.

As a 29 year old entrepreneur who has built international trade networks and commercial infrastructure across multiple regions, what vision is guiding your efforts to shape the future of Latin American coffee in emerging global markets?

My vision is to help Mexican and Latin American coffee move from being seen only as a raw material to becoming a stronger global value proposition with origin, identity, traceability, and direct market presence.

Mexico and Latin America have some of the best coffee producing regions in the world. We have altitude, soil, microclimates, producers, culture, and quality. But there is still so much to explore, to learn, and to implement. In many cases, producers still do not have enough access to international markets, commercial infrastructure, technology, or the right positioning.

Since I left Mexico, my main objective has been very clear: to continue being a bridge for producers, to keep opening routes, and to create new paths for Mexican and Latin American coffee in markets where our origins are still not fully recognized.

At 29, I understand that this is only the beginning. Building international routes takes time, patience, trust, and a lot of work. But I also believe this is the right moment. Emerging markets such as the Middle East and Eurasia are looking for quality, origin, consistency, and new stories. Mexico and Latin America have all of that, but we need to present it with better organization, stronger strategy, and greater unity.

What we started with Mexican coffee, we now want to expand to Latin America. The goal is to create more visibility, more transparency, and more commercial opportunities for producers, while helping buyers access coffee with real origin and a human story behind it.

For me, the future of Mexican and Latin American coffee is about exporting better, with more value, more recognition, and more participation from the people who actually produce the coffee.

If we can combine technology, traceability, logistics, local roasting, market adaptation, and international partnerships, Mexican and Latin American coffee can become much stronger in emerging global markets.

That is the vision guiding my work: to keep building bridges, opening routes, and creating opportunities so producers from Mexico and Latin America can participate in the world with more dignity, more visibility, and more future.