California coffee growing pioneers die of unknown causes, leaving behind 3 children

Authorities are investigating the sudden deaths of a Central Coast couple who pioneered California’s coffee-growing movement from their Santa Barbara County farm.

Jay and Kristen Ruskey, owners of Good Land Organics and co-founders of Frinj Coffee, died Sunday at a home in Cambria, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department confirmed Friday.

Authorities have not released how the couple died. Autopsies were performed Thursday and toxicology results are expected in a few weeks, said Tony Cipolla, public information officer for the Sheriff’s Department.

“At this time, the deaths do not appear to be suspicious,” Cipolla said.

A GoFundMe created to support the Ruskey family members with funeral costs, memorial arrangements and other expenses had raised more than $133,000 as of Friday afternoon. The couple has three children: Kasurina, 19, Sean, 16 and Aiden, 16, according to the fundraiser.

The Ruskeys helped develop more than 65 coffee farms from Santa Barbara to north of San Diego that grow 14 varieties of coffee. Jay Ruskey was lauded as the first farmer to sell locally grown coffee in California.

Jay Ruskey established Good Land Organics in the early 1990s, growing exotic fruit at a farm in Goleta. The couple launched their coffee brand, Frinj, in 2017.

The couple’s coffee venture took off after Jay Ruskey tried several times to plant coffee trees in 2002 with a goal of learning the best practices for growing coffee in Southern California.

“I have always been passionate about crop adaptation,” Ruskey told The Times in 2024. “I was working with the UC Cooperative Extension Service to plant lychee and longans when Dr. Mark Gaskell, a small berry crop expert, gave me 40 coffee plants and encouraged me to try planting them side by side with other plants.”

In 2024, Frinj Coffee filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, claiming about $215,000 in assets while listing more than $1.8 million in liabilities, the Santa Barbara Independent reported. The company regained its footing at the start of the year and, in January, it was the first California-based coffee grower to ever compete in the Dubai Coffee Auction.