Ronald Cortez – Coffee Entrepreneur

Ronald Cortez was born the oldest son of a hard-working coffee family in Costa Rica in 1965. Life was very easy for Ron growing up surrounded by coffee plants, playing cowboys and Indians with neighborhood children in the coffee fields throughout San Joaquin de Flores. He spent most of his time after school in the rolling hills of the coffee plantations. There, a very intimate relationship flourished. A relationship that will carry him through life. An affair developed between a coffee plant and a person with the passion to transform coffee to a new and improved commodity in the years to come.

In 1996, after a vacation in his homeland and away from his banking career, Cortez coffee was founded in the United States. At the beginning stages all coffee that was coming from Costa Rica was roasted by El Cerro Exports and air-shipped to Phoenix in cellophane bags of a ½ pound weight. After obtaining several accounts, the company started to grind and re-bag coffee in the small kitchen of Ron’s house in Scottsdale. The orders grew to the point of justifying the purchase of his first 15 KG. American made drum coffee roaster and move to a new locale.

At this point, in his small warehouse in Tempe, he began understanding the transformation of these little emerald green pebbles that people call coffee beans into a vibrant and super aromatic product. In 1998 Ronald attended the first coffee seminar in Miami. At this event he was a volunteer for the Specialty Coffee Association cupping seminar. He met the founder of Ambex roasters and was able to obtain many answers for his unresolved roasting inquires. The very next year, after conducting extensive research on Chemistry and finishing an apprenticeship at Village Coffee Roastery in north Scottsdale, Ron volunteered to teach the first drum-roasting seminar in the XIII Coffee Convention in Anaheim. In California he started to meet other coffee professionals that were also trying to expand their businesses. One of the best alliances that Cortez Coffee has developed has been with fellow coffee growers that are the sustaining sector of the industry.

Currently, Cortez Coffee imports and roasts some of the finest coffees from around the world. The technology that Cortez Coffee utilizes is only shared by a handful of people in the United States. Ron Cortez has been the founder of the first coffee Magazine in Arizona and was a very important and active precursor of the first coffee convention in Arizona (the first road show by Fresh Cup Magazine). Ron Cortez is the founder of MoreThanFair.org, an international coffee growers association that certifies and promotes the direct business between growers and coffee consumers.

Ron Cortez has always been interested in raising the bar for the coffee industry. One of his articles, “The Truth About Coffee”, has been published in many coffee publications and has stirred numerous controversial discussions among fellow coffee roasters. Who knows what the future has in store for Mr. Cortez and Cafe Cortez. Definitely, in a world of coffee that has remote and exotic locations such as Costa Rica, Sumatra, Nepal or Ethiopia we will find Ron Cortez having a cup of coffee and sharing a story with a new acquaintance every time he has the good fortune to do so.