BeanScene Interview — Emilio López Díaz on Seed-to-Cup Coffee (2019)
Sources: BeanScene Magazine interview by Ethan Miller (September 9, 2019) — beanscenemag.com.au/emilio-lopez-diaz-on-coffee-from-seed-to-cup/
Coverage
Single-page interview published in BeanScene Magazine (Australia), timed to Emilio’s July 2019 Knowledge Talks tour with Toby’s Estate Coffee Roasters. Article is a condensed version — full interview appears in the August 2019 print edition of BeanScene.
Key Takeaways
Topeca Coffee Roasters — Emilio’s Brand
At the time of this 2019 interview, Emilio presents his operation under the name Topeca Coffee Roasters, described as “a vertically integrated company from production and milling to roasting and retailing.” Roasted coffee sold under the Topeca brand in El Salvador and the US. Odyssey Coffees (the joint-venture export arm with José Roberto Santamaría) appears to have been formed subsequently or concurrently. Topeca may remain an active roasting brand alongside Odyssey’s export operations. (source: BeanScene Magazine interview by Ethan Miller (September 9, 2019))
Origin Story
- Education: Engineering management degree, University of Portland; original plan was to open a microbrewery
- Decision point (2000): Father visited, said the family must either sell or grow by investing in milling/exporting to add value. Coffee price was too low for raw production alone
- Starting scale: Mother’s share of the land was only 25 hectares — the result of land division across 11 siblings over multiple generations
- First equipment: Searched online for the smallest, most affordable equipment; found Pinhalense because they could process at micro-scale. First year: 100 bags of green coffee — no other machinery at the time could handle such small volumes
- SCA Roasters Guild: Joined the Roasters Guild of the SCA at graduation; became Chair of the Roasters Guild in 2017
Pinhalense Distribution in El Salvador
“I found a company called Pinhalense, a Brazilian milling manufacturer of machines that had that option.”
Emilio subsequently became the Pinhalense equipment distributor in El Salvador. This is directly relevant to Kaiserblick’s equipment sourcing: Emilio/Topeca is the in-country point of contact for Pinhalense in El Salvador. (source: BeanScene Magazine interview by Ethan Miller (September 9, 2019))
Scale and Reach (as of 2019)
- Green coffee sold to buyers in more than 40 countries
- Also owns a farm in Brazil with exporting operations there
- Direct-relationship model: “I don’t sell a single bean to someone I don’t know. I have personally visited almost every single roastery, know the machine, the roaster, and have been to the coffee shops and met the baristas”
- Risk diversification: “We don’t roast all of our coffee, and we have many other customers who buy our green coffee. Diversifying risk is the main thing I’ve accomplished by being so spread out.”
El Salvador Production (2019 context)
Emilio states production fell from “4.7 million [60-kg] bags in 1980” to “500,000 bags last crop year” (~2018/19 harvest). “We touched rock bottom two years ago” (i.e. ~2017).
Note: The Sucafina 2023 interview and other wiki sources cite “3.5 million bags” as the peak. Emilio’s 4.7 million figure may refer to a different peak year, a different measurement methodology, or may include quintal/bag conversions differently. The trend direction — severe long-term decline — is consistent across all sources. See El Salvador Coffee History.
Root causes of ES decline
- Government over-control of agriculture for 40 years, with abandonment of investment and incentivisation
- Early 2000s price crash: coffee hit 40 US cents per pound; ~80% of producers went bankrupt
- Coffee leaf rust reached El Salvador in 2012 (wiki’s roya crisis entry dates the crisis to 2013; Emilio’s 2012 may refer to initial arrival before peak destruction)
- Government control in the 70s–80s blocked adoption of rust-resistant varieties during the years those varieties spread globally — so when rust hit, El Salvador’s heritage varietals (Pacamara, Pacas, Bourbon, Typica) were fully vulnerable
C-Market and De-commodification
“People selling specialty get a better price, but 80 per cent of world’s coffee supply depends on the C market.”
Emilio draws the wine analogy: wine has been de-commodified into table/reserve/elite tiers; coffee has not. This framing directly supports Kaiserblick’s specialty positioning — the opportunity is to move coffee into a tiered market structure where differentiation commands consistent price premiums.