Our Story
2018
Osito was founded in 2018 by José Jadir Losada and Kyle Bellinger. The goal was to create resilient supply chains between coffee producers in Huila, Colombia and roasters in the United States. The hope was to make those supply chains as short, transparent and equitable as possible through the production of specialty coffee.
How We Work?
As buyers, the onus was on Osito to:
Buy as many qualities as possible from each producer; to buy the types they actually produce and not just cherrypick microlots.
Pay prices that are fixed above the level of the commodity market and do not fluctuate on a daily basis.
Make long term commitments to producers, year over year, despite quality variance, the ebbs and flows of the C market or logistical challenges.
El Mirador, Colombia
The warehouse and office in Garzon
Inside Garzon Warehouse
Shared Values and Bespoke Approach
Though the business has changed a lot since 2018, these are the principles that guide Osito’s sourcing and sales to this day.
2014 – José and Kyle meet in Garzón, Huila. José is working for a local cooperative and managing a family farm while Kyle is a buyer for a small roasting company.
2015-2017 – José and Kyle form a partnership and buy three farms together in Suaza and Garzón; collectively known as Café Ticuna.
2018 – Osito LLC and Osito Colombia SAS are incorporated. Osito Colombia begins buying parchment directly from producers in the communities of Suaza, La Plata and San Agustín, Huila. The first container lands at the port of NY/NJ during the last week of December.
2019 – Osito begins sourcing coffee in Ethiopia, Mexico, Honduras and Burundi. The first container of Colombian coffee is shipped to Europe.
2020 – A corporate restructuring in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic makes José and Kyle the primary shareholders of the two companies. Osito begins sourcing Brazilian coffee.
2021 – Osito opens its first purchasing points in each of the same three communities that it started buying in during the first harvest in 2018 (Suaza, La Plata, San Agustín). Osito sources its first lots of cacao from a community in Gigante, Huila and ships it to the US. Osito purchases an eight hectare property in Altamira, Huila that will come to be known as “La Cueva del Oso.”
2022 – Osito Europe BV is incorporated in Groningen, Netherlands.
2023 – Osito ships its first container to Australia. Osito’s own dry mill in Garzón, Huila is opened in July.
2024 – Osito Brasil Ltda is incorporated in Poços de Caldas, Minas Gerais. Construction started in early 2024 at La Cueva del Oso on a cacao fermentory and will continue with a centralized wet mill to which coffee producers will deliver cherry. “La Cueva” will also be the eventual home of Osito’s dry mill and offices.
