Q & A with BELARMINO CONTRERAS
How did you get involved in coffee? What is your farm story?
My father was a great coffee producer before I was born. He taught us since childhood to work hard and as a child I washed and managed the dryer during the harvest. When I was 20 years old I was responsible for some farms, and at 30 years old I started my first farm because my father gave me a plot of land as heritage and I planted it all with coffee. Seven years ago, I bought the property in Las Flores thinking of producing specialty coffee, because the property had potential, and my brother Juan was already selling specialty coffee for two years. He taught me about the preparation of micro lots and specialty coffee. Now I continue working to improve the quality because the specialty coffee market provides a livable lifestyle for farmers. My father would have enjoyed producing specialty coffee.
What is your process of depulping, washing, fermentation and drying?
The cherries are picked carefully when they are fully ripe and depulped every afternoon, then the parchment is put into fermentation tanks where it is dry fermented for 18 hours. After, the parchment is rinsed into the tank with a lot of water four times. Then it goes to the parabolic solar dryer for around 26 days. During drying, parchment is hand sorted to remove defects.
Future Plans:
I want to plant Gesha and SL varieties with excellent quality.