Wilian Shakespeare Roman

On the northern district of Chirinos, Wilian Shakespeare lives with his wife, Mirtha Levi Neira, and three sons at their farm, La Casa. Willian comes from a family of coffee farmers, and it was thanks to his parents that he became involved in coffee. At the beginning of the 2000’s, he decided to start his own coffee production, seeing it was a good alternative for his life. Since then, he has learned a lot, such as how to manage his farm in a sustainable way.

Around 2016, Wilian started producing specialty coffee, initially motivated by the better prices. With this path, he has improved his farm management, implementing planned fertilization, renewing old coffee trees, selectively picking cherries, and improving the infrastructure. He has learned how fermentation is much more than just removing the mucilage from the bean but how it can improve the cup quality of the coffee.

Thanks to the better prices, his income has improved, and hence the quality of life of his family, as he can now provide education for his three sons. He is proud of the traditional varieties he has on his farm, as well as the microclimate due to the proximity to the Chinchiquilla Forest. One of Wilian’s biggest challenges is to produce 100% specialty coffee.

Willian processes his coffee 100% washed, and it all starts with the careful manual picking of the cherries in their ideal ripe stage. The cherries are then taken to the wet mill, where they are floated in a container to clean them of defective cherries and foreign material, such as leaves. After this initial process, the cherries are left to undergo an in-cherry fermentation for 14 hours and then they are pulped.

Following pulping, the beans are placed inside GrainPro bags, tightly sealed, and left to ferment for 48 to 50 hours. They are then washed and taken to the solar dryer, where they will remain for 15 to 20 days until the coffee reaches its ideal point.