Juan grew up in a coffee-farming family, learning the work from a young age. By 15, he was helping more with managing the farm, and at 23, his father gave him a portion of it, starting his own journey as a coffee farmer. Ten years ago, Juan began focusing on specialty coffee, and six years ago, he started Finca Palo Verde to produce high-quality coffee and explore new varieties like Geisha. He also planted more shade trees protecting local species. Though it hasn’t been easy, Juan has put in a lot of effort to improve the farm. Thanks to his hard work, Juan is now able to support other small producers by sharing his wet mill with neighbors who don’t have one. For this process the cherries are placed in a plastic barrel for anaerobic fermentation for 72 hours. Then, they are de-pulped, and the parchment with the mucilage is spread on raised beds to dry for about 18 days. During drying, the parchment is raked every 30 minutes using wooden sticks to achieve uniform drying.