Panama Hartmann Estate Caturra Red Wine Process Premium Coffee Beans: Cultivation, Geographic Location & Characteristics

Variety Information

Variety: Caturra

Estate: Finca Hartmann

Flavor: Smoked wood spices, berries, fruit wine aroma

Finca Hartmann Estate Introduction

The story of Hartmann is as legendary as its coffee. Finca Hartmann is in Santa Clara, Chiriquí Province. Its founder was Mr. Alois St. Hartmann (Luis Hartmann), born on June 20, 1891, in the Moravia region of Austria-Hungary, now the Czech Republic, and who died on May 25, 1970, at the age of 78.

After World War I began, he was abandoned as a boy. Thanks to his mother, he hid aboard a ship bound for Pennsylvania and survived; his two brothers both died in the war after enlisting. Luis Hartmann traveled through several countries with friends until he reached Panama in 1911, settling in Chiriquí Province in 1912 and working mainly in the Candela area. He built the first small cabin in that primeval forest.

Today Finca Hartmann is a family business founded in 1940 by Ratibor Hartmann, son of Alois Hartmann. In 1966 Ratibor married Dinora Zúñiga of Costa Rica. They had five children together: Ratibor Jr., Alan, Alexander, Elisabeth and Kelly. Each family member takes responsibility for a different part of the operation, from cultivation management to harvesting, processing and estate tours. A family estate that has been growing coffee for more than a century is itself a legendary story.

The business has a provincial-level cupping laboratory and a sample roasting room. Every batch of coffee is cupped rigorously, which secures the stable quality of Finca Hartmann's coffee and its continuous drive to improve. A scientific approach to coffee, backed by more than a century of family experience, guarantees their excellent products.

A legendary estate with a provincial-level cupping laboratory and sample roasting room: a rigorous attitude and strict standards secure the stable quality of Finca Hartmann's coffee.

This batch is a Caturra processed using the red wine method. From the first grind it releases an extremely rich fruit wine aroma, alongside fresh smoked wood spice notes and the special berry sweetness of natural processing. Just smelling it is intoxicating. On tasting, it reveals rich tropical fruit flavors, like a carefully crafted cocktail of passion fruit, mango, orange and berry juices mixed with peach wine. No: this is a cocktail from nature itself.

Coffee Origin Details

Country: Panama

Grade: SHG

Region: Volcán region

Altitude: 1250-1700 Meters

Processing method: Red wine process

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Panama is one of the most important addresses on the world coffee map, with growing areas in Boquete, Volcan, Santa Clara and Piedra de Candela in the west, all sitting squarely in the coffee belt with fertile volcanic soil and ancient forest. Boquete and Volcan are the best-known specialty regions.

For a first taste of Panama, FrontStreet Coffee suggests its Boquete washed Geisha, an entry-level estate Geisha grown at 1,600 meters. The mountains there are often wrapped in cloud, humid by day and cool at night, and the fertile volcanic ash feeds the coffee a rich aroma; the brewed cup shows Geisha's signature jasmine, green tea, honey, citrus and orange. FrontStreet's Panama washed Butterfly is also worth trying: it carries half Geisha lineage, blended from Geisha, Caturra and Catuai and grown in the Baru Volcano area of Boquete, where abundant rain, a wide day-night temperature swing and volcanic rock soil give the cup a full body, citrus acidity and Geisha's jasmine aroma; it suits both pour-over and cold brew.

To go to the top of the range, FrontStreet's Esmeralda Red Label Geisha is picked from a single plot above 1,700 meters and cupped at 91 points, with a refined orange-blossom honey character. For a non-Geisha alternative from the same famous estate, FrontStreet's Diamond Mountain comes from Esmeralda's Jaramillo and Canas Verdes farms, blending Caturra and Catuai into a bean full of fruit aroma and sweetness.