Panama Hartmann Estate Coffee Beans: Are Wine-Processed Coffee Beans Soaked in Wine?

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Recently, some friends asked FrontStreet Coffee: Does the red wine processing method involve soaking coffee beans in red wine? Does this coffee contain alcohol? The answer is no. Coffee beans processed with the red wine method are simply fermented using wine-making techniques rather than being soaked in red wine. While alcohol is naturally produced during the fermentation process when coffee beans are processed with their fruit pulp, all alcohol completely evaporates during high-temperature roasting. Therefore, there's no need to worry about alcohol residue in the coffee beans. In this article, FrontStreet Coffee will discuss Panama Hartmann Estate's red wine processed coffee beans.

FrontStreet Coffee - Hartmann Estate Red Wine Processed Coffee Beans

Region: Panama, Volcán

Estate: Hartmann Estate

Altitude: 1250-1700m

Processing Method: Red Wine Processing

Variety: Catuai

Hartmann Estate

Finca Hartmann

Coffee from the Volcán region of Panama has gradually gained prominence in the specialty market in recent years. Volcán's dry and cool climate, fertile Barú volcanic soil, and altitude above 1700m provide an excellent growing environment for plants. In the early days, most of the Volcán region was planted with fruits, vegetables, and other cash crops, with very few farmers growing coffee. Among the coffee growing pioneers in the Volcán area was the well-known Hartmann family in Panama.

Hartmann Estate is currently operated by the third generation of the family. Mr. Ratibor Hartmann and his four siblings each take on different roles in the estate. They live together on the estate and make their living from growing coffee. The publication of books featuring Hartmann Estate's bird-friendly and shade-grown cultivation, along with the toucan logo associated with Hartmann Estate, demonstrates their commitment to environmental protection. Their coffee cultivation also follows green principles, using fertilizers made from fermented coffee fruit peels and pulp.

The Hartmann family also manages and processes coffee for many estates in Panama, such as Finca La Mula, a frequent winner in Best of Panama, and the 90+ estates in Panama, all under Hartmann family management. Although the estate maintains a low profile and rarely appears in Best of Panama competitions, their coffee is among Panama's finest. The Hartmann family has made invaluable contributions to Panama's coffee reputation today.

Catuai Variety

It is a hybrid variety artificially cultivated by the IAC (Instituto Agronômico de Campinas) in São Paulo State, Brazil, using Mundo Novo and Yellow Caturra. Initially called "H-2077," Catuai inherits Mundo Novo's high yield, disease resistance, and excellent cupping quality, while also inheriting Caturra's compact plant size, quality acidity, and sun-grown coffee characteristics.

Red Wine Processing Method

Coffee fermented through a method similar to red wine processing significantly enhances the sweetness, cleanliness, and multi-layered complex yet elegant acidity in the coffee. This fermentation method greatly improves the quality and uniqueness of the coffee produced. The red wine processing method is also known as controlled fermentation or lactic/acetic acid fermentation.

After collecting the cherries, the estate carefully selects red coffee fruits to ensure that among the selected coffee fruits for processing, the ratio of unripe fruits is less than 2%, defective beans less than 3%, and floaters less than 5%. The selected coffee fruits are placed in specific containers that should have devices similar to red wine fermentation locks or one-way exhaust valves.

This allows carbon dioxide to escape through this device to control the air concentration in the container. At this point, the coffee fruits in the container undergo acetic acid fermentation, resulting in beans with relatively bright, clean flavors and lemon-like acidity. FrontStreet Coffee believes that coffee beans processed with the red wine method will have fermentation aromas similar to red wine, with a mellow mouthfeel and clean acidity.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Insights

FrontStreet Coffee's roaster uses a Yangjia 800N semi-direct flame roaster with 600g batch size. The beans are charged at 200°C, with the damper set to 3. After 30 seconds, the heat is adjusted to 170°C, keeping the damper unchanged. The turning point occurs at 1'39". Maintaining the heat, at 4'57" the bean surface turns yellow and the grassy aroma completely disappears, entering the dehydration stage. The heat is reduced to 130°C, with the damper maintained at 3.5.

At 8'00", dehydration is complete, and heat is reduced to 80°C. At 8'00", ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, and the toast aroma clearly transitions to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, listen carefully for the sound of first crack. First crack begins at 8'43", heat is reduced to 60°C, and the damper is fully opened to 5 (adjust heat carefully - not so low that cracking stops). After first crack, develop for 1'43" and drop at 195.5°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Cupping Report

FrontStreet Coffee conducts cupping within 8-24 hours after roasting sample coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee's baristas typically use 200ml ceramic cups for cupping. The water temperature for cupping is 94°C, and the grind size is controlled to achieve 70%-75% pass-through through a #20 standard sieve (0.85mm). The ratio is 11.1g of coffee powder to 200ml of hot water, i.e., 1:18.18, which extracts a concentration precisely within the 1.15%-1.35% Golden Cup range. The steeping time is 4 minutes.

Dry Aroma: Orange, jasmine

Wet Aroma: Red wine, honey

Flavor: Tropical fruits, nuts, red wine, honey, cane sugar

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Insights

Dripper: V60#01

Water Temperature: 90°C

Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15

Grind Size: Medium-coarse grind/BG6s (Chinese standard #20 sieve with 80% pass-through)

FrontStreet Coffee uses segmented extraction: First segment, pour 30g of water and bloom for 30 seconds. Second segment, pour 95g of water (scale shows 125g total); completed in about 1 minute 5 seconds. Third segment, pour 100g of water (scale shows 225g total), completed in about 1 minute 40 seconds. Total extraction time is 2 minutes 5 seconds. Remove the dripper to complete brewing.

Brewing Flavor: Smooth entry with lively and bright acidity. The acidity is soft and richly layered, with distinct red wine aftertaste, honey, and cane sugar flavors. When completely cooled, brown sugar notes emerge.

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