Panama Hartmann Estate Coffee Beans - Is the Red Wine Processing Method Made by Soaking in Red Wine?

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Recently, some friends have asked FrontStreet Coffee whether the red wine processing method involves soaking coffee beans in red wine, and whether this coffee contains alcohol. That's not the case. Coffee beans processed with the red wine method simply adopt the manufacturing process of red wine for coffee bean fermentation, rather than soaking coffee beans in red wine. While alcohol is inevitably produced during the fermentation process when coffee beans are fermented with their pulp, it completely evaporates during high-temperature roasting, so there's no need to worry about alcohol residue in the coffee beans. In this article, FrontStreet Coffee will discuss the red wine processed coffee beans from Panama's Hartmann Estate.

FrontStreet Coffee - Hartmann Estate Red Wine Process Coffee Beans

Region: Volcán, Panama
Estate: Hartmann Estate
Altitude: 1250-1700m
Processing Method: Red Wine Process
Variety: Catuai

Hartmann Estate

Coffee from Panama's Volcán region has gradually emerged in the specialty market in recent years. The dry and cool climate of the Volcán region, fertile Barú volcanic soil, and altitude above 1700m provide an excellent growing environment for plants. In the early days, most areas in Volcán grew economic crops such as fruits and vegetables, with only a few farmers cultivating coffee. Among these, the Hartmann family was the pioneer of coffee cultivation in the Volcán region and is quite well-known 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 by growing coffee. The publication of books themed around bird-friendly and shade-grown cultivation at Hartmann Estate, along with the toucan logo of Hartmann Estate, shows their commitment to environmental protection. Their coffee cultivation also follows green and environmentally friendly practices, using fertilizers made from fermented coffee peel and pulp.

The Hartmann family also manages and processes coffee for many estates in Panama, such as the perennial winner of Best of Panama, Finca La Mula, and 90+'s estates in Panama, all under the management of the Hartmann family. Although the estate maintains a low profile and rarely appears at Best Of Panama events, their coffee is among the finest in Panama. The Hartmann family has made indispensable contributions to the fame that Panamanian coffee enjoys today.

Catuai Variety

It is a hybrid cultivar artificially bred by the Instituto Agronômico de Campinas (IAC) in São Paulo State, Brazil, using Mundo Novo and Yellow Caturra. It was originally called "H-2077". Catuai inherits Mundo Novo's characteristics of high yield, strong disease resistance, and excellent cup quality, as well as Caturra's compact plant size, high-quality acidity, and sun-dried coffee attributes.

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 output. The red wine processing method is also called controlled fermentation method, or lactic/acetic acid fermentation method.

After harvesting, the estate carefully selects coffee cherries 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 way, carbon dioxide can escape through this device to control the concentration of air in the container. At this point, the coffee fruits in the container undergo acetic acid fermentation. The beans resulting from this reaction have relatively bright and clean flavors with lemon acidity. FrontStreet Coffee believes that coffee beans processed with the red wine method will have fermented wine aromas similar to red wine, with a mellow mouthfeel and clean acidity.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Experience

FrontStreet Coffee's roaster uses a Yangjia 800N semi-direct flame roaster with a batch size of 600g. The beans are loaded when the roaster temperature reaches 200°C, with the damper set to 3. After 30 seconds, the heat is adjusted to 170°C while keeping the damper unchanged. The temperature returns 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 while maintaining the damper at 3.5.

At 8'00", dehydration is complete, and the heat is reduced to 80°C. At 8'00", ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, and the toasted bread aroma clearly transitions to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, one must listen carefully for the sound of first crack. First crack begins at 8'43", the heat is adjusted down to 60°C, and the damper is fully opened to 5 (heat adjustment must be very careful, not so low as to eliminate cracking sounds). After first crack, develop for 1'43", then unload 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, with the grind size controlled to achieve 70-75% pass-through through a standard #20 sieve (0.85mm). The ratio is 11.1g of coffee grounds to 200ml of hot water,即1:18.18, which extracts a concentration precisely within the 1.15%-1.35% golden cup range, with an immersion time of 4 minutes.

FrontStreet Coffee · Panama Hartmann Estate Red Wine Process Coffee Beans Cupping Results

Dry Aroma: Orange, Jasmine
Wet Aroma: Red Wine, Honey
Flavor: Tropical Fruits, Nuts, Red Wine, Honey, Sucrose

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Experience

Dripper: V60#01
Water Temperature: 90°C
Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15
Grind Size: Medium-coarse grind/BG6s (80% pass-through through China standard #20 sieve)

FrontStreet Coffee uses segmented extraction: First segment, pour 30g of water for a 30-second bloom; Second segment, pour 95g of water (scale shows 125g); completed at approximately 1 minute 05 seconds; Third segment, pour 100g of water (scale shows 225g), completed at approximately 1 minute 40 seconds. Extraction time is 2 minutes 05 seconds, remove the dripper to complete brewing.

[FrontStreet Coffee Panama Hartmann Estate Red Wine Process]
Brewing Flavor: Smooth entry, lively and bright acidity, soft and rich layers, red wine aftertaste, obvious honey and sucrose flavors, completely cooled reveals brown sugar flavors.

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