Flavor Description and Variety Introduction of Panama Hartmann Estate Red Wine Natural Process Long-tailed Cuckoo Coffee Beans

Panama Hartmann Estate Red Winy Natural Process Long-tailed Cuckoo Coffee Bean Flavor Description and Variety Introduction

In the exceptional growing environment of Boquete, there are naturally more than just the king of coffees like Emerald's Geisha, which commands impressive flavor, quality, and value. However, drinking Geisha daily would be quite extravagant, and even if financially feasible, consuming it like shark fin and bear paw every day wouldn't be appropriate. The same applies to coffee - exploring broadly allows for greater enjoyment of coffee tasting pleasures. There are many washed processing methods, but generally, they all follow these steps: after harvesting coffee cherries, floating beans are removed, then the pulp is removed, and the coffee beans are soaked in fermentation tanks. Enzymes in the water soften the mucilage attached to the parchment, while natural yeast breaks down the sugars in the mucilage - this process is called fermentation. After fermentation completes, the coffee beans are moved to drying patios and dried, requiring constant turning to ensure even drying. Finally, they are stored in parchment until green bean buyers place orders, at which point hulling and bagging occur. Coffee processed this way yields a clean cup, emphasizing bright, lively fruit acidity, along with clear fruit flavors and floral notes.

01 | Growing Region Overview

One of the most important reasons for Panama's unique coffee quality is its microclimate. Panama borders Costa Rica and Colombia, and the east-west environment allows cold air currents to flow through the central mountains and converge above 6,500 feet, creating a very unique microclimate in the Boquete and Volcán Candela regions, making it Panama's main coffee-producing area. The surrounding land is nutrient-rich, and these fertile soils provide perfect growing conditions for coffee, shaping numerous distinctive, high-quality coffees.

Hartmann Estate

The founder of Hartmann Estate, Mr. Alois St. Hartmann, was born in Czechoslovakia in 1891. Due to war, he later immigrated to the United States for education. At age 20, he traveled to Panama and was deeply attracted to the place, finally choosing to settle in Chiriqui and establish what would become Hartmann Estate.

Today, the estate is 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 Hartmann family also manages and processes coffee for many estates in Panama, such as the consistent Best of Panama winner Finca La Mula and 90+'s 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 ranks among Panama's finest. The Hartmann family's contribution to Panama's coffee reputation today cannot be overstated.

Panama Hartmann Red Winy

2016 Panama Hartmann Estate Refined Red Wine Style Honey Process Coffee

• Origin: Boquete, Panama
• Variety: Caturra
• Processor: Hartmann
• Altitude: 1450-2000 meters
• Processing Method: Winy
• Flavor: Ripe berries, red wine fermentation aroma, honey sweetness

02 | Processing Method

In 2015, WBC competitor Sasa introduced a Colombian coffee bean processed using a method similar to red wine fermentation. Beyond the novel taste of the beans, the "Red Wine Processing" method used to treat the beans sparked curiosity among editors and coffee enthusiasts alike. What exactly is this so-called "Red Wine Processing" method?

Coffee Bean Red Wine Processing - Winy

Also known as wine-style processing, this method draws inspiration from red wine fermentation techniques. Currently, only eight estates in Colombia have successfully brought coffee beans processed using this method to market. Based on information from these eight estates, we can broadly categorize red wine processing into: acetic fermentation (Aerobic fermentation), lactic fermentation (Anaerobic fermentation), and mixed fermentation (Mix Fermentation = Aerobic + Anaerobic).

Traditional processing methods struggle to control the variable fermentation degrees of coffee beans. However, red wine processing can ensure coffee bean quality by controlling pH values, and even temperature and humidity, while sealed fermentation prevents aromatic substances from easily volatilizing.

Next, let's discuss the specific fermentation process. First, Colombian farmers carefully harvest coffee cherries and meticulously select red coffee fruits to ensure that among the selected cherries for processing, the ratio of unripe cherries is less than 2%, defective beans less than 3%, and floating beans less than 5%.

The selected coffee cherries are placed by farmers 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 cherries in the container undergo acetic fermentation. Beans resulting from this reaction have relatively bright, clean flavors with lemon acidity.

According to Sasa's competition description, processors inject carbon dioxide into the container to prevent oxidation from forming volatile acids. This process is lactic fermentation, which produces malic acid and tartaric acid. Since tartaric acid is relatively stable, beans from lactic fermentation have mellower acidity with cheese, nut, and cream flavors.

03 | Green Bean Analysis

The Resilient Catuai

Hartmann Estate grows a wide variety of coffee types: Typica, Caturra, Catuai, Bourbon, Pacamara, Maragogipe, and Geisha. The bean variety we're introducing today is the resilient Catuai.

Catuai is a coffee variety artificially hybridized from Caturra and Mundo Novo. Catuai has good resistance to natural disasters, particularly wind and rain. Catuai trees are relatively low-growing. Compared to other coffee trees, Catuai fruits grow more firmly and are not easy to harvest. The fruits come in both red and yellow varieties. To date, no superior taste has been found in yellow fruits compared to red ones. In fact, some cuppers have found that although coffee processed from some yellow fruits has good acidity, the clean cup quality is inferior to that from red fruits.

04 | Roasting Analysis

This coffee is best roasted using a medium-slow roasting method to highlight its round, smooth characteristics while maintaining rich red wine fruit aromas.

Roaster: Yangjia 600g Semi-hot Air

Preheat roaster to 200°C, set damper to 3.5. After 1 minute, reduce heat to 170°C, damper unchanged. Temperature recovery point at 1'39''. When furnace temperature reaches 145°C, adjust heat once. At this point, bean surface turns yellow, grassy aroma completely disappears, dehydration complete. Adjust heat to 130°C, damper unchanged.

At 7'50'', ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on bean surface, toast aroma clearly transitions to coffee aroma - this can be defined as the prelude to first crack. Adjust heat to 80°C. At this point, listen carefully for the sound of first crack. First crack begins at 8'43", reduce heat to 60°C, open damper fully to 5 (heat adjustment must be very careful - not so low that cracking stops). 1'43" after first crack, discharge at 195.5°C.

Cupping:

• Dry Aroma: Ripe orange, jasmine hints
• Wet Aroma: Winy, honey-like
• Flavor: Smooth entry, lively and bright acidity, soft and richly layered, with red wine aftertaste, honey and sucrose flavors evident. After complete cooling, brown sugar flavors emerge.

05 | Brewing Analysis

Recommended Brewing Methods: Syphon, Pour-over

• Grind Size: 3.5 (Japanese Fuji R440)
• Water Temperature: 90°C

V60 dripper, 15g coffee, 90°C water temperature, grind size 4, water-to-coffee ratio close to 1:15

30g water for bloom, bloom time 30s

Stages: Pour water to 110ml, pause, then slowly pour to 225ml

That is: 30-80-105

Other Drip Extraction Recommendations:

• French Press: Recommend grind size 3.5-4, water temperature 90°C
• Aeropress: Recommend grind size 2.5, water temperature 88°C
• Pour-over: Grind size 3.5, water temperature 89°C

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Hartmann Estate Red Wine Process coffee beans offer full assurance in both brand and quality. More importantly, they offer exceptional value - each 227-gram package costs only 85 yuan. Calculating at 15g of coffee beans per cup, one package can make 15 cups of coffee, with each cup costing only about 6 yuan. Compared to café prices that often run tens of yuan per cup, this is truly a conscientious recommendation.

Important Notice :

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