Smooth Operator

The Hartman family is made up of four brothers and a sister, their spouses and their grand or their children. Their grandfather Alois Strasil Hartmann first mountaineered through the Santa Clara region in the late 1800s. He found a remote, beautiful, fertile, forest enclosed region that would later become Finca Hartmann. Alois’ son, Ratibor “Chicho” Hartmann was responsible for growing the plantation and establishing Finca Hartmann as a coffee farm. Chicho’s children now run the farm.

Chicho passed in 2016, but years before his passing, he sat his Children down and gave them two options on how to move forward. Option one was the traditional way of dividing the land up by five and each sibling doing their own independent thing. Option two was to keep the land intact and have them work as a team, each focusing on their own strength. They chose…drumroll… option two.

OK, so let’s talk about the coffee. It’s grown at 1300m, which should just be an average coffee that you drink and forget about. It should be nothing special, yet it’s amazing coffee. So, what’s their secret?

It’s all about love, care and attention to detail. First, they've planted varieties that they've experimented with at that elevation and they are varieties that thrive both in the cup and in the field - mostly it’s caturra.

Second, they've taken these plants and they've given them lots of care and nurture. When I walk through the farm, the trees are some of the happiest and healthiest I've seen. Then when it's time to pick, they're super punctual. Everyday during the harvest, they find the plot of land that has the most ripe cherry and pick that day.

And then in the processing, they do a spot on job of sorting out under ripe cherry and over ripe cherry and really selecting and processing the cherry that’s perfectly right. Then they de-pulp, ferment, wash and dry with precision.
The end result is a coffee that punches way above its weight class. Those dominant peanut notes that you get in a 1300 m coffee now become these really pleasant background nougat notes that add body creaminess and richness to the coffee and the simple citrus notes that you get in a 1300 m coffee now become more complex and interesting raisin and date notes.

I am so incredibly grateful for the relationship we have built with the Hartmann family and so proud to be an ambassador for their incredible coffee.