The Hartmann siblings work as a close-knit team. Ratibor is in charge of R&D, quality assurance, roasting, and sales. He is also a certified Q Grader. Allan is in charge of processing, manages the beneficio (wet and dry mills), and is also a carpenter. Alexander is in charge of the farm management, picking schedules, and ensuring coffee tree and vegetation health. Kelly is the mechanic, and works on the many numerous machines that run the mill. Lastly, Alice, the lone sister, is in charge of administration, accounting, and running the various bird watching and nature tours that go through their farm. Naturally, the families of each sibling also contribute and together they form the Hartmann “clan”, as they are affectionately known.

Over the past nine years, I have made many visits to the Hartmann family farm. During these visits, I have worked with the family on improving many aspects of their business and production. The dedication the Hartmanns exhibit to the quality of their product is admirable, and makes for a wonderful partnership.

In 2013, the family improved drying procedures by increasing their quantity of drying beds, which allowed the coffee to dry slowly, and to the correct endpoint. In 2014, the Hartmanns worked to better their selection of ripe cherry. In 2015 they raised the bar with the storage of some of their parchment in climate control and in 2016 they improved their dry-milling techniques, resulting in coffee that is cleaner and has even better shelf life.

Ratibor and I had several great visits in early 2020, right before the pandemic hit, during which we discussed some improvements that will be happening at the Hartmann farms in the coming years. We also visited Ratibor’s new farm, which will begin to produce this year. This is exciting because it will be the highest elevation farm for the family and will produce a number of exotic and exciting coffee varieties.

This green coffee was frozen immediately on arrival in Calgary, to preserve freshness.

-Sebastian