The Hartmann family are one of Panama's pioneers of specialty coffee. Their story starts two generations ago with Alois Hartmann, who settled in Panama in 1912. His son, Ratibor, established Finca Hartmann with 100 hectares of virgin rainforest he inherited from his father. Today, the land is shared by Ratibor’s five children, who each share a role in the family operation. Not content with producing some of the world’s best coffees at Finca Hartmann, Ratibor Jr. and his wife, Tessie, established the Mi Finquita project.
Mi Finquita, which means "my small farm", is located around the town of Los Pozos and was established as a way for Ratibor and Tessie to further develop the specialty coffee sector in Chiriqui. Applying science, tradition, and innovative processing techniques, as well as their acquired skills and knowledge from running the famous Finca Hartmann, Mi Finquita is the Hartmann’s means of differentiating themselves from a competitive coffee market.
The processing of this lot, named Secret of the Nigh by Ratibor and Tessie, starts with an initial soaking phase, to both clean and separate and cherries of lower density, whole cherry is then fermented at night for around 30 hrs – this ensures that the fermentation is controlled, by maintaining a lower temperature. After fermentation, the coffee is dried on raised African-style beds for 11 days, before its final drying phase in a dark temperature-controlled room.
