Mystic Melon

About the Coffee

Finca Hartmann is a family farm in the Santa Clara region of Panama, with roots going back to the late 1800s when Alois Strasil Hartmann first made his way through the area and settled the land. His son, Ratibor "Chicho" Hartmann, built the farm into a working coffee operation over the following decades. When Chicho passed in 2016, three of his children took over, having already agreed to keep the land intact and divide responsibilities by individual strengths rather than split the property. Today, Ratibor Jr. and Kelly Hartmann run the farm alongside family, farming caturra and typica at 1,300 meters in Panama's Chiriquí highlands.

The farm's approach to quality starts in the field. The Hartmanns track ripeness plot by plot during harvest, picking each section only when cherry is at peak ripeness rather than running fixed harvest schedules. Sorting is strict, with under-ripe and over-ripe cherry pulled out before processing begins. For naturals (where the whole cherry is dried with the fruit still on), they pre-dry on raised beds first, then move coffee into dark room dehydrators to slow the drying process and build sweetness. If the harvest volume requires it, they finish drying in mechanical dryers. It's a more involved approach than most farms at this elevation take, and it shows in the cup.

The caturra variety used in this lot is not typically associated with standout coffee at 1,300 meters, which sits below the elevation range where altitude alone drives cup quality. What the Hartmanns get out of it comes down to variety selection, attentive farming, and careful processing rather than geography doing the heavy lifting.

About Phil & Sebastian

Phil Robertson and Sebastian Sztabzyb co-founded Phil & Sebastian in Calgary in 2007. Phil came in with an engineering background and has applied it directly to the roasting side of the business, designing their roasting machine and building software that touches everything from order management to coffee menus. Sebastian focuses on the cafe operations and green coffee buying, primarily sourcing from Central and South America while Phil handles buying in Africa.

Phil & Sebastian pay well above the market average for their green coffee and put money into on-the-ground projects at origin. Their stated goal is not just to clear the bar set by large coffee chains, but to push against the best specialty roasters anywhere. That's a high target to hold yourself to, and their sourcing relationships reflect that they take it seriously.

"Phil & Sebastian is a favourite of mine from my time in Calgary. My wife swore by their "Hartmann Honey" beans, and we stocked it (or, maybe "hoarded" is a better word) for as long as they sold it. It feels like a 'full circle' moment to finally have them in our rotation."

- Dean, Director of Coffee