History
The Lartigaut Family
The mountainous territory that compromises our coffee farm dates to 1857, when Miguel Lartigaut & Pouchel, native of Corsica, France, began to acquire the first fifty 50 cuerdas of land (a cuerda is 0.971 of an acre). The estate was further increased by a purchase of an additional 75 cuerdas when Mr. Lartigaut purchased these on February 15, 1877, from Antonio Ramirez. The original name of the estate, Hacienda La Juanita, possibly relates to one of Mr. Lartigaut’s daughters, Juana Lartigaut or his mother.
In 1907, following the death of Miguel Lartigaut & Pouchel, Doña Ana Mignucci & Calderai, Mr. Lartigaut's wife, registered the farm under her name and her children in 1913.
According to Puerto Rico’s Property Registry, the 125 cuerdas estate included the main house of the family, a pulp removing coffee machine, a coffee storage house with six corridors made of wood, a coffee storage house with a “glacis”, a store, and fifteen (15) “bohios” (small huts) for farm employees.
In the late 1960's, approximately 50 cuerdas were segregated into today’s estate.
1980's through the Early 2000’s
The Lartigaut family owned the farm for approximately 100 years, but in the 1980s half of the estate changed hands to different owners including a well-known coffee farmer, Ignacio Pintado García. During this period, roads for jeeps and pickup trucks were developed to substitute the mules that used to transport coffee. Additionally, the wood-based buildings were replaced by concrete structures. During Pintado Garcia’s tenure as owner, the coffee production of the farm was related to a well-known brand in the coffee industry that exported coffee to Europe and Japan.
In 1998 the farm was completely devastated by a Hurricane Georges but was subsequently replanted entirely.
Today
In 2017, the name of the farm was amended to Hacienda Mireia, in honor of Mireia Casamitjana, who moved to Puerto Rico from Barcelona that same year. Most recently, in 2020, a new coffee processing equipment was installed in the farm and in 2021 we launched our own brand to continue the tradition of producing a high end, single origin arabica coffee from Yauco, Puerto Rico.
