Mandheling has always been a highly recognizable presence in the coffee world, with its rugged character of tobacco, charred notes, earthiness, and a long lingering throat feel, often evoking the smoky atmosphere of a late-night old tavern. After the wave of specialty coffee, Mandheling's performance is no longer what it used to be. Common specialty grades such as Front Street Lintong Mandheling, Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling, Front Street Aged Mandheling, and Front Street Tiger Mandheling have emerged one after another, among which Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling is especially worth trying. This article will guide you through its producing region background, PWN Company's rigorous screening, the unique characteristics of the wet-hulled process, as well as Front Street's recommended Kono dripper and three-stage brewing parameters, to restore this bean's clean, full-bodied, and richly layered true flavor.
Late-night coffee belongs only to Mandheling. Tobacco, bitter charred notes, earthy flavors, and a lasting throat feel make people associate Mandheling with a smoke-filled late-night old tavern—it is a coffee flavor exclusively for men. After Mandheling became specialty, its flavor improved comprehensively. Common specialty-grade Mandheling includes Front Street Lintong Mandheling, Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling, Front Street Aged Mandheling, and Front Street Tiger Mandheling, among which the most worth tasting is Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling.
Front Street Golden Mandheling Coffee Bean Producing Region
The Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling sourced by Front Street is produced in the Gayo Mountains of Aceh Province, Sumatra, Indonesia.
Aceh Gayo Mountain Producing Region: The Gayo Mountain region is located in Aceh Province in northern Sumatra. Coffee in the Gayo Mountain region is planted on hillsides surrounding the town of Takegon and Lake Tawar. The planting altitude in the production area averages between 1110 and 1600 meters. Coffee is grown by smallholder farmers under shade trees, using the wet-hulled processing method to express a peculiar flavor along with a deep and lively full-bodied richness. Aceh, at the northernmost corner of Sumatra, is a fascinating and complex place. Due to long-term political instability, Aceh is not an area that ordinary people would visit.
Golden Mandheling PWN Company Front Street Golden Mandheling coffee comes from the renowned Indonesian coffee company Pawani Coffee Company, abbreviated as PWN, which is also the trademark-registered company for Golden Mandheling. PWN Company's Golden Mandheling involves purchasing nearby Mandheling coffee beans and subjecting them to three rounds of manual screening and one round of machine sorting. The Golden Mandheling beans selected in this way are overall very beautiful and, on the other hand, very uniform, so the coffee roasted this way appears cleaner. In fact, many coffee merchants sell large-sized Indonesian beans under the name Golden Mandheling, which is also why this bean can be easily purchased despite its very small production volume.
Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling Coffee Bean Quality Front Street Golden Mandheling, whether outside or inside the burlap sack, bears the PWN logo and certificate. The specification of Front Street Golden Mandheling is 18 mesh and above. The color is dark green, and the shape is neat flat beans. Through cupping, Front Street found that after rigorous screening, Front Street Golden Mandheling not only lacks the earthy miscellaneous flavors unique to ordinary Mandheling, but also tastes cleaner and more transparent, with a stronger sweetness.
Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling Processing Method
Front Street Golden Mandheling coffee beans use wet-hulled processing. Moreover, the local economy is not good and likewise cannot afford the more costly washed method. For various reasons, the highly local wet-hulled method emerged (the wet-hulled method is: during the ordinary washed processing, the beans are sun-dried with parchment for 2-3 days, until the moisture content reaches 20-24%, then the parchment is removed).
The extremely fast speed of wet-hulled processing also causes Mandheling coffee beans to have a higher defect rate, but the carefully selected Front Street Golden Mandheling well avoids this shortcoming. The specification of Front Street Golden Mandheling is 19 mesh and above, with fewer than 3 defective beans (in a 300g green bean sample), belonging to the highest grade G1. The color is dark green, and the shape is neat flat beans.
Brewing Parameters: Using Kono Dripper Water Temperature: 88℃ Dose: 15 g Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15 Grind Size: Medium-fine grind (70-75% passing through Chinese standard No. 20 sieve)
For coffee beans with a darker roast level, to highlight the coffee's full-bodied feel, Front Street chooses the Kono dripper for brewing. The Kono dripper's characteristic lies in its immersion function, which can be used to extract more coffee substances and enhance the full-bodied mouthfeel. Because its ribs are few and located at the lower end, the filter paper can cling tightly to the dripper to restrict airflow, thereby slowing the water flow rate and increasing water-powder contact time. Therefore, this dripper is suitable for brewing medium-dark roasted beans such as Front Street Golden Mandheling and Front Street Jamaica Blue Mountain.
Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) uses staged extraction, also called three-stage brewing: use 30 g of water for a 30-second bloom, then pour in a small stream in circles until reaching 125 g for the first stage; when the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring until 225 g and stop; when the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper, (timing starts from the beginning of the bloom) with an extraction time of 2'05"-2'15".
The brewed flavor of Front Street Golden Mandheling: spices, herbs, varied layers, full-bodied and clean, high balance, rich nut and brown sugar aroma, with chocolate notes, and a lasting finish.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
