How Do Aged Mandheling and Monsooned Beans Differ?

Aged Mandheling and Indian monsooned beans both gained their character by accident, through time and transport, but the processes differ. Mandheling is stored for long periods in warehouse conditions, which lowers acidity and builds body with honey-like sweetness. Monsooned beans sit in humid Malabar Coast air, swell, lose acidity, and turn nutty and grainy.

The two also differ in origin and variety: Mandheling stands as Indonesia's representative bean, while monsooned coffee comes from India's Malabar region. When blending coffee beans for a house profile, aged Mandheling adds weight and soft sweetness, while monsooned beans bring a drier, cereal-like note. Roast each according to density and moisture rather than treating them the same.

Indonesia's aged Mandheling and India's monsooned beans are both coffees that accidentally developed unique flavors due to changes in time and transportation conditions, but their processing logic and final presentation are completely different. Aged Mandheling reduces acidity and increases body and honey-like sweetness through long-term warehouse aging, while monsooned coffee uses the humid monsoon air of the Malabar Coast to make green beans swell, lower acidity, and develop nutty and grainy notes. Front Street Coffee uses Mandheling as its representative Indonesian bean, while also keeping an eye on India's monsoon processing method. This article will systematically sort out the origin of the aging process, the changes in green beans, and key roasting points, and compare the producing regions, varieties, and techniques of Indian monsooned coffee.

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It is often said that wine becomes mellow with age, and in the coffee world, there is a type of Mandheling that uses a controlled aging process to transform the beans into a pleasant taste—this is aged Mandheling. Front Street also noticed that India has a unique green bean processing method that likewise accidentally gave coffee a good flavor, namely the monsoon process. Below we will discuss them separately.

Mandheling coffee beans

can be called the face of Indonesian coffee, and in many contexts the word Mandheling is equivalent to a symbol of Indonesian bean quality. Front Street also lists Mandheling as the representative of Indonesian coffee, and it presents rich chocolate and nutty notes, with the key being that thick mouthfeel, which few other coffees can match.

Aging process

The aging process is a special processing method in which green coffee beans are stored under specific warehouse conditions, with the aim of reducing acidity in the beans and adding a certain degree of aged character. Similar to aged wines, green beans need to undergo proper treatment and long-term storage before they qualify to be called true [aged coffee]. Mandheling's fruit acidity is no longer sharp after long aging, instead becoming soft and gentle, and its body and unique flavor can deliver an even more stunning performance in the mouth. This is precisely the charm of aged Mandheling. Coffee farmers first select green beans of excellent quality, then rest them for as long as 24 months under strict monitoring standards, during which the green beans in the storage tanks must be turned regularly to prevent moisture and mold. This process is extremely labor-intensive, and it also creates this aged Mandheling with a more fragrant, richer, and longer-lasting flavor.

This kind of aged coffee actually has a long history in Indonesia. In earlier years, when shipping was not developed, transporting coffee from Indonesia to other countries took a considerable amount of time. As time passed, the originally moisture-rich fresh coffee beans gradually dried, and the sea breeze added an even more special flavor. Modern advances in shipping greatly shortened transportation time, so this special flavor shifted to specially processed coffee beans. Processing aged beans is a skill, and the beans must be closely monitored during the aging process. The goal is not to let the flavor fade, but to create another flavor, and a pleasant one at that.

Which is better, aged beans or fresh beans?

This varies from person to person. The vast majority of coffee is indeed better fresh, but aged beans are a different processing method, just as decaffeination also leads flavor in a different direction, so it cannot be generalized. It should be clarified that so-called aged beans are not beans that a certain bean merchant bought as new beans, could not sell, and then left sitting for several years. Aged beans are all stored in producing regions according to a certain procedure, so they have vintage distinctions. As for the origin of aged beans, it is said that in the age of sail before steamships, transporting goods such as coffee often took several months, and the beans drifted at sea for too long, causing their flavor to change. After some people drank this special flavor and found it good, they bought large quantities, and afterward people in producing regions began to "manufacture" aged beans according to those storage conditions, and it also became an important product category.

Green bean analysis

Coffee beans that are properly stored will change in taste and appearance, for example reduced acidity, a dark color lacking moisture, a thicker mouthfeel with good viscosity, sweetness with a honey aroma, and some defects originally belonging to green beans also becoming less obvious. Because the storage environment is darker and the time is longer, aged coffee invariably carries complex notes resembling mustiness, or what is commonly called burlap and leather. Aged beans must be stored under strictly and carefully controlled conditions during storage, regularly and evenly turned, and with humidity and ventilation adjusted, to prevent insect damage or mold. The storage of aged beans generally does not take place in producing regions or estates, but is a commercial activity of green bean dealers or brokerage companies. Coffee beans that are properly stored will change in taste and appearance, for example reduced acidity, a dark color lacking moisture, a thicker mouthfeel with good viscosity, sweetness with a honey aroma, and some defects originally belonging to green beans also becoming less obvious.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting analysis Yangjia 800N, green beans 550g

Aged Mandheling looks a bit ugly. The洗礼 of time will wear away Mandheling's acidity, increase its purity, and make the medium-dark mouthfeel rounder. Because Mandheling green beans are high in density and aged beans have less moisture, the heat adjustments at each stage must be especially careful, and with Mandheling coffee take care not to scorch the oil on the surface of the raw beans. Charge when the drum temperature reaches 200°C, set airflow to 3, after 1 minute of soaking adjust heat to 160°C, keep airflow unchanged, adjust heat once at 165°C, lower to 140°C, roast until 5'35'', temperature 146°C, the bean surface turns yellow, the grassy smell completely disappears, dehydration is complete, open airflow to 4; at the 9th minute, ugly wrinkles and dark streaks appear on the bean surface, and the toast aroma clearly turns into coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this time, listen clearly for the sound of the first crack. At 9'30'' first crack begins, reduce heat to 80°C, open airflow fully to 5 (adjusting heat must be very careful, not so low that there is no crackling sound) 40°C, at 194°C lower the heat and drop at 197.4°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Cupping record

Sumatra Aged Mandheling

Region: Sumatra

Variety: Typica

Process: Wet-hulled process

When people generally mention Asian coffee beans, the first thing they think of is Indonesia's Mandheling . In fact, Asia also has another coffee that makes people feel mysterious, namely the famous Indian monsooned coffee (also called monsoon coffee or Malabar coffee Monsooned Coffee). The way its flavor is formed interests FrontStreet Coffee greatly. It is said that in the past, when green coffee beans were shipped from India to Europe, they were affected by the high-temperature humidity over the Indian Ocean, causing the green beans to expand in volume and turn golden yellow in color. It was precisely this fermentation and other changes that made the mouthfeel more mellow and the flavor unique. Common bean processing methods all rely on artificial sun-drying, fermentation, and other techniques, while only Indian monsooned coffee relies on natural climate to form its flavor characteristics, which truly amazes FrontStreet Coffee.

Indian Monsooned Malabar

■ Region: Malabar Coast, southern India

■ Altitude: 1100-1200 meters

■ Variety: Kents, S795, Catimor, selection 9

■ Process: Monsooned sun-dried process

Producing region introduction

Coffee was brought in as early as the 16th century by pilgrims, who established the first coffee estate. You may not imagine that India produces much more coffee than Ethiopia or any Central American country. There are 900,000 hectares of land planted with coffee beans, and India has about 140,000 coffee estates, with more than 90% of farm area less than 10 mu and belonging to small-scale cultivation. These farms are distributed on the coastal mountains of the south and east at altitudes of 900-1200 meters. In terms of coffee varieties, Arabica accounts for as much as two-thirds, with the remainder Robusta. Total production is about 440,000-450,000 bags, making it the world's fifth-largest coffee producer.

Monsooned coffee was a new flavor created unintentionally. From the 17th to 18th centuries, India transported coffee beans to Europe by sailing ship, and one trip took six months. The green beans were placed in the bottom of the ship's hold and absorbed the moisture and saltiness of the sea. By the time the green beans reached Europe, they had already deteriorated, their color transforming from dark green to the yellow-brown of rice grains. The fruity acidity of the coffee was almost gone, but it unexpectedly developed a strong nutty and grainy flavor, with a full mouthfeel and a bit of genmaicha character. Northern Europeans liked this golden alternative coffee very much. In 1869, the Suez Canal opened, and with the advent of steamships, the voyage time from India to Europe was shortened, yet customers began to complain that Indian coffee had "lost its flavor" and had lost its former alluring golden yellow color and nutty taste. Orders plummeted, and Indian exporters only then began to study solutions.

It turned out that the coffee shipped to Europe had its time shortened by more than half, leaving no time for the aging "transformation," and it lost its original flavor. So exporters thought of the salty, humid environment brought by the Indian Ocean in southwestern India from late May to September each year. After repeated experiments, they indeed produced a golden, acidity-free coffee similar to the old days, and therefore named it "monsoon coffee," commonly known as monsooned coffee. For hundreds of years, it has been widely used by European coffee businesses in blending coffee beans, capable of increasing viscosity and tea-like body.

Export port

MANGALORE is India's New Mangalore Port. It is located in the country on the southwest Indian peninsula, north of the Gurupur River estuary in Karnataka, northwest of Mangalore city, facing the Arabian Sea. Within the port (MANGALORE), the northeast bank of the water area is a bulk cargo wharf used for general cargo, and the wharf is connected by rail. In summer, southwest winds often blow, with average force reaching 5-6, and it is also affected by tropical storms. Tides are semidiurnal, and it exports minerals, pepper, coffee, sandalwood, cashews, tea, and more. About 2 nautical miles south of the new port, the original port was small in scale and mainly used for coastal trade and fisheries. The port of Mangalore city lies to the south, about 10 kilometers from the new port and about 6 kilometers from the old port.

Processing method

Every year in May and June, a monsoon phenomenon appears in southwestern India. Monsooned coffee must be made from sun-dried beans. Coffee farmers spread the beans flat in a monsoon shedding, about 12-20 centimeters thick, leave them for 5 days, then rake and comb these coffee beans over and over again so that all the coffee beans come into contact with the extremely humid air at that time. Then they loosely put these coffee beans into bags and pile them up so that the monsoon can blow through the bags. The monsoon shed faces west, catching the salty, humid southwest monsoon. The coffee beans are spread flat in the monsoon yard with all windows open. In summer, the monsoon blowing from the Arabian coast is very humid. After a certain degree of monsooning, they are put into bags, but the coffee beans cannot be packed too full, and the coffee bags cannot be piled too densely, lest they lack ventilation and grow mold. There these bags are refilled and restacked once a week, for a total of 7 weeks, until the coffee beans change color and taste. The coffee beans must also be poured out from time to time and the burlap bags replaced to avoid mold growth, which is quite time-consuming and labor-intensive.

The monsooning period is about twelve to sixteen weeks. After aging, they still need to undergo smoking treatment to drive away weevils, and finally manual sorting to pick out failed beans that have not turned golden yellow. Starting in June, after three to four months of monsooning, the green coffee beans swell to one to two times their size, their color begins to turn from green to golden yellow, weight and density decrease, moisture content is about 13%, and the acidity of the beans is also reduced, with major changes in both quality and quantity. Finally, beans that have not been properly monsooned, as well as other debris and defective beans, are screened out once more to remove those coffee beans unaffected by the "monsoon," and then cupping, grading, bagging, export, and other post-processing steps are prepared. Every year from October to February of the following year is a good season for making "monsoon" coffee.

Cultivated varieties

Kent:

A Typica hybrid variety discovered in 1911 at the Kent coffee estate in the Mysore region of India, bred from a cross of S288 and Typica, with high yield and rust resistance. However, it has never achieved good results in cupping. Its coffee aroma has more depth than Bourbon.

S795

Jember. Indian botanists in turn used the first-generation S288 crossed with Typica to create Kent, and Kent was then crossed with the second-generation S288 to become today's S795. In 1955, the Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Institute (ICCRI) named it Jember, and it is widely planted in India, Indonesia, Yemen, and Ethiopia. It has some resistance to coffee leaf rust, but the resistance decreases over time. Its flavor is close to Arabica and has a wild taste.

Catimor

In 1959, the Portuguese crossed Brazil's Caturra with Timor, cultivating the second-generation hybrid Catimor, which is super strong in both disease resistance and yield. But its flavor is also poorer, and it is currently an important variety of commercial beans. In order to improve Catimor's poor cupping reputation, in recent years botanists from various countries have gone back to cross Arabica with Catimor multiple times, trying to reduce its Robusta lineage.

Roasting suggestions

This coffee has fairly average bean density. FrontStreet Coffee decided to roast with medium heat and then climb steadily. The turning point is around 4 minutes 50 seconds, then lower the heat and open the airflow to enter the Maillard reaction. At first crack, open the airflow wide and maintain heat, at about 184.4°C, and drop the beans 2 minutes 30 seconds after first crack.

Roaster: Yangjia 600g semi-direct fire

Preheat the drum to 200°C and charge, set airflow to 3, turn on the flame after 30S, adjust heat to 160, turning point at 1'25'', maintain heat, yellowing at 4'50'', grassy smell disappears, entering the dehydration stage, lower heat to 140, open airflow to 4, and when it reaches 168°C lower heat again to 110.

Dehydration is complete at 8 minutes. Wrinkles and dark streaks appear on the bean surface, and the toast aroma turns into coffee aroma, as the prelude to first crack. At this time keep the heat unchanged, open airflow to 5, and pay attention to listening for the sound of first crack. At 8'55'' first crack begins, open airflow fully to 5. Post-first-crack development time is 2 minutes 30 seconds, and drop at 197.8°C.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.