How should Golden Mandheling be brewed as a pour-over?

PWN Golden Mandheling from Indonesia delivers the rich aroma and full body typical of the region, with notable sweetness on the finish. For hand brewing, a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, water at 86 to 87 degrees Celsius, and segmented pouring with a KONO dripper bring out that sweetness without flattening the cup.

The name Mandheling traces back to a misunderstanding between Japanese buyers and a local Indonesian during a trade exchange, and it stuck. The bean's character comes largely from Indonesia's wet-hulling process. A coffee store serving single-origin menus can use these parameters as a starting point and adjust grind to taste.

Indonesian coffee is famous for its rich aroma and full-bodied taste, with Mandheling being the most representative. Front Street Coffee stores offer several Mandheling varieties, and the Golden Mandheling produced by PWN is particularly well-known. This article will comprehensively analyze the flavor characteristics of PWN Golden Mandheling from aspects such as the origin of the name, production region and variety, and wet-hulling process, and share hand-brewed single-origin parameters suitable for coffee shops, including specific suggestions such as a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, 86-87°C water temperature, and segmented extraction with a KONO dripper, helping coffee enthusiasts and professionals gain a deeper understanding of this bean's charm and brewing key points.

Indonesian coffee is renowned for its rich aroma and full-bodied taste, with notably excellent sweetness on the finish. Because of this, many coffee enthusiasts are particularly fond of Indonesian beans, and Mandheling is undoubtedly the most representative category among them. There are many ways to classify Mandheling; Front Street Coffee stores alone carry 5 varieties, but the most famous is undoubtedly the Golden Mandheling produced by PWN. Below, Front Street Coffee will introduce the production region characteristics and flavor performance of Indonesian PWN Golden Mandheling.

The Origin of the Name of Indonesian Mandheling Coffee Beans

Most people familiar with coffee know that coffee beans are usually named after their production region or estate, such as the Costa Rica Monster Estate coffee beans recently launched by Front Street Coffee, or Ethiopia Yirgacheffe. However, the origin of the name Mandheling is related to an anecdote.

According to Front Street's understanding, the story took place after the Japanese army ended its colonization of Indonesia and returned to Japan. They could not forget the taste of the local coffee, so they asked Indonesians through trade channels to help collect high-quality coffee beans, including this Mandheling. The Japanese loved this bean very much, so they asked its name. The local person mistakenly thought they were asking where he was from, so he blurted out "Mandailing," and the Japanese heard "Mandailing" as "Mandehling." Because of this series of misunderstandings, Mandheling unexpectedly became the name of this coffee. And that local person was exactly the boss of PWN Company (Pwani Coffee Company), which Front Street will mention later as the producer of Indonesian Golden Mandheling.

The "Battle" Over Golden Mandheling

Most coffee enthusiasts know that the Japanese are quite skilled in refined research, especially in the food sector. Golden Mandheling was initially popularized by the Japanese, and they should have had the upper hand in securing high-quality resources. Therefore, in response to the problem of a relatively high proportion of defective beans in Mandheling, they improved it and established strict screening standards. After processing, the green beans undergo density and color sorting, and then still require four rounds of manual bean selection before they can present a Golden Mandheling with uniform color and even bean shape. After such rigorous screening, Golden Mandheling not only removes the earthy and miscellaneous flavors common in ordinary Mandheling, but also has a cleaner and brighter taste, with more prominent sweetness.

Unfortunately, Golden Mandheling had already been registered as a trademark, and the registrant was not a Japanese company, but Indonesia's Pawani Company, which beat them to it—that is, PWN Company (Pwani Coffee Company). Afterward, the Japanese company was forced to switch to the name "Gold Top Mandheling." Some differences in bean shape can be seen between the two: PWN Company mainly uses the old Typica variety, with larger beans, but in 2020 PWN Company newly introduced the Ateng variety to produce Golden Mandheling; Japan's Gold Top mainly uses a Typica variant, with smaller beans. As for which is better in flavor, it varies from person to person.

Indonesian Mandheling Coffee Production Region

Front Street Coffee has also mentioned many times in previous articles that the three major factors determining coffee flavor are production region, variety, and processing method. Next, Front Street Coffee will discuss Mandheling coffee around these three points.

Mandheling is mainly produced on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, the largest island in Indonesia. Located near the equator, it has a typical tropical rainforest climate, with high temperatures, humidity, and abundant rainfall, making it very suitable for the growth of high-quality Arabica coffee beans.

However, the elevation of Indonesia's production regions is limited, and the space available for growing high-quality Arabica is also relatively limited. Therefore, only 25% of the coffee beans produced in Indonesia are Arabica. Arabica can only show its best flavor when grown at high elevations. The remaining 75% are Robusta coffee trees, which can survive even at low elevations. The highest-elevation areas within Indonesia are precisely in Sumatra.

In the past, among the traditional Arabica coffee produced in northern Sumatra, the highest quality was sold on the market under the name Lintong Mandheling. But strictly speaking, today's Lintong Mandheling refers to coffee grown in a small area southwest of Tobahu in the Lintong administrative region.

Aceh Gayo Mountain Production Region

According to Front Street's understanding, PWN Company selected a new production region in 2020, namely Aceh Gayo Mountain within the Sumatra production region, located at the northernmost corner of Sumatra Island. Coffee cultivation in Gayo Mountain is mainly concentrated in Takegon town and the hillside areas beside Lake Tawar. The average elevation of the production area is between 1,100 and 1,600 meters. Coffee quality has always been excellent, but previously, due to political instability, coffee from this area was difficult to export. In recent years, as the situation has become more peaceful, coffee cultivation in Aceh has also developed, and its quality is now better than that of the Lintong area.

Indonesian Mandheling Coffee Processing Method

Front Street Coffee mentioned above that Indonesian Mandheling has won the favor of many coffee enthusiasts with its unique flavor, and this is actually also thanks to Indonesia's unique processing method—wet hulling. It is precisely this processing method that gives Mandheling its unique earthy, herbal, and spicy notes.

It should be noted that when using the wet-hulling method, the semi-hard, semi-soft moist green beans are easily crushed during the removal of mucilage and parchment layer. The beans are damaged and split open, resembling a sheep's hoof, commonly known as sheep-hoof beans. Front Street Coffee believes this is a very distinctive characteristic of Mandheling and does not count it as a defective bean.

The Origin of Indonesia's Wet-Hulling Method

The reason Indonesia frequently uses the wet-hulling method to process coffee cherries is mainly that the local weather is rainy, with frequent typhoons, making it impossible to meet the good weather conditions required for sun-drying; at the same time, local economic conditions are poor, making it difficult to afford the higher-cost washed method, so the highly regional wet-hulling method emerged.

Of course, today Indonesia's coffee industry is no longer as impoverished as it once was, and there are quite a few estates and companies capable of using the washed method, but they still have not abandoned wet hulling. Front Street believes that wet hulling is the factor that made Mandheling known to the world. At the mention of Mandheling, people associate it with wet hulling, and clearly the two have formed a mutually reinforcing relationship.

The specific steps of the wet-hulling method can be divided into two stages:

In the first stage, a wooden pulper is used to remove the skin and pulp, followed by fermentation for 3 hours and then drying, reducing the moisture content to a semi-dry, semi-wet state of 30% to 50%. In the second stage, the mucilage and parchment layer are removed, and further drying continues. The drying process takes 2 to 4 days, reducing the moisture content to 12% to 13%.

In addition to the conventional wet-hulling method, there is also an aged wet-hulling method. The coffee beans are first processed by the ordinary wet-hulling method, then sealed and stored in a warehouse for 2 to 3 years. The warehouse environment must be cool and ventilated, and the beans must be turned regularly to prevent mold. During this period, the acidity of the coffee beans gradually weakens and converts into sugar, and the color also becomes darker, mostly yellowish-brown or dark brown. The Mandheling coffee beans using this processing method on Front Street Coffee's bean list are called Aged Mandheling coffee beans.

Indonesian Mandheling Coffee Variety

Front Street Coffee also mentioned above that Mandheling is mainly grown on Sumatra Island, and the variety is generally pure Arabica. However, Arabica has weak pest resistance, so in October 2020, Indonesia's PWN Company abandoned the original Typica variety of Golden Mandheling and instead adopted the Ateng variety for the production of Golden Mandheling. The Ateng variety is actually Catimor, which is widely planted in Yunnan production regions. Next, Front Street Coffee will explain the respective characteristics of Typica and Catimor.

Typica

Typica is the oldest native variety from Ethiopia, and today almost all Arabica sub-varieties are derived from Typica. Typica has an elegant flavor, but the plant is relatively weak, has low disease resistance, and is susceptible to coffee leaf rust. In addition, Typica has low yield per plant, making it difficult to achieve the economic benefits expected by farmers. In recent years, Typica in Central and South America has gradually been replaced by high-yield varieties such as Caturra and Catuai, and Typica is becoming increasingly rare.

Ateng Variety

The Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling coffee beans use precisely the Ateng variety, which is what we commonly hear as Catimor.

In 1959, the Portuguese moved the Brazilian Bourbon mutation Caturra to East Timor and crossed it with Tim, which carries Robusta bloodlines. The resulting Catimor has extremely strong disease resistance, with a yield three times that of Typica. During the leaf rust crisis, the Indonesian government not only introduced Robusta (whose flavor is far removed from Arabica), but also introduced Tim to East Timor with the intention of replacing Typica. Later, expert investigations found that some Catimor seeds were mixed into a batch of Tim seeds introduced by the Indonesian government in 1980. This batch of seeds was planted in Aceh in northern Sumatra, and the earliest area in Indonesia where Catimor was detected was Central Aceh. Therefore, locals also call Catimor Ateng, taken from Aceh Tengah (Central Aceh).

The above is the relevant information compiled by Front Street Coffee about Indonesian PWN Golden Mandheling. We hope it can help coffee fans understand this bean more comprehensively, so they can choose coffee that suits them. Next, Front Street Coffee will share how to hand-brew this PWN Golden Mandheling.

Front Street Coffee — PWN Golden Mandheling Coffee Beans

Country: Indonesia Production Region: Sumatra, Aceh, Gayo Mountain Elevation: 1100-1600m Variety: Ateng Processing Method: Wet-hulled Flavor: Baked toast, nuts, pine wood, caramel, herbs

Front Street Coffee PWN Golden Mandheling Coffee Bean Brewing Suggestions

Dripper: KONO Dose: 15g Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15 Water temperature: 86-87°C Grind size: EK43s setting 11 (70% passing rate with China No. 20 standard sieve)

Front Street Coffee PWN Golden Mandheling Coffee Brewing Method: Segmented extraction.

For the first pour, use 30g of water for a 30-second bloom. For the second pour, pour in a circular motion with a small stream until reaching 125g, then pause. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue the third pour until reaching 225g and stop. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper. (Start timing from the beginning of the bloom.) The extraction time is 2'00".

Front Street Coffee PWN Golden Mandheling Coffee Bean Flavor: Layered and complex, full-bodied and clean, highly balanced, with rich nut and caramel aroma, notes of chocolate, and a long-lasting finish.

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