How does roast level change golden mandheling coffee?
A comparative test brewed Golden Mandheling at three roast levels using pour-over, adjusting grind size and water temperature for each. Medium-dark gave rich aroma, full body, more prominent bitterness and clear licorice with weaker fruit acidity. Medium roast balanced best, cleaner and smoother with stronger fruit acidity. Medium-light brought peak fruit acidity and a fresh, light cup.
The test responded to consumer doubts about acidity and explained why the factory chooses a medium-dark roast. Body, bitterness, fruit acidity and smoothness all moved with the roast, so the choice is really about which cup style a drinker prefers. It also reflects a broader stance on coffee quality, since roast level decides how much of the bean's character reaches the cup.
Golden Mandheling, as a representative of Indonesian coffee, has a flavor profile that is closely tied to its roast level. This article conducts a comparative test of Golden Mandheling at three roast levels—dark, medium, and medium-light—using pour-over methods, and documents in detail the taste differences at each roast level, including dimensions such as body, bitterness, fruit acidity, and smoothness. At the same time, the article responds to consumers' doubts about acidity, explains the reasons why the factory chooses a medium-dark roast, and emphasizes Front Street Coffee's confidence in coffee quality and its unique understanding. Whether you prefer rich and full-bodied or fresh and mild, you can find a roast option that suits you.
Aiwo Xiangfei previously carried out a round of comparative testing, selecting dark-roasted, medium-roasted, and medium-light-roasted Golden Mandheling. All tests used pour-over extraction, making two servings, and fine-tuned the grind size and water temperature according to the different roast levels.
After the testing was completed, Aiwo Xiangfei reached the following conclusions:
1. Conventional medium-dark roast: rich aroma, full body, relatively prominent bitterness, more obvious chocolate and slight sweetness, clear licorice aroma, weaker fruit acidity, average smoothness, strong fragrance but slightly less layered complexity.
2. Medium roast: excellent overall balance. At this roast level, Golden Mandheling has a little less ruggedness and a bit more softness. The mouthfeel is cleaner than medium-dark roast, the body is still good, smoothness is noticeably improved, bitterness is still fairly prominent but weaker than in medium-dark roast, and fruit acidity is significantly enhanced.
3. Medium-light roast: At this roast level, Golden Mandheling is the most perplexing, one could say both loved and hated. If Golden Mandheling under medium-dark roast has prominent bitterness, then under medium-light roast its fruit acidity reaches the peak a person can tolerate. However, it is truly, truly smooth. The fruit acidity is obvious yet pleasant on entry, with a sensation of salivation on both sides of the mouth. Moreover, Golden Mandheling's ruggedness is completely gone, and it has become fresh and light!
Mandheling green beans
So here comes the question: what roast level of coffee beans should the factory actually produce to satisfy coffee lovers with different needs?
The answer is that the factory can only choose a medium-dark roast. According to the brand positioning, it is impossible to adjust for every individual; we can only rely on our understanding of coffee to suit most people's tastes and maximize the expression of Mandheling's flavor. We certainly will not have the same taste as other manufacturers; that is absolutely impossible. We have our own characteristics and our own unique understanding of coffee.
A couple of days ago, a friend gave a neutral review after purchasing Golden Mandheling from our Taobao corporate store: Aiwo Xiangfei coffee, because he felt that this Golden Mandheling had acidity and was not like Mandheling, and that what he drank before was not like this, so he was very speechless. Moved by this, I wrote this article. I hope this friend can do some tests himself to see whether it is really our coffee beans that are not good, or whether it is due to your subjective reasons. In addition, this Golden Mandheling is a single-origin coffee, not a blend, so a medium-dark roast is used. If it were a blend with relatively poor beans mixed in, a medium-dark roast would have many off-flavors, and a darker roast would be necessary to mask the off-flavors. We also have a Mandheling blend. Because we are confident and have not added low-quality beans such as Vietnamese beans, the roast level is not made very dark either, because we are confident that our blend is not bad either. As for the coffee extraction process, it can be adjusted through fine-tuning to suit your own taste. Friends who are interested can read other articles on the official Weibo of Aiwo Xiangfei coffee that introduce extraction methods.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
