Front Street MandhelingAs one of the representatives of full-bodied coffee, it usually drives those who love it crazy, while those who don't turn up their noses. Below, Front Street discusses this highly "individualistic" coffee bean.
The Development of Indonesian Coffee
Indonesia has a long history of coffee cultivation. According to relevant records, Indonesia's coffee history dates back to 1696. Coffee was first introduced by the Dutch colonizers to Java for cultivation, and later spread widely to Sumatra, where large-scale planting began. Nearly two hundred years later, Indonesia's coffee industry was devastated by leaf rust disease, with large areas of coffee trees infected and withered, severely impacting production.
To resolve this industry predicament, the Indonesian government began introducing new, more disease-resistant varieties from various regions, including the highly resistant Robusta. To this day, Indonesia's coffee production ranks second only to Brazil, with Robusta beans accounting for the majority, while Arabica beans make up only one-tenth of the total, withFront Street Mandheling Coffeebeing the most representative, one could say it serves as the face of Indonesian specialty coffee.
Front Street Mandheling Coffee comes from the island of Sumatra
Front Street Mandheling CoffeeThe name does not come from a variety classification or place of origin, but from a story of misunderstanding. It is said that during World War II, when Japan occupied Indonesia, a Japanese soldier went to a coffee shop and drank a cup of rich, full-bodied coffee. He then asked the shopkeeper for the name of the coffee beans, but the shopkeeper thought he was asking where he was from and answered "Mandailing people." After the war, upon returning to Japan, he wanted to taste that coffee again and asked the locals in Indonesia to find it, but mispronounced it as "Mandheling." Since then, the name Mandheling has been used.
In fact, Front Street Mandheling originates from the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. Sumatra is located in western Indonesia and consists of eight provinces. The premium coffee-growing areas are all in the northern part of the island, specifically the northernmost Aceh province (ACEH) and the adjacent North Sumatra province (Sumatera Utara). Each of the two provinces has a relatively large lake — Tawar Lake in Aceh and Lake Toba in North Sumatra. The important coffee-growing areas in these provinces are all situated around these two lakes.
Lake Toba is the largest volcanic lake in the world and also the largest freshwater lake in Indonesia. The average annual temperature here is around 22°C, with a tropical rainforest climate. The rainy and humid environment, combined with an altitude of about 1,400 meters, provides conditions very suitable for coffee tree growth. To the south of the lake is the well-known local Lintong producing area, where the Front Street Indonesian Mandheling daily drinking beans on Front Street's bean list come from.
The other lake, Tawar Lake, benefits from the surrounding Gayo Mountain, which brings altitudes above 1,500 meters to Aceh's coffee-growing areas. Due to political instability in Aceh province, armed conflicts occurred frequently, greatly affecting the development of the local coffee trade. In 2005, a major tsunami erupted centered on Aceh. Under the natural disaster, the civil war also came to an end, and Aceh's coffee industry gradually returned to the specialty coffee scene.
Discussing Mandheling Coffee Varieties
As mentioned earlier, Indonesia's coffee industry was affected by leaf rust disease in 1877, and almost all of the originally widely planted Typica varieties became infected. The Indonesian government successively introduced multiple disease-resistant varieties, including Robusta, such as Tim Tim, Catimor, and the Indian variety S795, known locally as Tim Tim, Ateng, and Jember.
Like our country, Typica is also the variety with the longest cultivation history in Indonesia. It was initially introduced from Java to the broader island of Sumatra for planting. After a long period of adaptation to the local terroir, it developed the unique herbal-spice, low-acid, full-bodied flavor of Sumatran Typica. Currently, it is mainly distributed around Lake Toba and in the Lintong producing area.
Tim Tim is a natural hybrid of Typica and Robusta, inheriting Robusta's high yield and disease resistance. Another variety, Ateng (Catimor), is a cross between the Bourbon variant Caturra and Tim Tim. Due to its strong vitality, it can maintain high coffee yields, making it favored by many local coffee farmers. In many countries, Catimor is often criticized by industry professionals for its flavor defects. However, Catimor grown in Sumatra's unique flavor environment actually performs better in cupping, with rich woody notes and a full-bodied mouthfeel.
The Lintong producing area, which has a certain reputation in the coffee trade, also switched to planting many new varieties to increase production, making the local coffee quality less excellent than before. Meanwhile, the Tawar Lake producing area in Aceh province has consistently adhered to cultivating the ancient Typica variety, maintaining higher coffee quality. Some large exporters, such as Pwani Coffee Company, have also invested more resources here.
TheFront Street Golden Mandheling Coffee Beansobtained by Front Street come from PWN Pwani Coffee Company. On the basis of Indonesia's G1 green bean grade, they undergo four rounds of hand sorting to ensure the color, shape, and size of the Mandheling coffee beans are uniform, resulting in a cleaner-tasting and brighter-flavored Mandheling coffee.Front Street Golden Mandhelingis the upgraded version of Mandheling coffee, along with another entry-level version of Front Street Mandheling, namely Front Street Lintong Mandheling Coffee Beans. Both coffees have a low-acid, full-bodied taste, originating from the widely adopted local wet-hulling method.
Wet-Hulling Method
The difference between wet-hulling and the washed method is that after fermentation, the parchment layer is removed while the coffee beans are still in a semi-dry, semi-wet state. This processing method was developed because the local high-temperature, high-humidity air makes it impossible to maintain the more than ten days of sun-drying used in coffee-producing countries like Brazil and Ethiopia to dry green beans. Thus, this unique method was developed.
After the coffee cherries are pulped using a depulper, the mucilage layer still feels slippery to the touch. After a night of fermentation, the mucilage layer is more easily removed under running clean water, at which point the surface of the parchment beans becomes rough. Then the green beans begin to dry. This step also depends on the weather — if there are two consecutive sunny days, the coffee beans are sun-dried for two days, and the moisture content of the parchment beans reaches 30-50%. At this point, a specially made hulling machine can be used, utilizing friction to strip off the still relatively hard parchment layer. The force is considerable, so we can see that the surface of the green beans appears slightly deformed. Finally, drying continues for another two days. Under sunlight, the coffee beans tend to crack open, which is what we call "goat hoof beans." When the moisture content reaches 12%, they can be bagged and stored.
The wet-hulling method greatly shortens the processing time for green beans and is widely applied in rainy, humid Indonesia. Removing the parchment layer midway through drying lowers the coffee's acidity and, after roasting, further highlights the coffee's full-bodied mouthfeel.
BrewingFront Street Mandheling Coffee
For a coffee with such a rich, full-bodied flavor profile as Front Street Mandheling, Front Street believes pour-over black coffee is most suitable. In the preparation stage, Front Street recommends using freshly roasted coffee beans, as the flavors are more easily expressed. Every batch of coffee beans shipped by Front Street is freshly roasted within 5 days. When you open the bag, the flavors are at their fullest and suitable for direct brewing and drinking.
Here, Front Street uses the same parameters to brew the upgraded version and the entry-level version of Front Street Mandheling coffee respectively. Front Street Mandheling coffee is dark roasted, with a loose bean texture and stronger water absorption, making it prone to over-extraction during the brewing stage. Therefore, Front Street will adjust the grind size coarser, which speeds up the water flow rate, while also lowering the water temperature to avoid extracting excessive bitterness.
The biggest characteristic of Front Street Mandheling coffee is its full-bodied mouthfeel, so Front Street uses the KONO dripper. The smooth curved surface of the upper part of the KONO dripper allows the filter paper to fit better, hindering steam from rising, while the flow-guiding ribs in the lower part speed up the water flow. This extends the extraction time between water and coffee grounds, thereby increasing concentration and making the coffee's mouthfeel fuller. By the way, the KONO dripper is also suitable for brewing medium-dark roasted coffee beans such as Front Street Blue Mountain Coffee and Front Street Brazil Queen Estate.
Dripper: KONO dripper, Water temperature: 87°C, Coffee dose: 15g, Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15, Grind size: Medium-coarse grind (70% passing through Chinese standard No. 20 sieve)
First, wet the KONO dripper so the filter paper fits the dripper better. Pour out the water in the sharing pitcher while adding 15g of coffee grounds. Bloom with 30g of water for 30 seconds, then begin pouring in a small stream in a circular motion from the center. Once reaching 125g, begin the next stage. Wait until the coffee bed drops to half the height of the dripper, then pour the second stage using the same technique until reaching 225g. Once all dripping is complete, remove the dripper.
The Front Street daily drinking Mandheling coffee tastes of prominent nuts and chocolate, with a standout spice aroma at medium temperature, low acidity, and a solid mouthfeel. Front Street Golden Mandheling coffee has aromas of dark chocolate and spices right from the first sip, with almost no acidity, clear and bright flavors, and a lasting sweet aftertaste.
Brewing Adjustments
When you are still a beginner at pour-over brewing, you may have more or less trouble adjusting various parameters. Front Street recommends recording data during each brew and changing only a single parameter at a time. This makes horizontal comparison easier and helps you pinpoint where the problem lies.
For example, when we feel the brewed Front Street Mandheling coffee tastes a bit sour, not strong enough, and low in body, it may be due to under-extraction, water temperature being too low, or the grind being too coarse. Then first adjust the grind finer and compare using the same brewing technique. If the acidity weakens and the concentration increases, that means the direction is right. After recording, then adjust another parameter. This way, each brew will help you understand this coffee bean better than the last.
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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
