When it comes to Indonesian Mandheling, the most famous and popular one is undoubtedly the Golden Mandheling coffee beans produced by the Indonesian company PWN. Many people come to drink Golden Mandheling coffee and decide to buy the beans to brew at home, but they can never reproduce the taste they had in the coffee shop. Why is that? In this article, Front Street Coffee will explain the pour-over requirements for Golden Mandheling coffee beans.
Front Street Coffee PWNGolden Mandheling coffee beans
Country: Indonesia
Region: Sumatra Aceh Gayo Mountain
Altitude: 1100-1600m
Variety: Ateng
Processing method: Wet-hulling
Flavor: Baked toast, nuts, pine wood, caramel, herbs
The biggest feature of this PWN Golden Mandheling that Front Street Coffee has brought into the store is that its specification standard is 18 screen or above, with fewer than 3 defective beans (in a 300g green bean sample), belonging to the highest grade G1. The color is on the darker green side, and the shape is neat flat beans.
Everyone knows that Indonesian green coffee beans use the wet-hulling processing method. Because the semi-hard, semi-soft wet green beans are easily crushed when the mucilage and parchment layer are removed, the beans become damaged and split into a shape like a sheep's hoof, commonly known as sheep-hoof beans. Although these sheep-hoof beans are not defective beans, in PWN's view, these sheep-hoof beans do not look as attractive, so they must be screened out in order to give everyone a neat and uniform appearance.
Therefore, after three rounds of manual screening, PWN also puts the green coffee beans uniformly into a machine for density and color sorting. In the end, Mandheling coffee beans with uniform color and uniform bean shape are presented. It is also said that when processing the green beans, the Mandheling under sunlight gave off a golden luster, hence the name Golden Mandheling.
After strict screening, Front Street Coffee found that Golden Mandheling not only no longer has the earthy, miscellaneous flavors unique to ordinary Mandheling, but also drinks with high body while giving a clean and bright mouthfeel.
So how should this Golden Mandheling coffee bean be properly hand-brewed to bring out its clean and bright flavor?
First, you need to know that pour-over coffee refers to brewing under one atmosphere of pressure, using a dripper and filter paper to hold appropriately ground coffee, with the brewer using a steady pouring method to pour water at the proper temperature and volume onto the coffee grounds to extract the coffee liquid. Because grind size, water temperature, pouring method, and brewing time all affect the extraction of coffee flavor, this is a brewing method that places great emphasis on technique and professional coffee knowledge.
So Front Street Coffee, based on years of pour-over coffee extraction experience, summarizesthe seven elements of pour-over coffee, as follows:
1. Fresh coffee beans
Front Street Coffee believes that the best flavor period for coffee beans is 30 days. After 30 days, because aroma molecules decrease with the release of carbon dioxide, coffee beans past their best flavor period may taste bland and flat when brewed. This is also why Front Street always emphasizes “use freshly roasted coffee beans” before discussing brewing knowledge every time.
2. Pour-over coffee grind size standard
At the same time, in order to ensure that each bean has the most suitable grind for brewing, Front Street recommends buying a No. 20 cup test calibration sieve with a mesh aperture of 0.85mm. We take 10g of coffee beans, set a rough grind setting and grind them into coffee powder, then pour it into the sieve for sifting, and weigh the sifted coffee powder (you must sift until no more coffee powder can pass through the sieve to consider the sifting complete).
If the passing rate is 80% (8g can be sifted from 10g of powder), that is the most suitable grind for medium-light roasted coffee beans. If the passing rate is 70%-75% (7-7.5g sifted from 10g), that is the most suitable grind for medium-dark roast. If it exceeds the suitable passing rate, the grind should be adjusted coarser; if it does not reach the suitable passing rate, the grind should be adjusted finer.
Among them, Indonesian PWN Golden Mandheling coffee beans are medium-dark roasted. The reason the grind passing rate for medium-dark roast is 70%-75% is that the darker the roast, the fuller the coffee flavor and the different the mouthfeel. Golden Mandheling itself has a relatively rich and full flavor, so Front Street Coffee uses medium-dark roast to roast it, and through repeated brewing practice has found that this grind best matches the golden cup extraction rate given by SCAA.
3. Brewing water temperature
When hand-brewing coffee beans of different roast levels, Front Street Coffee also chooses different water temperatures. During roasting, the substances contained in the coffee beans are lost as the roast degree deepens, so dark-roasted coffee beans use lower temperatures to avoid extracting too many undesirable flavors. For medium-light roasted beans, Front Street Coffee recommends a water temperature of 90-91°C; for medium-dark roasted PWN Golden Mandheling beans, a water temperature of 87-89°C is recommended.
4. Water quality
The mineral components in water, such as calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium mineral ions, affect coffee's thermodynamic extraction capacity, thereby changing the coffee's flavor. Front Street Coffee does not recommend directly heating tap water for brewing. Tap water has many impurities, and the extracted coffee is prone to an unpleasant experience. Front Street recommends using tap water filtered through a filtration system or Nongfu Spring as brewing water.
5. Choice of brewing dripper
For this medium-dark roasted PWN GoldenMandheling coffee beanFront Street Coffee recommends using the KONO dripper, because the KONO dripper has few ribs and they are located at the lower end. The filter paper fits tightly against the dripper, which can restrict airflow and lengthen the contact time between water and coffee grounds, allowing the coffee grounds to be fully extracted and enhancing the rich mouthfeel. This also better highlights the original flavor of Golden Mandheling coffee beans. Therefore, when Front Street Coffee produces medium-dark roasted coffee beans, it uses the KONO dripper.
6. Coffee-to-water ratio
This is the difference in taste parameters for pour-over coffee water-to-coffee ratios that Front Street Coffee derived based on the SCAA Golden Cup extraction theory
【Heavy taste】1:10～1:11, i.e. 1:12.5～1:13.5 under the Golden Cup standard
【Moderate taste】1:12～1:13 (i.e. 1:14.5～1:15.5 under the Golden Cup standard)
【Light and fresh】1:14～1:16 (i.e. 1:16.5～1:18.5 under the Golden Cup standard)
A ratio of coffee bean grams to brewing water of 1:14.5～1:15.5 most easily reaches the golden range of 18%～22% extraction yield and 1.15%～1.35% strength.
This is also why Front Street Coffee always recommends brewing at 1:15. Therefore, what Front Street Coffee summarizes from the above SCA extraction ratio parameters is:
(1) The larger the coffee-to-water ratio, the lighter the coffee taste; the smaller the coffee-to-water ratio, the stronger the coffee taste.
(2) Increasing the amount of water raises the coffee-to-water ratio, affecting more flavor substances but making the taste lighter; reducing the amount of water lowers the coffee-to-water ratio, affecting fewer flavor substances but making the taste richer.
(3) Increasing the amount of coffee lowers the coffee-to-water ratio, reducing the extraction of large-molecule substances in the final stage of coffee while making the taste stronger; reducing the amount of coffee raises the coffee-to-water ratio, and before reaching the limit, it will extract more complete flavor substances while reducing the intensity of the taste.
7. Brewing time
Finally, in coffee extraction, the aroma and flavor are strong and the concentration is high in the early stage. The further the extraction goes, the lighter the flavor and aroma become. At the same time, the amount of water poured also affects the coffee extraction time. Front Street Coffee generally uses 15g of coffee powder; depending on the bean, with a 1:15 water-to-coffee ratio, the brewing time will be within 2 minutes to 2 minutes 30 seconds, making it unlikely to cause over-extraction or under-extraction.
The above are the seven elements of pour-over coffee compiled by Front Street Coffee. In addition, brewing technique is also very important. Next, Front Street Coffee will teach everyone one of the most common and easiest-to-control pour-over coffee methods.
Pour-over coffee brewing technique
At present, there are many kinds of pour-over brewing techniques seen in coffee shops, and commonly seen ones include the three-stage method, one-cut method, drip method, and so on. Here, Front Street Coffee recommends that beginners use the three-stage pouring method to brew, because this technique is suitable for light-roasted, medium-light, and medium-roasted coffee beans. The staged extraction method of three-stage pouring can clearly define the flavors of the coffee's front, middle, and back stages, and can relatively ensure the presentation of the coffee's flavor.
As Front Street Coffee also mentioned above, the brewer should use a steady pouring method to pour water at the proper temperature and volume onto the coffee grounds to extract the coffee liquid, in order to extract a delicious cup of coffee. After all, pour-over coffee can also be called an art. For example, making a dish not only requires fresh ingredients but also attention to heat and the chef's skill. Pour-over coffee is naturally no exception. Next, Front Street Coffee will teach everyone how to perform three-stage pouring for pour-over coffee.
Three-stage brewing technique:
First pour: Blooming (helps release gas)
Many coffee lovers do not know the meaning of blooming in pour-over coffee. In fact, blooming is needed because coffee beans undergo a series of chemical reactions and physical changes during the roasting process from green beans to roasted beans. After reaching a certain degree of roasting, a large amount of gas (mostly carbon dioxide) accumulates inside the coffee beans.
Generally speaking, the fresher the beans and the closer to the roasting date, the more bubbles there usually are during blooming. Dark-roasted beans also release more gas during blooming than light-roasted beans. Front Street Coffee's coffee beans are all freshly roasted, so customers are generally advised to rest the beans for three days first, allowing the coffee beans to release carbon dioxide first, so that instability and under-extraction can be avoided during brewing.
After the gas is released during blooming, the coffee particles can absorb water evenly, allowing later extraction to be uniform. A good bloom can allow the coffee grounds to release gas quickly, fully, and evenly while also allowing the coffee grounds to fully and quickly contact water, helping the coffee grounds be extracted evenly. These are precisely the purpose and significance of blooming in pour-over coffee.
Second pour
The second pour starts from the center, injecting a small stream into the bottom of the coffee bed. In order to concentrate the penetrating force of the stream, the circular movement range should be small, about the size of a 1-yuan coin, and then spiral outward. From the start of the second pour, pay attention to the water volume and try not to exceed the height of the coffee bed. That is, when the stream circles close to the filter paper, you can stop pouring.
Third pour
As the originally thicker coffee bed near the edge of the filter paper becomes heavier from absorbing water, it slides down and becomes thinner as the water level drops. When the water level drops by half, you can proceed with the third pour.
From the start of the third pour, observe the extent of the water level drop. Likewise, start pouring from the center in circles, and do not let the water volume exceed the height of the coffee bed. At this time, you will also observe that the foam ratio has covered the surface. The third pour should increase the tumbling of the coffee particles, allowing all the settled particles to tumble and thereby dissolve soluble substances.
The rolling particles will begin to settle once pouring stops. At this point, it relies on the flow rate caused by the dropping water level to create friction among the coffee particles. Therefore, once pouring stops, the coffee particles sink downward, causing clogging, so pay special attention to the rhythm of pouring. If there are too many pauses in pouring, it is equivalent to letting the coffee particles sit in water continuously, which will cause astringency and miscellaneous flavors in the final stage of coffee extraction.
The above is the three-stage extraction method compiled by Front Street Coffee. Its other name is “staged” extraction. Next, Front Street Coffee will share how to brew PWN Golden Mandheling coffee beans!
Front Street Coffee PWN Golden Mandheling brewing data sharing
Dripper: Kona
Water temperature: 86-88°C
Coffee dose: 15g
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
Grind size: grind size (No. 20 standard sieve passing rate 70-75%)
Brewing technique: staged extraction.
First, use 30g of water for a 30-second bloom. Pour in a small stream in circles until 125g, then pause. When the water level is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring until 225g, then stop pouring. When the water level is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper. (Timing starts at the beginning of the bloom.) The extraction time for the V60 dripper is 2'00", while the Kono dripper takes slightly longer, at 2'10".
PWN Golden Mandheling brewing flavor:Layered and varied, rich and clean, with high balance, intense nut and caramel aroma, with chocolate notes, and a lasting finish.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
