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Mandheling coffee is a specialty coffee of Indonesian coffee and also synonymous with Indonesian coffee. At Front Street, Mandheling coffee, as the representative coffee of Indonesia, is listed among the daily drinking coffee beans. It is an introductory bean for everyone to learn about Indonesian coffee. Of course, Front Street also has Indonesia's specialty coffee, Golden Mandheling coffee.

Indonesian coffee beans are relatively large in size, with a hard texture and a mellow mouthfeel. Actually, Mandheling coffee is neither a place name, a region name, nor a coffee variety name, but a mispronunciation of the Mandailing ethnic group that originally lived in Sumatra. Of course, the origin of this name is also a beautiful misunderstanding and legend. During World War II, when Japan occupied Indonesia, a Japanese soldier drank an incomparably fragrant and mellow coffee in a coffee shop. So he asked the owner the name of the coffee. Due to the language barrier, the owner mistakenly thought he was asking where he was from, so he answered: Mandailing. After the war, the Japanese soldier recalled the "Mandheling" he had drunk in Indonesia and entrusted an Indonesian coffee passenger to ship 15 tons to Japan, which unexpectedly became very popular. Thereafter, the name Mandheling spread in this way.

The History of Sumatra Mandheling Coffee Cultivation

Sumatra is currently the second-largest island in Indonesia, with a resident population of about 55 million, but it is one of the largest producing regions on the island. The coffee output of the Sumatra producing region accounts for about 74.2% of Indonesia's total, while Indonesia's second-largest producing region accounts for only 12% of the national output. However, Indonesia was not originally the origin of coffee, but was imported to the island by the Dutch government after the early Dutch colonial conquest of the Portuguese. Two centuries later, World War II was in full swing. In order to solve the local people's food and clothing problems, a large number of coffee crops were replaced by rice, corn, cassava, and other such crops. In 1950, local coffee output was only one-eighth of the pre-war level. But since then, coffee crops have become the local economic pillar.

Indonesian Sumatra Coffee Producing Region

Sumatra is not only the largest island in Indonesia, but also the sixth-largest island in the world. It is located in the northwestern part of Indonesia. It extends from northwest to southeast, with the equator passing through its center. The terrain is high in the northwest, with the Barisan Mountains running through it, mainly planted with Arabica, and it is the main producing area of Mandheling. The southeast is low, mostly flat land or swampland, mainly planted with Robusta varieties. The entire island has more than 90 volcanoes and numerous volcanic lakes, providing fertile soil for coffee growth. Due to its geographical location, Sumatra has the country's earliest harvest season—from November to March.

Mandheling coffee is produced in Sumatra, Indonesia, Asia, and is also known as "Sumatra coffee." The main producing areas include Java Island, Sulawesi Island, and Sumatra Island, of which 90% is Robusta. Among them, the "Mandheling" produced on Sumatra Island is the most famous. Among the exquisite traditional Arabica coffees produced in northern Sumatra, the best are sold on the market under the names Lintong and Mandheling. To be precise, Lintong refers to coffee grown in a small area southwest of Lake Toba in the Lintong administrative region. The small coffee-growing areas are scattered across a high, undulating clay plateau full of ferns. Lintong coffee is not shade-grown, does not use chemicals, and is almost entirely owned by smallholders. Mandheling is a broader term, including Lintong coffee and, under similar conditions, Diari [capital Sidikalang] and the growing area north of Lake Toba.

Lintong Mandheling is produced in the Lintong mountainous area in north-central Sumatra, near Lake Toba. Lintong Mandheling is the regular version of Sumatra Mandheling. Front Street's daily drinking bean Mandheling coffee is Lintong Mandheling coffee.

Lake Toba is located in the central part of North Sumatra Province. In 1888, the Dutch colonists moved "Java Mandheling" north to the Lake Toba area, creating the modern Mandheling legend.

Lake Tawar is located in the central part of the Aceh Special Region. It is at the northern end of Sumatra Island, with an area less than one-tenth that of Lake Toba.

At present, the highest-quality beans in the entire Sumatra region come from the Gayo Mountains, mostly grown from old tree varieties. The Gayo Mountains are located in the Aceh producing region of North Sumatra Province, at an altitude of 1,500-2,500 meters. Most coffee farmers are local farmers—the Gayo people. This region has ideal growing conditions for coffee—high altitude, fertile soil, and abundant rainfall. Lake Tawar provides abundant water resources, and organic methods are widely used in coffee cultivation in this area, without chemical fertilizers, and it is considered a green coffee production region in the world. Therefore, Gayo coffee is also often called green coffee or Gayo organic coffee.

Golden Mandheling Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee's Golden Mandheling from the new crop season is produced in the Gayo Mountains of Aceh, North Sumatra. It is Golden Mandheling coffee beans from PWN company. Golden Mandheling has stricter quality requirements. First, it must ensure that the coffee beans are 19 screen size, plump and uniform, belonging to the highest grade G1. PWN is darker green in color and has neat flat beans in shape. Then it must undergo one machine sorting and three manual hand sortings to ensure that defective green beans are fewer than 3 (in a 300g green bean sample).

What Variety Is Mandheling Coffee

Mandheling variety—Typica. As early as 1658, the Dutch transplanted the descendants of the "European Typica mother plant" to Sri Lanka, but unfortunately the cultivation failed. Later, in 1699, the Dutch transplanted coffee trees from Malabar in eastern India to Java. This trial planting succeeded, and Typica grew steadily in Java. In 1718, the Dutch transplanted the successfully trial-grown Typica from Java to Sumatra Island and Sulawesi Island. After more than a century of propagation, just when Indonesian Typica was at its peak, a leaf rust disease at the end of the 19th century swept through most of Indonesia's Typica, and later the more disease-resistant Robusta variety had to be introduced.

Front Street's Lintong Mandheling coffee variety is written as: Tim Tim Ateng, and Golden Mandheling coffee variety is written as: Ateng. What variety is this? The Ateng variety is a hybrid between Arabica and Robusta, widely planted in Sumatra and other small Indonesian islands. It is actually a branch of Catimor, and Ateng is the local name. What Indonesia calls Tim Tim is what we call Timor. The Ateng variety is very suitable for cultivation and flavor development in the Aceh region. Due to the localized naming by Indonesians, we often see relatively unfamiliar coffee varieties for Mandheling, but in fact it is just a different name.

The Processing Method of Mandheling Coffee Beans

In addition to being related to the local climate and environment, the unique flavor of Mandheling coffee is also inseparably related to its processing method. Indonesia is located in a typical tropical rainforest climate region, where it often rains and the duration of sunlight is relatively short, which is not suitable for sun-drying processing. In addition, local economic conditions are average, and there is not enough funds to invest in washed processing, so coffee farmers developed this semi-washed processing method, also known as wet-hulling. This is a rare processing method in the world, and by accident it created Mandheling's special low-acid, thick, and earthy aroma flavor.

So how should Mandheling coffee be brewed?

Front Street has shared with everyone the relationship between coffee bean roast level and pour-over. Lightly roasted coffee beans and darkly roasted coffee beans differ in the water temperature and dripper used. Golden Mandheling coffee is a dark roast bean, so the water temperature should not be too high, and a Kono dripper is selected. The reason for the low water temperature is not wanting to extract too many off-flavors. When FrontStreet Coffee chooses dark roasting, too many aromatic substances have already been released. If extraction continues at the water temperature used for light roasting, over-extraction will occur. The reason FrontStreet Coffee chooses the Kono dripper is that the V60 dripper has too fast a flow rate and, under low water temperature conditions, easily leads to under-extraction, while the Kono dripper has few ribs and they are located at the lower end, and the filter paper fits closely against the dripper, which can restrict airflow, lengthen the contact time between water and coffee grounds, allow the coffee grounds to be fully extracted, and enhance the mellow mouthfeel.

PWNIs Golden Mandheling Coffee Good?

As mentioned above by Front Street, Mandheling coffee is mainly mellow and bitter in tone. After many cupping comparisons, Front Street selected a medium-dark roast level, presenting a dark chocolate and other roasted, mellow mouthfeel while retaining more herbal and spice notes and some acidity and acidity quality.

After roasting, Mandheling coffee beans are rich in carbon dioxide and need a process to release the internal gas so that the flavor is better during extraction. The resting period is related to the coffee roast level. Light-roasted coffee beans need 4 to 7 days of degassing after roasting, while medium-dark roasting needs about 7 to 10 days. As coffee beans pass the peak degassing period, the aroma will gradually decrease, so the freshness of the coffee beans is very important. The coffee shipped by Front Street is ensured to be freshly roasted within 5 days, so when everyone receives it, it is almost at its optimal tasting period.

For pure-aroma high-quality coffee beans like Golden Mandheling coffee, Front Street believes that the form of black coffee best presents the delicate aroma of coffee, and it can be extracted by pour-over, siphon, French press, AeroPress, and other methods. Here Front Street uses the hot pour-over method commonly used in stores for brewing.

Golden Mandheling Coffee Pour-Over Parameters: 87-88°C water temperature  Medium grind (70% passing through China standard No. 20 sieve) Coffee grounds: 15 grams  Coffee-to-water ratio 1:15    Three-stage pouring

Use twice the amount of water as the coffee grounds to wet the coffee bed, form a dome and bloom for 30s, then pour in a small stream in a circular motion from inside to outside until 125g, then pause. Wait for the coffee bed to drop to half the height of the dripper, then continue pouring the third stage with the same thin stream to 225g, until all the coffee liquid has filtered through, then remove the dripper. The time is about 2 minutes. Finally, swirl the coffee liquid in the server to mix it evenly and it is ready to enjoy~

Pour-overPWNGolden Mandheling coffee has varied layers overall, is mellow and rich, and has a clean mouthfeel. Nutty and caramel aromas, with chocolate notes, a long-lasting sweet aftertaste, and high balance.

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