What Grade is Indonesian Mandheling Coffee? Introduction to Mandheling Coffee Beans and Which Brand Has the Best Flavor

Mandheling coffee is considered one of the world's most full-bodied coffees, named after an ethnic group, and represents Indonesian coffee. At FrontStreet Coffee, both the regular Mandheling and Golden Mandheling coffee beans are deeply loved by everyone, especially the Golden Mandheling. Some say that just one sip of Golden Mandheling coffee brings immense satisfaction, which shows how incredibly rich and full-bodied Mandheling coffee truly is.

Indonesia consists of more than 17,000 islands scattered along the equatorial volcanic belt. Straddling both sides of the equator, Indonesia's hot and humid tropical rainforest climate receives abundant rainfall, while fertile volcanic soil provides rich nutrients. The most famous coffee growing regions in Asia are the islands of the Malay Archipelago: Sumatra, Java, and Kalimantan. Among these, Sumatran Mandheling coffee from Indonesia's Sumatra island enjoys the highest reputation. It has two famous varieties: Sumatran Mandheling DP Grade One and Classic Sumatran Mandheling. Sumatran Mandheling DP Grade One has a long aftertaste with a wild mountain fragrance - that unique earthy flavor found in primitive forests. In fact, the richness of Mandheling has a very masculine quality.

Mandheling coffee is produced in Sumatra, Asian Indonesia, also known as "Sumatran coffee." The main growing areas include Java, Sulawesi, and Sumatra islands, with 90% being Robusta varieties. Among these, the "Mandheling" from Sumatra island is the most famous. The finest traditional Arabica coffees produced in northern Sumatra are marketed under the names Lintong and Mandheling. Strictly speaking, Lintong refers to coffee grown in a small area in the Lintong administrative region southwest of Lake Toba. The coffee small growing areas are scattered across high, undulating clay plateaus covered with ferns. Lintong coffee is grown without shade, without chemicals, and is almost entirely owned by small private farmers. Mandheling is a broader term that includes Lintong coffee and similar growing conditions in Diari [capital Sidikalang] and the northern Lake Toba growing regions.

Origin of the Mandheling Coffee Name

Mandheling is neither a region name, place name, port name, nor coffee variety name. So how did its name originate?

Actually, it's the phonetic translation of the Indonesian Mandheling ethnic group.

During World War II when Japan occupied Indonesia, a Japanese soldier drank incredibly fragrant coffee at a café. He asked the owner for the coffee's name, but the owner misunderstood and thought he was asking about his ethnicity, so he replied: "Mandheling." After the war, the soldier recalled the "Mandheling" he had drunk in Indonesia. He then commissioned an Indonesian coffee merchant to ship 15 tons to Japan, which surprisingly became very popular. The name Mandheling thus spread, and that coffee merchant was the famous PWN (Pabrik Kopi Wahana) coffee company. The well-known Mandheling, produced around Lake Toba in northern Sumatra, has a unique fragrance of herbs and woods. Some say that Mandheling coffee beans may look unattractive, but the taste is better, richer, and smoother.

Lintong Mandheling Coffee

Lintong Mandheling comes from the Lintong mountainous area in north-central Sumatra, near Lake Toba. Lintong Mandheling is a premium Mandheling produced in the Lintong region. Lintong Mandheling is the regular version of Mandheling. It represents the typical Mandheling flavor, with larger, harder beans. If you're trying Mandheling coffee for the first time, you can start with Lintong Mandheling coffee. FrontStreet Coffee's daily supply Indonesian Mandheling comes from Lintong.

Golden Mandheling Coffee

Golden Mandheling coffee beans are produced from Lake Tawa in Mount Gayo, northwestern Sumatra. They come from PWN company's Golden Mandheling coffee beans. Golden Mandheling has stricter quality requirements: first, it must ensure coffee beans are 19 screen size, full and uniform, belonging to the highest G1 grade. PWN beans are dark green in color with flat, regular shapes. Then they undergo one machine selection and three manual hand selections to ensure defective beans are fewer than 3 (in a 300g green bean sample). This ensures uniform color, shape, and size of Mandheling coffee beans, resulting in cleaner taste and brighter flavor. Golden Mandheling is an upgraded version of Mandheling coffee, alongside another entry-level Mandheling, Lintong Mandheling coffee beans. After strict screening, FrontStreet Coffee found that Golden Mandheling not only lacks the typical earthy impurities of regular Mandheling but is also cleaner and brighter in taste, with stronger sweetness.

Ateng Variety

Ateng may seem like a very unfamiliar coffee variety, but careful friends have already noticed Ateng on the packaging labels of FrontStreet Coffee's Golden Mandheling. FrontStreet Coffee's 2020 new harvest Golden Mandheling beans are of the "Ateng" variety.

Actually, Ateng is also known as Catimor. Only Catimor grown in Sumatra and Indonesia's native islands can be called Ateng. Catimor is not a pure Arabica variety as we commonly know, but a hybrid of Timor from the Robusta family and Caturra, a Bourbon variety. It was originally developed in 1959 and began to be promoted in Brazil in the 1970s and 1980s. With its disease resistance and high yield, it has secured a place among Central and South American coffee varieties. The periodic coffee leaf rust outbreaks in Central and South America also boosted the application of Catimor coffee beans. Its characteristics include high yield, short plant height allowing dense planting, and reddish-brown new leaves, making it very suitable for cultivation and flavor development in the Aceh region. However, due to rapid maturation and high yield, it requires sufficient fertilizer supply and shade. According to FrontStreet Coffee's understanding, its lifespan is very short, averaging only ten years.

In the 17th century, Dutch introduced Arabica seedlings to Ceylon (today's Sri Lanka) and Indonesia. In 1877, a large-scale disaster struck the Indonesian islands when coffee rust disease destroyed almost all coffee trees. People had to abandon the Arabica they had cultivated for years and introduced disease-resistant Robusta coffee trees from Africa. Today, Indonesia is a major coffee-producing country. Coffee is mainly grown in Java, Sumatra, and Sulawesi, with Robusta varieties accounting for 90% of total production. Sumatran Mandheling, however, is the rare Arabica variety. These trees are planted on mountain slopes between 750 and 1,500 meters above sea level. The mysterious and unique Sumatra has endowed Mandheling coffee with rich aroma, full body, and strong flavor.

Mandheling Coffee Processing Method

Mandheling's unique Wet Hulling method, also known as wet hulling, is called Giling Basah in the local language and is a traditional Indonesian coffee processing method. Judging by name alone, Wet Hulling seems similar to wet processing (washed processing), but these two processing methods produce distinctly different cupping flavors. Coffee processed with Wet Hulling is typically full-bodied and intense with a very distinct personality.

The local weather is predominantly rainy with constant typhoons, lacking long periods of sunlight, with year-round high temperature and humidity, and humidity consistently reaching 70-90%. Therefore, pure sun-drying processing is not feasible. The local economy is also limited, making the more expensive washed processing method unaffordable, leading to the development of the unique local Wet Hulling method. After following the washed processing steps, the parchment coffee beans are exposed to strong sunlight for 1-2 days until the moisture content reaches 30-50%, then the parchment is removed for sun-drying. This speeds up the coffee bean drying process and significantly shortens the drying time.

The characteristics of Wet Hulling processing include phased, rapid drying and hulling of parchment during drying. Teacher Hwang Huaizong described it as: "This is also a rare processing method worldwide that accidentally created Mandheling's special low-acidity, thick, and mellow flavor."

Advantages of Wet Hulling Processing

1. Creates its characteristic low acidity and high body.

2. Unique bean appearance. When using Wet Hulling, the semi-hard, semi-soft moist green beans are easily bruised when the mucilage and parchment layers are removed. The beans crack open like sheep hooves, commonly known as "goat hoof beans." FrontStreet Coffee believes this is a very distinctive characteristic of Mandheling and not considered defective beans.

Careful observers may notice the "goat hoof shape" characteristic of Mandheling coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee has also noted their shared bean appearance feature of "goat hoof shape." This occurs because semi-hard, semi-soft moist green beans are easily bruised when machines remove the mucilage and parchment layers, causing the beans to crack open like sheep hooves, commonly known as "goat hoof beans." The "goat hoof shape" is a very distinctive characteristic of Mandheling coffee beans, so it's not considered a defect.

FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling Brewing Parameters:

FrontStreet Coffee uses the KONO dripper for brewing Mandheling coffee. The KONO's ribs stop at less than half the dripper's height. This design actually ensures that after wetting the filter, it adheres tightly to the dripper wall, restricting airflow. This increases the water absorption time of coffee grounds particles, resulting in more even overall extraction and enhancing the full-bodied texture.

KONO dripper, 88°C water temperature, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, 15g coffee grounds, grind size (75% pass-through rate on #20 standard sieve), three-stage extraction.

Using segmented extraction, bloom with twice the amount of water as coffee grounds - that is, 30g of water for 30 seconds. The blooming process is necessary to allow coffee grounds to release internal carbon dioxide gas, ensuring more stable extraction in the later stages. Use small water flow in circular motion to 125g, then continue pouring to 225g and stop. Remove the dripper once the water has finished dripping. Time from the start of pouring: 2'00". Next, pick up the entire cup of coffee, shake it well, and pour into cups for tasting.

[Lintong Mandheling Coffee Flavor Characteristics] Herbs, chocolate, caramel, overall quite balanced.

[Golden Mandheling Coffee Flavor Characteristics] Nuts, spices, herbal plants, licorice, chocolate, caramel.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Suggestions:

To brew a delicious cup of coffee, FrontStreet Coffee believes any brewing method requires fresh coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee has always maintained that the freshness of coffee beans greatly affects coffee flavor. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee ships coffee beans roasted within 5 days. FrontStreet Coffee's roasting philosophy is "Freshly Roasted Good Coffee," ensuring every customer receives the freshest coffee when their order arrives. The coffee degassing period is about 4-7 days, so when customers receive their coffee, it's at peak flavor.

For friends who need ground coffee, FrontStreet Coffee kindly reminds you: once coffee beans are pre-ground, there's no need for degassing, because during transportation, the pressure from carbon dioxide inside the package also helps mellow the coffee flavor, so you can brew a cup immediately upon receiving the ground coffee. However, ground coffee needs to be brewed promptly because it oxidizes quickly when exposed to air, meaning the coffee flavor dissipates relatively quickly, and the coffee won't taste as good. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee suggests purchasing whole beans and grinding fresh before brewing to better enjoy the coffee's flavor.

Coffee flavors naturally differ from various producing countries and regions. FrontStreet Coffee has nearly fifty different single-origin coffees from various regions, offering great flavor selection - there are acidic, bitter, and neither acidic nor bitter options. If you're really not sure what flavor of coffee you like, you can first try FrontStreet Coffee's daily beans. FrontStreet Coffee's daily beans are representatives from various coffee-producing countries, the most representative coffees. Examples: Ethiopia's washed Yirgacheffe coffee, Colombia's Huilan coffee, Brazil coffee, China's Yunnan small bean coffee, Panama's Geisha coffee, etc.

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style)

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Important Notice :

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