The Origin of Mandheling Coffee Beans and Introduction to Its Characteristics: How to Brew Indonesian Mandheling Coffee by Hand

Originating from Indonesia, Mandheling coffee is renowned for its unique aromatic profile of spices, herbs, and pine, combined with a rich, mellow taste. It is often referred to as "the gentleman of coffees." Today, FrontStreet Coffee introduces this distinctive coffee bean and shares how to brew the classic Mandheling flavor.

The Origin of Mandheling's Name

Unlike many other coffees, the name Mandheling coffee is tied to a long-standing story, primarily stemming from a mispronunciation by a local indigenous tribe in Indonesia.

During World War II, a Japanese soldier was drinking coffee at a shop in central Indonesia and asked the owner what kind of coffee he was drinking. The owner thought he was asked where he was from and replied "Mandailing." After the war, when the soldier returned to Japan, he remembered the uniquely flavored coffee as being called "Mandheling." In 1968, the Nomura Trading Company from Osaka, Japan, visited Indonesia's N.V. Pawani Medan company and imported 15,000 kilograms of Sumatran Mandheling coffee, which became hugely popular in the Japanese market. From then on, both Mandheling coffee and the Pawani coffee company gained widespread fame.

Where is Mandheling Coffee Produced?

Indonesia primarily grows Robusta varieties, with Arabica varieties accounting for less than one-tenth of production. Among these, Mandheling coffee from Sumatra Island is the most famous, hence it's also called Sumatran coffee. Traditionally, Sumatran Mandheling mainly comes from the Lake Toba area in the Lintong production region of North Sumatra province and the Lake Tawar area in the northernmost Aceh region.

The Lintong region near Lake Toba, Indonesia's largest volcanic lake, sits at an elevation between 1,000-1,500 meters. The volcanic ash soil allows Mandheling coffee here to absorb more nutrients. The tropical rainforest climate brings abundant rainfall, allowing coffee trees to grow vigorously without much irrigation or fertilization.

The Aceh region is located at the northernmost part of Sumatra Island. Due to years of political instability, the development of its coffee industry has lagged behind the Lintong region. However, precisely because more original ancient trees have been preserved, and local farmers adopt green organic farming methods, coffee trees are planted on the slopes surrounding the picturesque Lake Tawar.

Wet Hulling Process

Sumatra Island, located near the equator, experiences high temperatures and heavy rainfall year-round, along with frequent typhoons. Therefore, it cannot widely adopt the African natural drying method or the Central and South American washed method for processing green coffee beans. To prevent mold and spoilage during processing, locals have significantly shortened both the fermentation and drying times of the beans to adapt to local weather conditions.

After removing the outer skin of coffee cherries, they undergo brief fermentation for several hours, followed by sun-drying. When the moisture content of the parchment coffee reaches 30-50%, the beans are still in a semi-dry state. Locals use special hulling machines that utilize friction to remove the still-hard parchment layer, and finally continue drying the hulled beans to reach the standard moisture content. Since each step is completed in 70-90% humidity environments, and the parchment layer has been removed before the final drying step, the "exposed" green beans easily absorb moisture from the air. This gives the resulting Mandheling coffee additional woody and herbal notes. FrontStreet Coffee believes this is the unique flavor characteristic of Sumatran Mandheling coffee, which is why we've included Lintong Mandheling in FrontStreet Coffee's high-value daily coffee series, allowing everyone to experience it.

Premium Grade Mandheling Coffee - PWN Golden Mandheling Coffee

During the wet hulling process, green beans are easily compressed and deformed under significant force. After the final high-temperature sun-drying stage, coffee beans may crack on one side, creating what we commonly call "elephant hoof beans." While wet hulling brings unique flavor characteristics, it also increases the defect rate of coffee beans. To improve coffee quality, these defective beans must be removed.

When speaking of high-quality Mandheling coffee, one must mention Indonesia's "golden" brand - Golden Mandheling Coffee. The renowned Indonesian green bean purchasing company PWN processes wet-hulled Mandheling green beans using one machine selection plus three manual hand-selections, ensuring each batch reaches Indonesia's highest grade G1 standard. The purpose of machine selection is to first screen out beans sized 18 mesh or above, followed by multiple manual selections to remove irregular defective beans. The reduction in defect rate significantly improves Mandheling coffee quality.

FrontStreet Coffee's bean selection often reserves this PWN Golden Mandheling coffee for Mandheling "fans," allowing everyone to experience the refined classic Mandheling flavor.

What is Classic Mandheling Flavor?

To highlight the high body thickness of Golden Mandheling while preserving more herbal and spice notes, FrontStreet Coffee's roasters use medium-dark roast. Freshly roasted Mandheling coffee needs 7-10 days of degassing before reaching its optimal flavor window. FrontStreet Coffee wants every customer to experience the full aroma of their coffee, so we only ship coffee beans roasted within 5 days, ensuring you can enjoy the complete flavor period upon receipt.

Roasted coffee beans expand and have a loose texture, making them absorb more water and release various substances more quickly after grinding. To avoid over-extraction, FrontStreet Coffee uses medium grind size and slightly lower water temperature to reduce the extraction of bitter large molecules from the coffee.

For this brew, FrontStreet Coffee's barista aims to highlight the rich, clean, and aromatic characteristics of Golden Mandheling, using a KONO dripper for extraction. While both are conical drippers, the KONO dripper has significantly fewer rib ridges than the V60, with a smooth curved surface in the upper portion that allows the filter paper to fit more closely. This restricts upward airflow, forcing hot water to flow downward only, creating a siphon-like extraction effect that allows more complete release of aromatic substances from the coffee grounds, thereby enhancing the rich mouthfeel.

Golden Mandheling Coffee Pour-Over Parameters:

Water temperature: 87-88°C
Medium grind (70% pass-through rate on Chinese standard #20 sieve)
Coffee grounds: 15g
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
Three-stage pour-over method

Use twice the weight of coffee grounds in water to moisten the coffee bed, forming a dome and letting it bloom for 30 seconds. Then, using a small water stream, pour in circular motions from inside to out until reaching 125g for the first segment. Wait until the coffee bed drops to half the dripper's height, then continue with the same fine stream for the third segment to 225g. Remove the dripper once all coffee liquid has filtered through, taking about 2 minutes total. Finally, swirl the coffee in the pot to mix before enjoying.

The hand-poured PWN Golden Mandheling coffee exhibits complex layers, rich and intense flavor with a clean mouthfeel. It offers nutty and caramel aromas with chocolate notes, a persistent finish, and excellent balance.

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