Characteristics and Flavor Profile of Mandheling Coffee | The Origin Story of the Mandheling Name | What Variety are Mandheling Coffee Beans

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

Do you enjoy Mandheling coffee? Mandheling flavored coffee can be described as exceptionally mellow and aromatic, with the sweet notes in the aftertaste that make it particularly intriguing.

The Origin of the Mandheling Name

Mandheling was originally called Mandailing, which was the name of a tribe in Indonesia. During World War II when Japan occupied Indonesia, a Japanese soldier went to a local café and drank a cup of incredibly mellow coffee. He asked the shop owner for the name of the coffee, but the owner mistakenly thought the soldier was asking where he was from, so he replied: "Mandailing." After the war, the soldier recalled that incredibly mellow cup of coffee he had in Indonesia, so through a friend's connection, he found a local coffee merchant to help him ship 15 tons to Japan. When others asked for the name, the soldier mistakenly said "Mandehling" instead of "Mandailing." It was due to this "double misunderstanding" that the term "Mandehling" was born. Because Mandheling coffee became extremely popular in Japan, the name Mandheling spread widely. And that coffee merchant was the now-renowned PWN (Pwani Coffee Company).

PWN Gold Mandheling

When it comes to Mandheling flavored coffee, people often first think of "Gold Mandheling," a type of Indonesian Mandheling coffee bean. But have you noticed that these English letters always appear mixed with the name of Mandheling coffee, such as PWN Gold Mandheling.

PWN, Pwani Coffee Company, is the abbreviation for Pwani Coffee Company. This company is a very famous coffee acquisition company in Indonesia, mainly acquiring Indonesian Mandheling coffee beans, and almost all the best producing areas in Indonesia are acquired by them. Therefore, most Indonesian Mandheling coffee beans from PWN are unique specialty coffees. After purchasing the beans, PWN conducts multiple rounds of manual hand-selection to pick out plump, flawless beans. Only such beans are classified as Gold Mandheling.

Later, PWN registered "Gold Mandheling" as a trademark. PWN Gold Mandheling evolved from originally being Gold Mandheling produced by this company to now only Gold Mandheling produced by this company can be considered genuine "Gold Mandheling." Today's PWN Gold Mandheling mostly comes from the Aceh region.

Sumatra's Unique Processing Method - Wet Hulling

Most Indonesian Mandheling uses the Wet Hulling method to process green beans. Wet Hulling is a traditional coffee processing method local to Indonesia. Literally, Wet Hulling appears very similar to the wet processing (washed processing method), but the beans processed by these two methods have completely different flavors. Coffee processed by Wet Hulling is generally rich and intense, with a very distinct personality - this is the characteristic of Mandheling flavored coffee.

Pulping/Depulping

Similar to washed processing, coffee cherries after harvesting need to be processed as quickly as possible. In Indonesia, coffee cherries are usually depulped at small farmers' homes. This step removes the skin and some pulp of the coffee cherry.

Washing

The depulped coffee beans are soaked in water for 1 to 2 hours and rubbed against each other to remove some mucilage.

Drying

The soaked coffee beans undergo their first drying at the farmers' homes. At this point, the coffee bean moisture content will drop to between 20% and 35%.

Collection

After the first drying, the coffee beans are sent to the market for sale. At this time, the mucilage layer of the coffee beans has not yet solidified and is in a sticky state. These coffee beans are purchased, collected, and sent to processing plants for the next step of processing.

Drying

The collected coffee beans sent to the processing plant undergo a second drying. This step reduces the coffee bean moisture content to about 18%.

Hulling/Wet Hulling

After the second drying, the coffee beans are put into coffee hulling machines for wet hulling processing. This process removes the coffee's mucilage and parchment layer. Unlike other processing methods, Wet Hulling removes the parchment layer before the coffee beans are finally dried, while washed processing retains the parchment layer for drying until it's removed just before export and transportation.

Drying & Storage

Finally, the coffee beans are sent to the drying yard again for final drying processing. This step reduces the coffee bean moisture content to 11%. The dried coffee beans are bagged and stored in warehouses waiting for export transportation.

Wet Hulling can be described as Indonesia's unique coffee processing method adapted to local conditions. One of the reasons why Gold Mandheling's quality is guaranteed is that after processing, it undergoes three rounds of manual selection to ensure that defective green beans are minimized and the beans are plump, uniform in size.

What Varieties Are Mandheling Coffee Beans?

Gold Mandheling

Sumatra Coffee Gold Mandheling

• Region: Sumatra Aceh Gayo Mountain
• Altitude: 1100-1600 meters
• Variety: Ateng
• Grade: G1, 3 times hand-selected
• Processing: Wet Hulling
• Flavor: Spices, herbal, caramel, pine, nuts, chocolate

Ateng is a hybrid variety between Arabica and Robusta, with several sub-types, widely planted in Sumatra and other Indonesian islands. To put it simply, it's a branch of Catimor, and Ateng is the local name.

Lintong Mandheling

Sumatra Coffee Lintong Mandheling

• Region: Sumatra Lintong region
• Altitude: 1100-1600 meters
• Varieties: Typica, Caturra
• Processing: Wet Hulling
• Flavor: Toasted bread, nuts, caramel, pine, herbal

Typica has bronze-colored young leaves, oval or slender-pointed beans, elegant flavor, but is physically weak, has poor disease resistance, and low fruit yield. Besides Mandheling coffee beans, several other coffee beans from FrontStreet Coffee, such as Jamaica Blue Mountain and Hawaii Kona, are also Typica varieties.

Caturra is a natural variant of the Arabica variety Bourbon, discovered in Brazil in 1937. Its plant is not as tall as Bourbon, but more compact. Due to inheriting Bourbon's bloodline, it has relatively weak disease resistance, but its yield is higher than Bourbon.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add the private WeChat FrontStreet Coffee, WeChat ID: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473