Coffee culture

The Unique Characteristics of PWN Mandheling G1 & Golden Mandheling Coffee and Their Differences from Other Mandheling Varieties

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee
Last Updated: 2026/01/27, For professional barista exchanges, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style). PWN Mandheling G1, Golden Mandheling, 5687, Indonesia Mandheling. According to Sumatra historical records, during World War II when Japan occupied Indonesia's Sumatra, a Japanese soldier was drinking at a coffee shop and tasted...

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FrontStreet Coffee PWN Mandheling G1 & FrontStreet Coffee PWN Golden Mandheling

FrontStreet Coffee · Indonesian Mandheling Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee PWN Mandheling G1

According to Sumatran records, during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia's Sumatra in World War II, a Japanese soldier drank an incredibly fragrant coffee at a café and curiously asked the owner: "What is this coffee?" The owner misunderstood, thinking the soldier was asking: "Where are you from?" So the owner replied: "Mandailing tribe." After the war, the soldier remembered the delicious coffee he had in Indonesia seemed to be called "Mandheling," so he asked an Indonesian coffee broker to ship 15 tons of "Mandheling" coffee to Japan, which surprisingly became very popular. "Mandheling" was thus created through this miscommunication. Even more interestingly, this broker established today's renowned Indonesian coffee industry giant - PWN (Pwani Coffee Company), which is also the trademark owner of "Golden Mandheling." Excerpted from Huan Huai Zong's coffee studies.

Currently, most of Indonesia's finest coffee beans come from PWN (Pwani Coffee Company), and G1 (Grade 1) represents the highest grade of this bean variety.

Grade 1 (First Level): 00-03 (zero to 3 defects) - the highest grade for washed beans

Grade 2 (Second Level): 04-12 (4 to 12 defects) - standard grade for washed beans

Grade 3 (Third Level): 13-25 (13 to 25 defects) - highest grade for natural beans

Grade 4 (Fourth Level): 26-45 (26 to 45 defects) - standard grade for natural beans

Grade 5 (Fifth Level): 46-90 (46 to 90 defects) - basic export grade for natural beans

G1 is an extremely rare product, originally customized for Japanese trading companies. G1 means that within 300 grams, there can be at most 3 defective beans.

Therefore, the FrontStreet Coffee PWN Mandheling G1 sold at FrontStreet Coffee stores is your best choice!

Pawani is Indonesia's most renowned green bean acquisition company, primarily focusing on Mandheling coffee varieties for their acquisition targets. They have completely acquired the best producing areas in Indonesia, and the finest Mandheling coffee must come from Pawani.

Pawani Mandheling consists of native tree varieties from Indonesia's mountainous regions, undergoing strict cupping and selection. While Indonesia is the main production area for Mandheling, not all Arabica coffee beans from Indonesia are necessarily Mandheling. FrontStreet Coffee's Pawani Mandheling has an exceptionally strong aftertaste, with natural fruit aromas emerging amidst the sweet and bitter notes - this is Pawani Mandheling's guarantee.

Among them, Golden Mandheling is Pawani Company's most representative product. Its bean source consists of naturally growing native Mandheling, which after manual screening, undergoes additional selection by a few appraisers. The annual production is less than 1 ton, making it extremely rare, with prices comparable to high-altitude Blue Mountain beans.

FrontStreet Coffee · Mandheling

Refers to the semi-dry or natural processed beans from the areas surrounding Lake Toba in north-central Sumatra, at elevations of 900-1200 meters on the southwest coast, in the Lintong mountainous region.

Indonesia's climate is humid, so after drying for several hours to within a day, the moisture content drops to 20-35%, and the mucilage layer has not yet solidified, at which point brokers acquire them and bring them back to processing plants to mechanically scrape off the mucilage layer, to prevent excessive fermentation and sour odors. Because Indonesian Lintong Mandheling coffee cherries have their mucilage scraped off before fully drying, they have low fruit acidity and high body. At this point, after slight drying, the moisture content is about 18%. Finally, exporters from Medan come to acquire the undried cherries, drying them in large drying fields or with machines until reaching 12% moisture content for storage. The herbal aroma and deep woody notes originate from the high humidity and the three-stage drying process of the mucilage layer.

FrontStreet Coffee · Golden Mandheling

Due to the many variables in the three-stage drying method, and the prevalence of broken beans, moldy beans, black beans, and underripe beans, Japanese trading companies率先 adopted stricter quality control. After drying, the green beans undergo density and color sorting, followed by four manual bean selections to remove defective beans, producing Golden Mandheling with "dark green color and uniform bean appearance."

FrontStreet Coffee's Golden Mandheling tastes cleaner than FrontStreet Coffee's Lintong Mandheling. The original herbal, earthy, and woody notes of Mandheling are almost gone, but the caramel sweetness is more intense, and the fruit acidity is brighter and more elegant. Generally, FrontStreet Coffee's Lintong Mandheling is best roasted to second crack to reduce off-flavors. However, FrontStreet Coffee's Golden Mandheling has excellent clarity and sweetness both before and after second crack, offering broader interpretation space for roasting.

Therefore, the "PWN Mandheling G1 Coffee" described in this article refers to:

(1) Provided by the renowned acquirer PWN.

(2) Native Typica tree variety.

(3) Carefully selected - within 300 grams, there can be at most 3 defective beans.

Belonging to the highest grade among general Mandheling coffees.

(4) However, it is not Golden Mandheling, as Golden Mandheling requires four manual selections.

(5) "Golden Mandheling" has already been registered by PWN (Pwani Company). Japanese trading companies subsequently registered the name "Golden Top Mandheling," which Taiwan calls "Ding Shang Golden Mandheling."

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473

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