The Origin Story of Sumatra Mandheling Coffee Bean Name - Differences Between Mandheling Coffee and Espresso, Which is Better

Compared to the rich acidity of Central and South American coffees, Asian coffees predominantly feature woody, herbal, and spicy flavors, with deep, mellow notes far surpassing bright fruit acidity. Among these, Indonesian Mandheling coffee stands as the most representative.

The Origin of Mandheling Coffee

Indonesia, known as the "Archipelago of a Thousand Islands," is a historic coffee-producing nation where coffee cultivation began in 1696. After 300 years of development, coffee production remains dominated by small farmers who primarily practice organic cultivation, hand-picking and selecting coffee beans to ensure quality. Coffee plantations are spread across Indonesia's various islands, with each region's coffee exhibiting unique characteristics due to different geographical environments. The elegant-flavored Arabica is mainly distributed in northern Sumatra, Sulawesi, and higher elevations of Java Island. Although accounting for only about 10% of Indonesia's coffee production, the excellent reputation of varieties like Mandheling, Golden Mandheling, Sulawesi coffee, and Aged Mandheling has made Indonesian coffee renowned in the specialty coffee world for decades.

Indonesian coffee originated on Java Island, and coffee cultivation has now spread mainly to other islands. The Sumatra Island, Bali Island, and Sulawesi we often hear about are all important local coffee-producing regions. Sumatran coffee can be considered legendary in the coffee world—it was one of the world's earliest large-scale coffee cultivation areas, with the majority coming from Aceh Province in the north and North Sumatra Province south of Aceh (abbreviated as North Sumatra). These two main producing areas are centered around the famous volcanic lakes—Lake Toba and Lake Tawa—traditionally known as the Lintong and Aceh producing regions. Volcanoes have brought fertile soil to Sumatra, where coffee typically carries creamy, chocolatey, and earthy aromas, discovered by the Japanese many years ago.

According to legend, during World War II when Japan occupied Indonesia, a Japanese soldier drank exceptionally mellow coffee at a café. When he asked the owner what it was, the owner mistakenly thought he was asking about his origin and replied: "Mandailing." After the war, the Japanese soldier recalled the "Mandheling" he had drunk in Indonesia and commissioned locals to ship 15 tons to Japan, where it became extremely popular. The name Mandheling thus spread.

Reasons Behind Indonesian Coffee's Unique Flavor

Sumatra is situated on the equator, featuring a typical island tropical rainforest climate with year-round rainy and humid conditions, frequent typhoons, and scarce freshwater resources. Local farmers cannot process large quantities of coffee beans using traditional washed methods, nor can they dry them through prolonged sun exposure. To adapt to these extreme conditions, local coffee farmers developed a shorter processing method—the Wet-Hulled method. The so-called wet hulling involves forcibly removing the parchment layer surrounding the green beans before they are completely dry, allowing the green beans to complete their final drying in a "naked" state.

The wet hulling method differs from traditional washed processing starting from fermentation. Wet hulling uses less water and has a shorter fermentation time. After this brief fermentation, a small amount of mucilage remains on the bean shell. When the green beans reach 35-40% moisture content during their first drying, coffee farmers sell them to collectors. The collectors directly hull the semi-dry parchment beans, removing mucilage and shells to obtain green beans. Although each step's time is significantly shortened, the "naked beans" still absorb moisture from the hot and humid air, resulting in Mandheling coffee with additional woody, herbal, and spicy mellow aromas. Both Mandheling coffees on FrontStreet Coffee's single-origin list use the wet hulling method, presenting rich chocolate, brown sugar, and nutty notes after roasting, with herbal notes in the aftertaste.

Indonesian Green Bean Grading System

Wet hulling brings unique flavor profiles to Indonesian coffee, but the rough processing method also results in higher defect rates. To meet Indonesian export standards, coffee must be sorted to remove irregular particles.

Indonesian green bean grading is based on the number of defective beans and their size. Indonesia's general quality requirements include: no live insects, no moldy or rotten beans, maximum moisture content of 12.5%, and impurity rate below 0.5%. Grading by defect rate (based on 300g samples) mainly includes 6 grades, G1-G6. PWN company, which takes sorting to the extreme, uses G1 grade Mandheling strictly with 1 machine selection + 3 manual selections to ensure complete removal of defective beans, significantly reducing the defect rate. Additionally, before packaging, PWN company places green beans in machines for density and color sorting, making Golden Mandheling coffee uniformly bright and clear.

After FrontStreet Coffee acquired premium quality Golden Mandheling coffee, we couldn't wait to taste it through cupping after roasting. The entry showed extremely high cleanliness, with various aromas clear and transparent, noticeable sweetness, and rich, substantial body.

Brewing Suggestions:

• Brewing water temperature: 87-88°C
• Coffee grounds: 15g
• Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
• Dripper: KONO dripper
• Grind size: Medium-coarse (70% pass-through on China standard #20 sieve)

Use a three-stage pouring method, which can better express Golden Mandheling's rich body and caramel sweetness.

First stage: 30ml bloom pour—this completely wets the coffee grounds for degassing, allowing better extraction of flavor compounds later.

Second stage: Pour 100ml—this mainly brings out the golden foam of Mandheling and raises the coffee bed.

Final stage: Gently pour 95ml in the center—this can enhance the coffee's sweetness.

Is Mandheling Coffee Suitable for Espresso?

First, FrontStreet Coffee must emphasize that Mandheling coffee is a single-origin coffee with prominent flavors that can be extracted using various methods. Espresso refers to concentrated coffee extracted by finely grinding and appropriately dosing coffee beans, using semi-automatic or fully automatic machines with high temperature and pressure for short-term extraction.

Although single-origin coffee can express rich flavors in pour-over brewing, it's not as easy to handle in espresso extraction. Since espresso amplifies various flavors, slight parameter adjustments can affect the coffee's flavor profile. For example, the bright, moderate acidity in pour-over coffee easily becomes sharp in espresso, while the rich body in pour-over can become bitter in espresso. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee suggests selecting corresponding coffee beans for different extraction methods to avoid excessive negative flavors that lead to waste—buy pour-over single-origins for pour-over brewing, and use espresso roast blends or SOE coffee beans for espresso.

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Important Notice :

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