Record of Gold Mandheling Harvesting, Processing and Production Process | Differences Between Mandheling and Gold Top Mandheling

Product Information

Product Name: FrontStreet Coffee · Indonesia BIWA Gold Top Mandheling

Origin: Indonesia / Sumatra

Flavor Description: Fruity, maple syrup, licorice aromas

With its creamy smoothness, rich body, pleasant and distinctive fruitiness, and maple syrup with licorice aromas, the overall flavor is mellow and smooth with an extremely strong sweet aftertaste. This is truly a premium grade among Mandheling varieties.

Taste Profile: Bitter with sweet notes

Roast Level: Medium-dark roast

Product Introduction

Indonesia is a southern paradise made up of many beautiful islands.

One of them is Sumatra, whose northern part holds the LINTONG region. Beans hand-picked and hand-processed from limited farms in this region are called GOLD TOP MANDHELING.

After hand-picking and hand-processing, these selected beans undergo SEMI-WASHED processing, sun-drying and hulling, followed by a drying process and two rounds of cleaning, plus four rounds of HAND-PICKING. It can fairly be called a specially selected premium coffee bean.

The local purchasing company buys the crimson coffee cherries directly from farmers.

The coffee pulp is removed immediately to extract the PARCHMENT. The PARCHMENT is then placed in water tanks for washing. (This process removes impurities from the PARCHMENT and takes approximately 1-2 minutes.)

After washing, the beans are sun-dried and transported directly to the export company in Medan. The export company then gives these beans two more days of sun-drying and hulling. Because the processed beans still hold up to 40% moisture, they must be sun-dried further to bring the moisture content down to 5%.

After thorough drying, the beans undergo specific-gravity processing, air-volume sorting and screen sorting to remove SILVER SKIN, small beans, defective beans and foreign objects. Finally, they are HAND-PICKED to reach the highest grade, GOLD TOP MANDHELING.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Gold Mandheling is the finest representative of Mandheling, and FrontStreet Coffee's comes from Indonesia's PWN company, which applies extremely strict standards. It starts from beans of 18 screen size or larger, requires fewer than 3 defective beans per 300g green coffee sample to meet the top G1 grade, and then applies three manual hand-sorts to eliminate every remaining defect — which is what raises Gold Mandheling's cleanliness and intensity of sweetness. Those standards also explain its high quality and limited output, and why FrontStreet's PWN Gold Mandheling naturally stands at the top of the Mandheling field. Much of the genuine Gold Mandheling is supplied to the Japanese and American markets, so only a limited amount reaches China each year.

What makes Mandheling distinctive is the wet-hulling process, which creates a heavy body with its own earthy, herbal character — a flavor that has captivated many seasoned drinkers. FrontStreet's Lintong Mandheling comes from the Lintong area of Sumatra, medium-dark roasted to keep its low acidity, caramel and dark chocolate notes, its wild herbal side, and its clove and woody aromas, with a strong, persistent sweetness.

Gold Mandheling shows its best as pour-over. FrontStreet Coffee recommends 87-88°C water, 15g of coffee, a 1:15 ratio and a coarse-sugar grind, poured in three stages to bring out its full body and caramel sweetness: bloom with 30ml of water to wet all the grounds and let them degas, then add 100ml to lift the bed and release the golden foam, and finally a gentle 95ml center pour to raise the sweetness. The result is a thick, full cup with caramel sweetness and chocolate and nut flavors.

For those who want that richness on an espresso machine, FrontStreet's most re-purchased Classic Blend adds medium-dark Mandheling to Brazil's creamy nut profile, foregrounding butter, roasted chestnut and caramel. The Mandheling raises the whole cup's body and lends it sandalwood, herbal and spice notes, and a small amount of Robusta boosts the crema — making latte art or a layered Dirty easy.