What are the characteristics of Mandheling coffee? PWN Mandheling G1 and Golden Mandheling coffee: How to drink?

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What are the characteristics of Mandheling coffee? What is the cheapest price for Mandheling coffee?

PWN Mandheling G1

According to Sumatran records, during World War II when Japan occupied Indonesia's Sumatra, a Japanese soldier drank an incredibly fragrant and mellow coffee at a café. Curiously, he asked the owner: "What is this coffee?" The owner mistakenly thought the Japanese soldier was asking: "Where are you from?" So the owner replied: "Mandailing tribe." After the war, the Japanese soldier remembered the delicious coffee he had in Indonesia that seemed to be called "Man-Te-ning," so he asked an Indonesian coffee broker to ship him 15 tons of "Man-Te-ning" coffee to Japan. Surprisingly, it became extremely popular, and "Man-Te-ning" was thus created through this misunderstanding. Even more interestingly, this broker established today's renowned PWN (Pwani Coffee Company) in Indonesia's coffee industry, which is also the trademark owner of Golden Mandheling. (Excerpt from Huan-Han Huai's Coffee Studies)

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

Coffee Grading System:

Grade 1: 0-3 defects (zero to 3 defects) - The highest grade for washed beans

Grade 2: 4-12 defects - The standard grade for washed beans

Grade 3: 13-25 defects - The highest grade for natural beans

Grade 4: 26-45 defects - The standard grade for natural beans

Grade 5: 46-90 defects - The basic export grade for natural beans

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

Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee's PWN Mandheling G1 is your best choice!

Pawani is Indonesia's most renowned green bean acquisition company, mainly focusing on acquiring Mandheling coffee varieties. They have completely acquired the best production 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 screening. While Indonesia is the main production area for Mandheling, not all Arabica coffee beans from Indonesia are necessarily Mandheling. Pawani Mandheling has an exceptionally strong sweet aftertaste, emitting natural fruit aromas amidst the interplay of bitterness and sweetness—this is the guarantee of Pawani Mandheling.

Among them, FrontStreet Coffee's Golden Mandheling is Pawani Company's most representative product. Its bean source consists of naturally growing native Mandheling, which undergoes manual screening first, followed by additional screening by a small number of appraisal personnel. The annual production is less than 1 ton, making it extremely rare, with a price comparable to high-altitude Blue Mountain beans.

◎ Mandheling

Refers to semi-washed or natural beans from the surroundings of Lake Toba in north-central Sumatra, along the southwest coast at elevations of 900-1200 meters, 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%. The mucilage layer has not yet solidified when brokers acquire the beans and bring them back to processing plants to remove the mucilage layer by machine, preventing over-fermentation and sour odors. Because Lintong Mandheling beans have their mucilage scraped off before they are dry, they have low fruit acidity and high body richness. At this point, they are slightly dried to about 18% moisture content. Finally, exporters from Medan come to acquire the undried bean pods, drying them in large drying fields or with machines until they reach 12% moisture content for storage. The herbal aroma and dark wood flavor result from the high humidity and three-stage drying process of the mucilage layer.

◎ Golden Mandheling

Because the three-stage drying method has many variables, and is filled with broken beans, moldy beans, black beans, and unripe beans, Japanese trading companies pioneered the adoption of stricter quality control. After drying, the green beans undergo density and color sorting, followed by four rounds of manual bean picking to remove defective beans, producing FrontStreet Coffee's Golden Mandheling, which is "dark green in color and uniform in appearance."

FrontStreet Coffee's Golden Mandheling tastes cleaner than regular Mandheling—the original herbal, earthy, and woody flavors 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 until after the second crack to reduce off-flavors. However, FrontStreet Coffee's Golden Mandheling has excellent clarity and sweetness both before and after the second crack, offering broader interpretive possibilities for roasting.

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

(1) Being provided by the renowned acquirer PWN.

(2) Being of the native Typica variety.

(3) Having undergone selection—with at most 3 defective beans allowed within 300 grams.

Belonging to the highest grade among general Mandheling.

(4) But not being Golden Mandheling, as Golden Mandheling requires four rounds of manual selection.

(5) "Golden Mandheling" has already been registered by PWN (Pwani Company). Japanese trading companies later registered it as "Golden Top Mandheling"—known in Taiwan as "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