Who is Mandheling Coffee Suitable For? What are the Pour-Over Flavor Characteristics of Indonesian Mandheling Coffee Beans

Traditionally, "coffee flavor" refers to the rich, full-bodied taste with caramel and chocolate notes that emerges after medium to dark roasting. During the era when this "coffee flavor" was popular, Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee and Indonesian Mandheling coffee were the most renowned classic representatives. Today, FrontStreet Coffee would like to discuss one of the representatives of rich coffee—FrontStreet Coffee's Indonesian Mandheling coffee.

Quality Mandheling Coffee Comes from Sumatra Island

As Asia's largest coffee-producing region, Indonesia primarily grows and produces commercial-grade Robusta varieties, with high-quality Arabica coffee beans accounting for less than one-tenth of total production. Mandheling coffee refers to the Arabica variety, with the highest quality coming from Sumatra Island, which is why it's also called Sumatra coffee.

Common Mandheling coffee is mainly cultivated in two areas: Lake Tawar in the Aceh region and Lake Toba in the Lintong region, also known as the "Double Lakes, Double Mandhelings." Lake Toba, located in the Lintong production area in central Sumatra and less than a two-hour drive from the provincial capital Medan, is the world's largest volcanic lake. With an average altitude of about 900 meters, it provides ideal growing conditions for coffee trees.

The Unique Flavor of Mandheling Coffee Originates from Wet Hulling

FrontStreet Coffee has mentioned in many articles that coffee flavor is related to many factors. The uniqueness of Mandheling coffee stems from Indonesia's traditional green bean processing method—wet hulling, also known as Wet Hulling. Sumatra has a tropical rainforest climate with high humidity and temperature, and frequent typhoons, making it unsuitable for natural processing conditions. Additionally, local freshwater resources are scarce and the process is complex, making washed processing very difficult. Thus, a unique "semi-washed" method was created.

Wet hulling uses a washed processing method for brief fermentation, then semi-drying before using special machines to remove the parchment for final drying. The coffee beans enter storage completely bare. Due to the greater friction during the hulling stage, the green beans are easily compressed and deformed, and beans without parchment are prone to cracking during sun drying, resulting in horse-hoof-shaped beans. Although they may not look attractive, this doesn't affect their flavor performance.

FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling coffee processed through traditional wet hulling carries a unique herbal and earthy aroma, which is also a characteristic that sets Mandheling coffee apart from other coffees. FrontStreet Coffee believes such unique flavors are well worth trying, which is why we've included the wet-hulled FrontStreet Coffee Lintong Mandheling coffee in our Daily Bean series as the representative Indonesian coffee in our stores.

FrontStreet Coffee's Daily Bean series includes seven classic coffee producing regions, designed to allow friends who want to systematically learn about coffee knowledge to experience different coffee flavor types from various regions at extremely cost-effective prices, thereby choosing their preferences. Additionally, each package of Daily Beans is 100g, avoiding waste from having too much coffee that can't be finished.

FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) · Indonesia Lintong Mandheling Coffee Beans

• Region: Indonesia, Sumatra, Lintong Production Area
• Altitude: 1100m - 1500m
• Variety: Ateng TimTim
• Processing Method: Wet Hulling
• Flavor: Nuts, spices, chocolate, caramel

The Varieties of FrontStreet Coffee's Lintong Mandheling Coffee

The earliest coffee planted in Indonesia was the ancient variety Typica. In the late 17th century, the Dutch brought coffee plants from India to Indonesia's Java for widespread cultivation, which soon spread to Sumatra Island. After some time, Typica integrated with the local environment, forming a unique local herbal and spice flavor. In 1877, Indonesia's coffee industry was severely affected by leaf rust disease, and most Typica coffee trees died, so the government needed to introduce varieties with strong disease resistance. The coffee varieties introduced by the Indonesian government included high-yield Robusta, Timor, Catimor, as well as the Indian variety Jember.

Timor is a natural hybrid variety of Typica and Robusta from Timor Island. It inherited Robusta's high yield and disease resistance, and after being introduced to Indonesia, farmers would call it Tim Tim. There's also another common local variety Ateng, derived from the pronunciation of Aceh Tengah in central Aceh, which is actually the Catimor variety widely planted in our Yunnan. Catimor is a hybrid descendant of Caturra (a Bourbon variety) and Timor from East Timor, also possessing extremely high disease resistance. Catimor planted at high altitudes in Sumatra adapted to the local growing environment, developing strong herbal notes and mellow taste. The FrontStreet Coffee PWN Gold Mandheling coffee we offer is the Ateng variety, while FrontStreet Coffee's Lintong Mandheling Daily Beans are a mix of Ateng and Tim Tim varieties.

How to Drink FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling Coffee?

To bring out the rich, full-bodied aroma of Mandheling coffee while preserving its unique herbal and spice flavors, FrontStreet Coffee's roasters choose a medium-dark roast. FrontStreet Coffee's roasting philosophy is "Freshly Roasted Good Coffee," hoping everyone can drink fresh coffee, so we ensure only coffee roasted within 5 days is shipped. When you receive it, you can wait for the optimal tasting period and begin brewing and enjoying. To experience the rich layers of FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling coffee, FrontStreet Coffee recommends tasting it through hot pour-over, as the flavor will produce different taste changes as the temperature decreases.

Here, FrontStreet Coffee demonstrates brewing a cup of FrontStreet Coffee's Lintong Mandheling coffee using our store's standard method.

Some friends have given feedback to FrontStreet Coffee that the pour-over grind size is difficult to adjust, or they don't have grinding equipment at home. No problem—FrontStreet Coffee can provide grinding services; you just need to tell us your brewing method. However, we still need to remind you that after whole beans are ground into powder, the contact area with air increases, so aroma will dissipate faster. Therefore, you need to enjoy it as soon as possible, otherwise it will affect the coffee's flavor. If you want to experience the complete aroma of coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee recommends grinding and brewing fresh at home for the best experience.

Brewing Parameters: Water Temperature: 87-88℃, Coffee Amount: 15g, Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15, Grind Size: Medium grind (70% pass-through rate for #20 sieve), Kono Dripper

Three-Stage Pouring: Use 30g of water to evenly moisten the coffee powder layer and let it bloom for 30 seconds. In the second stage, pour 95g of water evenly in circular motions from inside to outside. When the water level drops to 2/3 of the filter's powder layer, you can begin the third stage pour of 100g. Note to maintain a small water flow throughout. After approximately 2 minutes of dripping, remove the filter. Finally, gently shake the coffee liquid and begin tasting.

Flavor Description: Rich black chocolate, nut, and caramel aroma with herbal and spicy notes. The body is solid, with some soft fruit acidity as the temperature decreases. Overall, it's rich and full-bodied, very suitable for friends who enjoy intense-style coffee.

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style).

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat (FrontStreet Coffee), WeChat ID: qjcoffeex

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473