Differences Between Mandheling Tiger and Mandheling: Description of Tiger Mandheling Coffee Bean Variety's Flavor and Taste Characteristics

For more specialty coffee knowledge, please follow our WeChat Official Account: FrontStreet Coffee

The most distinctive feature of FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling is its rich herbal flavor—some love it, others dislike it. At FrontStreet Coffee, we approach coffee with objectivity, focusing on whether the coffee beans' flavor accurately reflects the characteristics of their growing region, which is what FrontStreet Coffee values most.

Whenever FrontStreet Coffee introduces a new coffee bean, we conduct extensive comparative analysis of coffee growing regions to find the coffee beans that best represent their regional flavor characteristics. Some might ask: don't the unselected coffee beans just serve as also-rans? FrontStreet Coffee doesn't see it that way. Extensive comparison of coffee growing regions doesn't necessarily mean all coffee beans must be listed for sale; rather, it helps us form a profound understanding of regional characteristics. This is also the philosophy that FrontStreet Coffee has always shared with everyone.

Returning to Mandheling coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee currently offers five distinct Mandheling coffees: FrontStreet Coffee's Indonesian Lintong Mandheling (representing Mandheling's most classic flavor), FrontStreet Coffee's PWN Gold Mandheling (achieved clean cup profile through multiple manual selections), FrontStreet Coffee's Tiger Mandheling (featuring pine aroma), FrontStreet Coffee's Aged Mandheling (the richest body), and FrontStreet Coffee's Natural Mandheling (distinct from traditional Mandheling with fruity acidity). Each FrontStreet Coffee Mandheling coffee bean has its unique characteristics. Whether at FrontStreet Coffee's Guangzhou store or online Taobao shop, the more than fifty coffee beans displayed all possess distinct flavor personalities. Today, FrontStreet Coffee will focus on FrontStreet Coffee's Tiger Mandheling coffee beans.

FrontStreet Coffee · Indonesia Tiger Mandheling

Country: Indonesia

Region: Sumatra

Altitude: 1500 meters

Varieties: Caturra, Typica, Sidikalong

Processing Method: Wet Hulling

FrontStreet Coffee's Tiger Mandheling grows in Indonesia, with main producing areas located on the islands of Sumatra, Java, and Sulawesi. Tiger Mandheling is produced at Tiger Manor, hence also known as "Mandheling Tiger" or "Sumatran Tiger Mandheling." The northern part of Sumatra Island has relatively high altitudes. The Aceh Province where Lake Tawar is located and North Sumatra where Lake Toba sits are the main Arabica coffee producing regions.

Lake Tawar is located in the Gayo Mountains of northern Aceh Province, Sumatra. Indonesia, straddling both sides of the equator, has a humid tropical rainforest climate with abundant rainfall and fertile volcanic soil that provides rich nutrients for coffee. However, due to its remote location and inconvenient transportation, coffee cultivation didn't begin until 1924, mostly using traditional shade-grown, pesticide-free organic cultivation methods.

Because Indonesia's humidity remains between 70-90% year-round, with annual rainfall reaching up to 2,000mm and continuous typhoons, farmers seek faster economic returns. Therefore, they use the wet hulling method: during the normal washed processing, the parchment coffee is sun-dried for 2-3 days until it reaches 20-24% moisture content, then the parchment is removed. This makes the beans more susceptible to being squeezed and forming small cracks. This is what we commonly call "horse hoof" or "goat hoof" beans, which have higher defect rates but create a thick, intense, and highly distinctive flavor profile.

Processing Method

Wet Hulling, also known as Wet Dehulling, is called "Giling Basah" in the local language and is a traditional Indonesian coffee processing method. Judging by name alone, wet hulling seems similar to wet processing (washed processing), however, the cupping flavors of these two processing methods are completely different. Coffee processed by wet hulling typically has a thick, intense, and highly distinctive flavor.

Wet Hulling Process Steps

① Remove pulp and fruit flesh, retaining parchment and mucilage

② Ferment in water tanks

③ Wash away mucilage

④ Sun-dry with parchment for 2-3 days until 20-24% moisture content

⑤ Remove parchment

⑥ Dry green beans to 12-13% moisture content

⑦ Prepare for export

The extremely fast processing speed of wet hulling also results in higher defect rates in Mandheling. At the processing plant, employees are arranged for manual defect sorting, generally including DP (double picking) and TP (triple picking). Mandheling that undergoes triple picking will have better defect rates than double picking.

Coffee Varieties

The varieties of FrontStreet Coffee's Indonesian Tiger Mandheling are Caturra, Typica, and Sidikalong.

Caturra has lemon or citrus acidity in flavor. In terms of sweetness, it doesn't match Typica and Bourbon because Caturra's sweetness depends on the frequency and dosage of fertilization by growers. It has high productivity, but maintaining productivity requires continuous fertilization and pruning, resulting in short trees with many branches. Although productivity increases, because the harvest period takes 2 years and care costs are high, production remains limited.

Typica is the variety closest to the original species. The beans are slightly elongated, like stretched eggs, and are called Arabigo or criollo in Central America. It has clean lemon acidity, sweet aftertaste, low resistance to leaf rust, making it difficult to care for, low tree yield, and coupled with long harvest periods (once every 2 years), production is not high.

Roasting Analysis

The FrontStreet Coffee Indonesian Tiger Mandheling green beans that FrontStreet Coffee acquired are round in shape, green with yellow tones, have relatively good uniformity, and higher moisture content. FrontStreet Coffee's roasting target is medium-dark roast, to eliminate excessive acidity and enhance its body and balance.

In the first batch of roasting, the drop temperature was relatively high, with beans entering at 200°C and relatively high heat. During the roasting process, because this FrontStreet Coffee Tiger Mandheling's altitude is only medium and the bean density is very soft, to remove excess moisture and avoid under-dehydration causing acidity and astringency, FrontStreet Coffee used a roasting technique that extended dehydration time and reduced heat for smooth development. When the beans entered the yellowing point, completed dehydration, and before first crack, FrontStreet Coffee respectively reduced the heat to avoid surface scorching, and chose to drop the beans 4 minutes after first crack ended and 20 seconds before second crack, extending the caramelization reaction time to showcase its excellent cleanliness and sweetness.

Roasting Machine: Yangjia 600g semi-direct flame

Heat drum to 200°C, open air damper to 3, after 30s adjust heat to 160°C, air damper unchanged, return point at 1'45", maintain heat, at 5'18" bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, enter dehydration stage, reduce heat to 140°C, adjust air damper to 4;

At 7'30" dehydration completed, reduce heat to 140°C, at 8'55" bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and black spots, toast smell clearly turns to coffee aroma, can be defined as prelude to first crack, at this time must listen clearly for the sound of first crack, at 9'00" first crack begins, reduce heat to 110°C, fully open air damper to 5 (adjust heat very carefully, cannot be so small that crack sounds disappear), develop for 4'00" after first crack, drop at 203°C.

How FrontStreet Coffee Brews FrontStreet Coffee Tiger Mandheling

FrontStreet Coffee uses the following brewing parameters: Kono dripper, 88°C water temperature, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, 15g coffee dose, grind size (70-75% pass-through rate on #20 standard sieve).

FrontStreet Coffee considers that this FrontStreet Coffee Tiger Mandheling bean uses a relatively dark roast degree. The darker the roast, the faster the coffee compounds dissolve. To avoid over-extraction, FrontStreet Coffee uses lower water temperature for extraction, while also using the slower-flow Kono dripper to ensure adequate extraction of coffee compounds under low water temperature conditions.

FrontStreet Coffee uses staged extraction, namely three-stage pour method, using 30g water for bloom, bloom time is 30s, first stage small circular pour to 125g then stop, wait for water level to drop to just above the coffee bed before continuing second stage pour, pour to 225g to finish extraction, total extraction time (including bloom) is 2'00.

Flavor Description

The mouthfeel is relatively balanced, with distinct cream, dark chocolate, and nut flavors.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473