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Sumatra Coffee Tiger Mandheling Brewing Grind Size - Tiger Mandheling Coffee Bean Characteristics and Story

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, Professional coffee knowledge exchange for more coffee bean information please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account cafe_style) 【Tiger Mandheling】grown in Indonesia, the main producing areas are located on the three islands of Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi. The northern part of Sumatra Island has relatively high terrain and altitude, with Aceh where Lake Tawa is located

Introduction to Indonesian Coffee and Tiger Mandheling

Indonesia is a coffee-producing country in Asia and a globally renowned major coffee exporter. The country's most famous coffee is Mandheling, which occupies a place in the global specialty coffee scene with its rich body and intense flavor. This Mandheling coffee can rival Blue Mountain, especially beloved and welcomed by Japan! Today, FrontStreet Coffee introduces a Tiger Mandheling from Indonesia.

What is Mandheling Coffee?

The name "Mandheling" for this coffee came about quite by accident. It originally referred to an Indonesian tribal name. When Japanese soldiers asked locals about this delicious coffee, the people, due to language barriers, thought they were being asked about the tribal name and answered "Mandheling." As a result, while the Japanese popularized this coffee, they also retained the name Mandheling. It was precisely this accident that brought the Sumatra region to worldwide attention.

Tiger Mandheling Coffee

Tiger Mandheling is produced from the Lake Tawa area in Aceh Province, Sumatra Island. Lake Tawa is located in the Gayo Highlands 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 farming methods.

In Aceh, coffee is the region's second-largest export economic crop. It's estimated that there are about 60,000 small-scale coffee farmers in the area, each owning about 1-2 hectares of coffee plantation. Indonesia's traditional coffee trade method involves a multi-point supply chain, starting from farmers, passing through multiple layers of middlemen, before gradually accumulating large quantities for export. In Indonesia's coffee trading system, direct trade where a single window collects from farmers and arranges export is quite rare locally.

The requirements for Mandheling Tiger are that it must have a traditional Chinese medicine herbal aroma, and only Mandheling with a defect rate below 4% and screen size above 17 can be called Tiger.

Additionally, 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. In the regular washed process, the beans are sun-dried with parchment for 2-3 days until reaching 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 "horsehoof" or "goat hoof" beans, which have higher defects but create a mellow, intense, and distinctly characteristic flavor.

The main varieties of Tiger Mandheling are Catuai, Typica, and Sidikalong. In terms of flavor, it has lemon or citrus acidity with clean lemon notes and a sweet aftertaste. This Tiger Mandheling has a relatively balanced flavor profile with high cleanliness, featuring distinct cream, dark chocolate, caramel, and nut flavors. Its raw beans are plump, green with yellow hints, have good uniformity, and higher moisture content. The roasting goal is medium-dark roast to eliminate excessive acidity and enhance its body and balance.

The Charm of Taming

Tiger Mandheling is just like its name - throughout the entire processing and selection process, it requires patience and energy, just like taming a tiger. Tiger Mandheling uses Sumatra's unique coffee processing method - wet-hulling. Due to the local weather being predominantly rainy with continuous typhoons, it's impossible to achieve the good weather required for sun-drying, and the local economy is poor, making it impossible to use the more expensive washed method. For these various reasons, the highly local-characteristic wet-hulling method was developed (wet-hulling means in the regular washed process, beans are sun-dried with parchment for 2-3 days until reaching 20-24% moisture content, then the parchment is removed). The specification for Tiger Mandheling is screen size above 17 with a defect rate below 4%.

Furthermore, Tiger Mandheling comes from near Lake Tawa in Aceh, Sumatra. Mandheling from this region has distinct fruity sweetness and cream aroma that other regions don't possess. With all the favorable timing, location, and human factors combined, Tiger Mandheling presents unprecedented flavors - without the typical herbal bitterness of regular Mandheling, but with bright acidity and rich fruity herbal notes. However, not everyone appreciates its herbal aroma, which is why it receives polarized evaluations.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Analysis

Tiger Mandheling raw beans are plump, green with yellow hints, have good uniformity, and higher moisture content. The roasting goal is dark roast to eliminate excessive acidity, enhance its body and balance, and preserve Tiger Mandheling's unique cedar aroma.

In the first batch of roasting, the drop temperature was relatively high, with an inlet temperature of 200°C and relatively high heat. During the roasting process, because this bean's altitude is only medium and the bean texture is very soft, to remove excess moisture and avoid acidity from insufficient dehydration, we used the technique of extending dehydration time with heat reduction sliding. We reduced the heat at the yellowing point, after dehydration completion, and before first crack to avoid surface scorching. We 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.

Heat the roaster to 200°C, set air damper to 3. After 30 seconds, reduce heat to 160°C, keep damper unchanged. Return to temperature point at 1'45", maintain heat. At 5'18", the bean surface turns yellow, grassy aroma completely disappears, entering dehydration stage. Reduce heat to 140°C, adjust damper to 4.

At 7'30", dehydration completes, reduce heat to 140°C. At 8'55", ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on bean surface, toast aroma clearly transitions to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this time, listen carefully for the first crack sound. At 9'00", first crack begins, reduce heat to 110°C, fully open damper to 5 (heat reduction must be very careful, not so small that cracking stops). Develop for 4'00" after first crack, drop at 203°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Suggestions

This brewing highlights Tiger Mandheling's rich body, cedar aroma, and aromatic characteristics, using a KONO dripper for brewing (this dripper was invented to simulate flannel filtering for producing rich coffee).

For medium-dark roasted coffee, choose medium-coarse grind (70% passes through #20 standard sieve, EK43s grinder setting 11). Use a 1:15 ratio, with 15g coffee grounds. Reducing the ratio makes the coffee taste richer. Use water temperature of 87°C.

Brewing process: Slowly pour coffee grounds, trying to keep them as level as possible during pouring, avoid shaking the dripper (because shaking reduces the space between coffee particles, which is not conducive to bloom degassing). For the first stage, pour 40g in small circles in the center for 30-second bloom. The coffee bed will gradually expand into a "hamburger" shape.

For the second stage, pour 120g in circles from center outward. Keep the pouring height close to the coffee bed, move slowly, and avoid over-stirring. For the final stage, pour 100g. Wait until all coffee liquid flows into the lower pot to complete extraction. Total extraction time: 2 minutes.