Top 5 Indonesian Coffee Brands & Characteristics of Wet-Hulled Golden Mandheling Coffee Beans

Introduction to Indonesian Coffee

When FrontStreet Coffee thinks of Indonesian coffee, the first thing that comes to mind is FrontStreet Coffee's Golden Mandheling. Golden Mandheling is a registered trademark of PWN company, so only Golden Mandheling produced by PWN company is the authentic FrontStreet Coffee's Golden Mandheling. Of course, Indonesian coffee has more than just Golden Mandheling. FrontStreet Coffee will take you to understand the characteristics of Indonesian coffee beans.

Mandheling Coffee Growing Regions

The main coffee-producing areas in Indonesia include Sumatra, Java, and Sulawesi islands, with "Mandheling" from Sumatra being the most famous. Mandheling is also known as "Sumatra Coffee." Most coffee from North Sumatra is Gayo, primarily of the Ateng variety. The Tawar Lake area in the northern part can be called Aceh coffee or Tawar Lake coffee. The Lintong area and Lake Toba region in South Sumatra can be called Mandheling. The Lintong area is the actual Mandheling growing region. Mandheling is produced from the mountainous areas surrounding Lake Toba. This lake is located north of Medan, the capital of Sumatra, and is a high-altitude freshwater lake with an average elevation of approximately 900 meters.

Lake Toba: Geographically located north of Medan, the capital of Sumatra, it is a high-altitude freshwater lake with an average elevation of approximately 900m. The lake is diamond-shaped, 100 kilometers long and 30 kilometers wide, covering an area of 1,130 square kilometers. It's a highland lake with an average elevation of 1100-1600 meters; simultaneously, it's also the world's largest volcanic lake. The commonly referred Mandheling coffee consists of Typica or its variant varieties grown in the mountainous areas surrounding Lake Toba, with Lintong being the most famous Mandheling coffee-producing region in the Lake Toba area.

Aceh Gayo Mountain Growing Region

The Gayo Mountain (Gayo) region is located in Aceh Province on the northern side of Sumatra Island. Coffee in the Gayo Mountain region is grown on the slopes surrounding the town of Takegon and Lake Tawar. The growing altitude averages between 1,110 and 1,600 meters in the production area. Coffee is cultivated by small farmers under shade trees, using the wet-hulled processing method to express unique flavors and deep, lively richness. Aceh, at the northernmost tip of Sumatra Island, is a fascinating and complex place.

Due to long-term political instability, Aceh is not a region commonly visited by tourists. The Gayo Mountains are located in the Aceh producing area of northern Sumatra Province. Most coffee farmers working in Gayo are local farmers. The term "Gayo" originates from the tribal communities in Indonesia's Aceh region. This area has ideal growing conditions, a long historical culture, and unique flavors. The region widely adopts organic methods for coffee cultivation, without using chemical fertilizers, and is considered a world green coffee production area. Therefore, Gayo coffee is often called green coffee or Gayo organic coffee.

Mandheling Coffee Processing Method

Wet Hulling, also known as wet husking method, is called "Giling Basah" in the local language and is the traditional Indonesian coffee processing method. Judging from the name alone, Wet Hulling appears similar to the wet processing (washed processing method), however, the cupping flavors of these two processing methods are completely different. Coffee processed with Wet Hulling typically has a thick and strong flavor with a very distinct personality.

The specific steps of Wet Hulling can be divided into the following two stages:

The first stage involves using a wooden peeler to remove the skin and pulp, followed by fermentation for 3 hours, then drying to reduce the moisture content to semi-dry and semi-wet at 30-50%. The second stage removes the mucilage and parchment layer, continuing with the final drying process, which takes 2-4 days, reducing the moisture content to 12-13%.

FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling Coffee Bean Testing

A few days ago, FrontStreet Coffee acquired 7 varieties of Mandheling coffee beans for roasting and blind tasting (meaning the FrontStreet Coffee baristas participating in the cupping didn't know which Mandheling coffee was in front of them) for comparison. The 7 Mandheling varieties included FrontStreet Coffee's PWN Golden Mandheling, Lake Toba Golden Mandheling, West Java Mandheling, Malabar Mountain Natural Mandheling, Gayo Mountain Mandheling G1, FrontStreet Coffee's Lintong Mandheling, Indonesian Aceh Mandheling, and Sumatra Mandheling G2.

FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling Coffee Bean Roasting Records

FrontStreet Coffee's roaster used a Yangjia 800N for roasting FrontStreet Coffee's PWN Golden Mandheling and Lake Toba Golden Mandheling, with a batch size of 480g. When the roaster temperature reached 200°C, the beans were added with the damper set to 3. After 1 minute, the heat was adjusted to 160°C with the damper unchanged. At 5'40", when the temperature reached 148°C, the bean surface turned yellow, the grassy smell completely disappeared, and dehydration was complete. The heat was adjusted to 140°C with the damper changed to 4. At 9'40", ugly wrinkles and black spots appeared on the bean surface, and the toast smell clearly transformed into coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, one must listen carefully for the sound of first crack. At 9'54", first crack began, the heat was reduced to 60°C, the damper set to 5, and the beans were discharged at 204.5°C.

For West Java Mandheling, Malabar Mountain Natural Mandheling, Gayo Mountain Mandheling G1, FrontStreet Coffee's Lintong Mandheling, Indonesian Aceh Mandheling, and Sumatra Mandheling G2, a Yangjia 800N was used with a batch size of 480g. When the temperature reached 200°C, the beans were added with the damper set to 3. After 1 minute, the heat was adjusted to 160°C with the damper unchanged. At 5'18", when the temperature reached 148°C, the bean surface turned yellow, the grassy smell completely disappeared, and dehydration was complete. The heat was adjusted to 140°C with the damper changed to 4. At 8'00", ugly wrinkles and black spots appeared on the bean surface, and the toast smell clearly transformed into coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, one must listen carefully for the sound of first crack. At 9'00", first crack began, the heat was reduced to 80°C, the damper set to 5, and the beans were discharged at 202°C.

FrontStreet Coffee's Cupping Report

In a round of blind tasting, several FrontStreet Coffee baristas could already feel that three beans—FrontStreet Coffee's PWN Golden Mandheling, West Java Mandheling, and FrontStreet Coffee's Lintong Mandheling—were different from the other four Mandheling coffee beans through their aroma. The first three Mandheling varieties gave off a red date tea aroma, which was already superior to the dull herbal aroma of the latter four Mandheling coffee beans.

Through judgment after slurping, FrontStreet Coffee's PWN Golden Mandheling coffee bean flavor was recognized as having a clean richness and clear sweetness. This is because these coffee beans undergo three rounds of manual sorting, resulting in uniform bean sizes, which also makes the roasting process more even, and the flavor expression clearer and sweeter. The Java Mandheling coffee beans use the Typica variety, giving the coffee a purer sweetness with a slight acidity. Although FrontStreet Coffee's Lintong Mandheling beans are not as outstanding as the former ones, their clean herbal flavor allows them to be identified among many Mandheling varieties.

It's no exaggeration to say that FrontStreet Coffee is the number one fan of PWN Golden Mandheling coffee. The fact that FrontStreet Coffee's baristas could identify FrontStreet Coffee's PWN Golden Mandheling immediately during this cupping session proves it. Why could FrontStreet Coffee's baristas identify it so quickly? That's thanks to FrontStreet Coffee's PWN Golden Mandheling having a strong aftertaste and sugarcane aroma. This is also thanks to PWN company's strict sorting standards. After processing, the green beans undergo density and color sorting, followed by multiple rounds of manual picking, finally presenting Mandheling beans with uniform color and consistent bean shape.

FrontStreet Coffee's Golden Mandheling specification is 18 screen or above, with fewer than 3 defective beans (300g green bean sample), belonging to the highest G1 grade. The color tends to be dark green, with a flat and neat shape. After strict sorting, the Golden Mandheling not only lacks the characteristic earthy impurity taste of regular Mandheling but also tastes cleaner and brighter, with stronger sweetness.

How to Identify if It's PWN Company's Golden Mandheling Coffee Beans?

Although everyone knows that only PWN's Mandheling can be called Golden Mandheling, in reality, PWN's annual production is not large. Therefore, a significant portion of large-particle selected Golden Mandheling is not from PWN. If you're not sure, you can ask the seller to provide the PWN green bean burlap bag or the certificate that comes with the beans to know if it's the PWN Golden Mandheling we're talking about.

FrontStreet Coffee's PWN Golden Mandheling Coffee Bean Brewing Tips

Brewing parameters: Using Kono dripper
Water temperature: 88°C
Coffee amount: 15 grams
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
Grind size: Medium-fine grind (70-75% pass-through rate on China standard #20 sieve)

FrontStreet Coffee's brewing process: Slowly pour in the coffee grounds, keeping them as level as possible during pouring, avoiding shaking the dripper (because shaking will reduce the spacing between coffee grounds, which is not conducive to bloom degassing). For the first stage, pour 40g of water in small circles in the center for a 30-second bloom. The coffee grounds layer will slowly expand and form a "hamburger" shape. For the second stage, pour 120g of water in circles from the center outward, keeping the pouring height as close to the grounds layer as possible, with slow movements to avoid over-stirring. For the final stage, pour 100g of water, and wait until all the coffee liquid in the dripper flows into the lower pot to finish extraction. Extraction time: 2 minutes.

FrontStreet Coffee's PWN Golden Mandheling Flavor Description

Nuts, chocolate, spices, herbs, caramel—FrontStreet Coffee's Golden Mandheling tastes cleaner than FrontStreet Coffee's Lintong Mandheling. The original herbal, earthy, and woody flavors of Mandheling are almost gone, but the caramel sweetness is stronger, and the fruit acidity is brighter and more elegant.

Contact FrontStreet Coffee

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on private WeChat, WeChat ID: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473