Indonesia Aceh Gayon Mantening Coffee Beans Flavor Profile Characteristics - Fair Trade Coffee

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FrontStreet Coffee Indonesian Coffee Bean Recommendation — Aceh Mandheling Tiger

Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic nation. As early as the 18th century during Dutch rule, Arabica coffee tree cultivation was introduced. The main producing areas are located on Sumatra, Java, and Sulawesi islands. The Mandheling produced there has a deep, low-acidity, rich flavor that people call 'the world's most important coffee.' Among these, Sumatra has the largest production, with the main producing area being Aceh province in the north.

The cooperative that produces this coffee bean carries a somewhat tragic color. As a place in Sumatra that has long suffered from natural disasters and constant warfare, almost all adult men in this area have participated in local armed conflicts, while harvesting and planting have become the most important and only economic source for many local single mothers.

Mandheling coffee is considered the world's most mellow and aromatic coffee. In the era before Blue Mountain was made public, it was considered the world's number one premium product. After roasting, the beans are quite large, with raw beans appearing brown or dark green. It has a special caramel-like fragrance, with a fragrant and rich taste, sweet and bitter without soft acidity, yet with bitterness. Production is relatively small, so the price is slightly higher than general coffee beans. Main Mandheling producing areas include Java Island, Sulawesi Island, and Sumatra Island, of which 90% are Robusta varieties. Among these, the "Mandheling" produced on Sumatra Island is the most famous.

Because Mandheling coffee beans themselves lack acidic characteristics, they are generally used as a base for special brewing methods. During long-term insulation or when making iced coffee, there is no unpleasant astringent acidity. Mandheling coffee is considered the world's most mellow and aromatic coffee. When tasting Mandheling, you can feel obvious smoothness on your tongue. It also has lower acidity, but this acidity can also be clearly tasted. The jumping micro-acidity mixes with the most intense fragrance, with a long sweet aftertaste, allowing you to easily appreciate the lively factors within the gentle richness. Additionally, Mandheling coffee also has a faint earthy aroma, which some describe as the fragrance of herbal plants.

Indonesian Mandheling Coffee Processing Method

Indonesian Mandheling coffee generally adopts the wet-hulling method. Coffee farmers harvest mature coffee beans, remove the external peel and pulp but retain the thin film tissue on the coffee beans. After a water soaking and fermentation process to remove unsteady, floating inferior beans, the firm, sinking quality beans with surface film are sun-dried either on raised racks or directly on the ground. Finally, a dryer is used to achieve a unified moisture content standard. Most uniquely, coffee beans wrapped in parchment and film are polished and cleaned of surface film before shipment, then exposed on raised tarpaulin racks until they reach a dark green dry color. The world calls this special processing method the Indonesian semi-washed method. Large coffee processing factories can precisely control every processing step, with flavor and taste reaching a certain level. Small coffee farmers process raw beans in their own courtyards, with flavors developing good or bad variations depending on each coffee farmer's processing methods and skills.

Gayo Mountain Mandheling Characteristics

Mandheling grown on Gayo Mountain is Fair Trade certified coffee (FT). The raw beans are smaller,偏向黄豆体, and most are PB small round beans, with obvious differences from the well-known Golden Mandheling. Golden Mandheling raw beans are larger,偏向深绿色, and appear neat flat beans (Brouwer has comparison pictures). In terms of flavor, Golden Mandheling is rich and thick with honey and cream aroma, unique and irreplaceable in the coffee market. Meanwhile, Gayo Mountain's Aceh Mandheling has spiciness with almond sweetness and fresh grass fragrance, with lower complexity and smoother taste, becoming one of the two mainstreams in Indonesia along with Golden Mandheling.

FrontStreet Coffee Indonesian Coffee Bean Recommendation — Aceh Mandheling Tiger

Defective beans are carefully selected by hand with a ratio of about 3%. Roasted to dark roast (Full City+), the coffee bean's weight loss ratio is 18%, with empty shell and inferior beans accounting for 4%. When roasting Mandheling, you must extend the medium-low temperature time to completely dehydrate and dry the coffee to reduce greenness. Mandheling is most suitable for dark roasting because the coffee beans are hard and complete, and won't produce bitter burnt taste from dark roasting that would cover up the fragrant, low-acidity characteristics.

Gayo Mountain Mandheling raw beans appear yellowish-brown.

Flavor Profile by Roast Level

Dark roast (slightly strong to rich aroma): Has caramel biscuit sweetness. The biggest difference from Golden Mandheling is that Indonesian Sumatra Gayo Mountain Mandheling carries some earthy aroma, with honey almond sweetness and fresh grass fragrance. The taste is more balanced and smooth than Golden Mandheling, with a slightly apple-acidic aftertaste that is pleasant.

However, Gayo Mountain Mandheling is also suitable for medium-light roasting (City and Full City). At light roast (City), it develops spicy fruit flavor very much like the unique green apple acidic fragrance of Panama coffee. At dark roast (Full City), it has very strong spice aroma, with smooth, ester-like taste and honey brown sugar sweetness in the aftertaste.

Fair Trade Coffee

Fair trade coffee mainly involves direct trading with local coffee farmers at fair prices. Using transparent management models and business forms, it guarantees producers' working environments and protects the local environment. It also provides corresponding production technology and training, and establishes bridges, schools, hospitals, and other facilities. Its purpose is for sustainable development and poverty reduction.

In 1989, due to the collapse of the International Coffee Agreement, coffee market prices plummeted, and the lives of millions of coffee growers worldwide fell into crisis. In 1991, to respond to this crisis, several UK charities including Oxfam, Traidcraft, Equal Exchange, and Twin Trading joined forces to establish Cafédirect. This was an innovative achievement because the enterprise bypassed traditional markets, purchasing coffee beans directly from vulnerable coffee growers in developing countries without going through intermediate suppliers.

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