Which Indonesian Coffee Bean Brands Are Best? Premium Indonesian Coffee Bean Recommendations - Golden Mandheling Coffee Beans

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FrontStreet Coffee has always been a fan of Indonesia's PWN Golden Mandheling coffee beans. This year, due to the pandemic's impact, the October harvest season's PWN Golden Mandheling, along with its PWN Golden Mandheling certificate, arrived at FrontStreet Coffee in mid-November. What impact did the 2020 pandemic have on Indonesia's coffee production and exports?

2020 Indonesia Coffee Bean Production Remains Stable

Despite increased Arabica coffee production offsetting some Robusta coffee losses, Indonesia's coffee production for 2020/21 is expected to maintain 10.7 million bags. Southern Sumatra and Java regions account for 75% of the country's Robusta coffee production, but delayed rainy seasons led to a 50,000-bag reduction to 9.4 million bags. In Northern Sumatra, the country's main Arabica coffee-producing region, suitable growing conditions helped increase coffee production by 50,000 bags to 1.3 million bags.

Impact of COVID-19 on Indonesia's Coffee Exports

Due to recent low prices failing to stimulate further coffee trade, the country's ending stocks are expected to remain at 2.4 million bags. Coffee exports are also projected to decrease by 100,000 bags to 6 million bags.

Why Does PWN Golden Mandheling Coffee Continuously Fascinate FrontStreet Coffee?

FrontStreet Coffee's first reaction is four words: "mellow and clean." PWN Green Bean Company has established strict screening standards for the Golden Mandheling they sell. After processing, the green beans undergo density and color sorting, followed by four manual screenings. The specifications are above 18 mesh, with fewer than 3 defective beans (300g green bean sample), belonging to the highest G1 grade, with a deep green color and neat flat bean shape.

Not all Golden Mandheling comes from PWN Golden Mandheling coffee beans. This year, another coffee bean processed through three manual screenings was also launched in Indonesia's Gayo Mountain region. Through cupping these two Golden Mandheling coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee found that PWN Golden Mandheling's clean, sweet, and mellow coffee flavor cannot be replicated by the other Golden Mandheling coffee bean. The acidity of the other Golden Mandheling is higher than PWN Golden Mandheling, while the mouthfeel is relatively thinner, lacking the rich flavor characteristics of Mandheling coffee beans.

PWN Golden Mandheling Coffee Bean Varieties

The coffee variety of the new harvest season's PWN Golden Mandheling that FrontStreet Coffee obtained is "Ateng." This seems to be a very unfamiliar coffee variety. The Ateng variety is very suitable for cultivation and flavor development in the Aceh region. The Ateng variety is a hybrid of Robusta and Arabica coffee beans, specifically Catimor (locally known as TIMTIM in Indonesia), which was then crossed again with Arabica coffee beans to produce Ateng. Simply put, Ateng is the "grandson" of Robusta coffee beans. Because it has undergone two generations of excellent genetic improvement, the coffee flavor is cleaner than TIMTIM, and the sweetness is also higher.

Wet Hulling Processing for Golden Mandheling Coffee Beans

Wet hulling, also known as Wet Hulling or Giling Basah in the local language, is a traditional Indonesian coffee processing method. Judging by name alone, wet hulling seems similar to wet processing (washed processing), but the cup flavors of these two processing methods are completely different. Coffee processed with wet hulling typically has a rich and intense flavor with a very distinct personality. FrontStreet Coffee believes that while the unique flavor of Mandheling coffee beans is largely related to its variety, wet hulling is also an important factor in creating the coffee flavor of Indonesia's producing regions.

Analysis of October 2020 Harvest Season PWN Golden Mandheling Green Beans

FrontStreet Coffee compared the Golden Mandheling from earlier harvest seasons with the October harvest season's Golden Mandheling and found that the May harvest season's Golden Mandheling has lower moisture content than the October harvest season's Golden Mandheling. Various stages including shipping, storage, trade, and roaster storage can cause significant changes in the moisture content of coffee green beans.

FrontStreet Coffee's Roasting Experience with New Harvest Season PWN Golden Mandheling Coffee Beans

PWN Golden Mandheling belongs to green beans with higher moisture content, with a significant deviation in moisture compared to natural process beans, so special attention must be paid during dehydration. For green beans with high moisture content, you can immediately close the air damper after adding the beans, steam for 30 seconds, then open to level 3 until the beans turn light green or white, open the air damper to level 4, and open to level 5 (maximum) after first crack. How does FrontStreet Coffee's roaster ensure using the same roasting curve for these two beans when the October new harvest season has even higher moisture content? The answer is that under the same development time and final temperature, FrontStreet Coffee's roaster extends the dehydration time when roasting the October harvest season beans, extending the yellowing point time to 6 minutes 30 seconds.

Yangjia 800N, bean input 480g. Heat the roaster to 200°C and add beans, set air damper to 3, after 1 minute adjust heat to 160°C, air damper unchanged, roast until 5'40", temperature 148°C, bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, dehydration complete, adjust heat to 140°C, air damper to 4; at 9'40", bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and black spots, toast smell clearly transforms to coffee aroma, can be defined as prelude to first crack, listen carefully for the sound of first crack, at 9'54" first crack begins, reduce heat to 60°C, set air damper to 5, discharge at 204.5°C.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Experience with PWN Golden Mandheling Coffee Beans

KONO filter cup; parameters: 15g coffee, water temperature 88°C, grind size: BG 6M (China standard 20 mesh sieve, 60% pass rate), water-to-coffee ratio close to 1:14, extraction time around 1:55. FrontStreet Coffee's extraction method: 30g water for bloom, bloom time 30s, first pour to 120g then stop; vertical water flow, small flow slow circular motion; second pour to 210g, water flow and circular speed slightly faster to reduce fine particles clogging the filter, causing over-extraction.

October harvest season Golden Mandheling coffee bean brewing flavor: acidity is more pronounced than the May harvest season coffee, with slight acidity like dark chocolate, nutty and herbal notes, finish is caramel sweetness, overall cleaner than the May harvest season.

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