What's the Difference Between Blue Mountain, Mandheling, Brazilian, Cappuccino, and Latte at a Coffee Shop - How Much Does a Cup of Blue Mountain Coffee Cost

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Whether it's the sunset glow or the deep night, I always hope to ride the wind and sip a few mouthfuls of rich, fragrant coffee. That feeling is incredibly warm...

When talking about coffee, everyone must be bewildered by the dazzling array of coffee types available on the market. Coffee shops first feature Blue Mountain and Mandheling, then they offer cappuccino and latte. What exactly are these?

Here I'd like to share some insights from the café owner. In fact, the world of coffee is mainly divided into two types. One is single-origin coffee like Blue Mountain and Mandheling, which are mostly classified by region. The other is Italian-style coffee made based on espresso.

Single-Origin Coffee

This type of coffee is typically named after coffee beans produced from a single growing region. The list is as follows:

Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee

It is produced in the Blue Mountain range of Jamaica. Its caffeine content is very low, less than half that of coffee from other producing regions. The unique flavor of "Blue Mountain Coffee" is related to the exceptionally favorable geographical location and climate conditions of the Jamaican Blue Mountain area.

The Jamaican Blue Mountain region has fertile new volcanic soil, fresh air, and almost no pollution. This region is rainy year-round with significant temperature differences between day and night. Additionally, due to the special geographical environment here, every afternoon, clouds and mist envelop the entire Blue Mountain peak, not only providing shade for the coffee trees but also bringing abundant moisture. It is this favorable foundation that makes the taste and aroma of Blue Mountain coffee unparalleled among coffees produced worldwide.

Not all coffee produced in the entire Blue Mountain region can be called Blue Mountain Coffee. Only coffee grown in the Blue Mountain region above 1800 meters in altitude can be called "Blue Mountain Coffee."

Coffee beans produced in the lower altitude Blue Mountain areas can only be named "Jamaican High Mountain Coffee" due to quality differences and cannot be called "Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee."

Because the climate, soil, and air in the Blue Mountain region are suitable, even if the same Blue Mountain variety seedlings are transplanted to places with similar climates like Hawaii, Kenya, and Papua New Guinea, the quality produced cannot compare to authentic "Blue Mountain Coffee."

Mandheling Coffee

In addition to "Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee," "Mandheling" coffee produced on the "Sumatra" island of Indonesia is also very popular among Taiwanese consumers. According to research, "Mandheling" is actually the name of a local ethnic group on Sumatra island.

Indonesia's Sumatra region began cultivating coffee in the 18th century, but it had not received attention from the outside world. Until the 1950s, Japanese soldiers stationed there accidentally drank local "Sumatra" coffee and asked a coffee vendor for its name. The vendor mistakenly thought the Japanese soldiers were asking "What is your ethnicity?" and replied "Mandheling."

This anecdote gave "Sumatra" coffee the more widely known name "Mandheling." Japanese trading companies were the earliest major clients dealing in "Mandheling" coffee. Not only did Japanese merchants purchase "Mandheling" coffee produced on "Sumatra" island, but they also applied refined processing procedures to Sumatra coffee. The "Sumatra Mandheling" cultivated with Japan's meticulous production management processes gained a new name: "Golden Mandheling."

The "Golden Mandheling" contracted by the Japanese in the Lake Toba area ensures product quality. "Golden Mandheling" is harvested purely by hand, then improved through Japanese detailed processing procedures to enhance the quality of "Sumatra Mandheling." This allows "Sumatra Mandheling" to not only have the rich, robust, wild aroma that regular Mandheling coffee should possess, but also an additional touch of Japanese elegance.

Through continuous adjustment and effort by expert teams, top-grade Golden Mandheling coffee achieves an even rounder, more fragrant, and richer premium "Sumatra Golden Mandheling." Mandheling belongs to dark roast coffee beans, with a rich, mellow, and fragrant taste, appropriate bitterness, almost no acidity, making it the best choice for tasting strong-flavored coffee.

Brazilian Coffee

The premium coffee beans selected from those produced in Brazil, a major coffee bean exporting country, are called "Brazilian Coffee." "Brazilian Coffee" has a relatively strong acidic taste in its flavor profile, combined with the original bitter-sweet taste of coffee. It enters the mouth extremely smoothly, with a faint grassy fragrance. It is slightly bitter in its light aroma, sweet and smooth, making it a coffee that most people can accept.

Mandailing Coffee

Mandailing coffee is a blend of Mandheling coffee and Brazilian coffee (Mandheling 2 to Brazil 1 or Mandheling 3 to Brazil 1).

"Mandheling" is dark roast coffee beans with a rich flavor, while "Brazilian Coffee" is light roast with a neutral flavor slightly acidic. Therefore, blending these two types of beans has a complementary effect.

It has both the strong taste of "Mandheling" and the sweet, pure flavor of "Brazilian Coffee."

These coffees mainly pursue the flavor of single coffee beans themselves. Different regions, climates, soils, coffee tree varieties, and different green bean processing methods all affect the taste of coffee beans.

People drink single-origin coffee to experience the unique flavors of different growing regions. These coffees are typically brewed using siphon, pour-over, American coffee machines, or French press, using about 10 grams of coffee powder to brew about 120cc of coffee per cup.

In Taiwan's early cafés, siphon brewing was more commonly used. During brewing, you could see the originally clean white water in the lower pot being drawn up to the upper pot, and after a while, you could see coffee that had turned coffee-colored flowing back to the lower pot, full of visual effects.

The control of heat and the timing and technique of stirring are key to brewing good coffee.

Another commonly used method for brewing coffee is pour-over, which involves placing a layer of filter paper in a filter cup, adding coffee powder, and then pouring hot water over the coffee powder with a narrow-spouted water kettle. At this time, the control of water flow thickness directly affects whether the brewed coffee tastes good or not. Although it seems like a simple action, the quality of control can make a world of difference in the taste of brewed coffee. I personally believe it requires higher brewing skills than siphon.

Italian-Style Coffee

It's called Italian-style because espresso, this method of quickly brewing coffee, was invented by Italians. In Italy, espresso is like our pearl milk tea, or even more like a daily necessity, because they might drink several cups a day to enhance work efficiency. However, if we drank just one cup of pearl milk tea every day, we would surely suffer from poor health.

Italian-style coffee typically uses blends of two or more coffee beans, mainly because Italians believe that single coffee beans cannot achieve a balanced taste (partly also due to the brewing method). Therefore, they usually use three or more coffee beans to create balanced Italian-style coffee blends. Currently, the vast majority of Italian-style coffee on the market uses blended beans.

Italian-style coffee is based on espresso, which uses an Italian coffee machine. Under 8-9 atmospheres of pressure, using water at about 85-95°C and 7 grams of coffee powder, about 25-30cc of coffee is brewed in about 30 seconds.

There is considerable controversy about the powder amount; some think 7 grams leads to over-extraction and recommend using 14 grams. In any case, espresso is only about 30cc of coffee with an extremely intense and strong flavor. Good espresso flavor can linger for dozens of minutes (of course, coffee brewed with a moka pot can also be called espresso, not limited to using Italian coffee machines).

The brewed espresso plus over 100cc of milk foam creates about 150cc of coffee with milk, which is the famous cappuccino.

When Italian-style coffee was introduced to America, to satisfy the American mindset of wanting everything bigger, more milk was added, becoming the ubiquitous "latte" we see everywhere today. The word "latte" means milk in Italian. If espresso is added to hot water, it becomes what people call American coffee.

However, besides coffee enthusiasts, it would be very unsatisfying to ask Americans to drink just that tiny 30cc cup of coffee, so their lattes are very large, and even cappuccinos have become larger. This has led Italians to recently speak out loudly to restore the reputation of cappuccino. The Italian National Espresso Institute has published cappuccino specifications: recognizing that a cup of cappuccino should only be 150 milliliters, consisting of 120 milliliters of steam-heated milk blended with 25 milliliters of espresso; the milk must contain at least 3.2% protein and 3.5% fat, and the milk is steam-heated to 55 degrees Celsius.

Additionally, the study of Italian-style coffee is profound. Just the grind size of coffee powder alone can waste tens to hundreds of grams of coffee beans and precious business time. Whether the coffee powder grind is good or bad can make the brewed espresso taste take you between heaven and hell. Not to mention powder amount, brewing temperature, brewing pressure, tamping force and technique, and so on. There are so many things to study and specialize in. Perhaps this is what makes coffee fun!!!

Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee Bean Brand Recommendation

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee beans have full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, the value is extremely high. A half-pound (100g) package costs only about 158 RMB. Calculated at 15g of powder per cup of coffee, one package can make 6 cups of coffee, with each cup costing only about 25 RMB. Compared to cafés selling at hundreds of RMB per cup, this is truly a conscientious recommendation.

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