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A Journey Through Indonesian Coffee

Indonesia stretches from west to east, its more than 17,000 large and small islands scattered like jade along the equator. Its brilliance and charm are hard to capture in words.

Indonesians never use filter cloth, filter paper or filter cups when they brew coffee. A sip contains some coffee grounds, and they say that tasting coffee takes careful chewing, much like life itself.

Mandheling Coffee

Any discussion of Indonesian coffee has to begin with Mandheling, from the island of Sumatra.

Mandheling is the most representative coffee bean of Indonesia, and anyone who loves coffee knows the name. Mandheling is in fact an ethnic minority living in the northern highlands of Sumatra. The name's origin is tied to Japan's invasion history. During World War II, when Japan occupied Indonesia, a Japanese soldier tasted an incredibly mellow coffee in a cafe and asked the owner for its name. The owner misunderstood, thinking he was being asked where he was from, and answered: Mandheling. After the war, the soldier went home and remembered the "Mandheling" he had drunk in Indonesia. He arranged to import 15 tons from Indonesia, and it became surprisingly popular. The name Mandheling spread from there.

Mandheling is produced mainly on Sumatra, with the finest lots concentrated in the highlands around Lake Toba in North Sumatra Province and the Gayo Highlands around Lake Tawar in Aceh Province. Frequently mentioned production areas include Lintong Nihuta, Sidikalang and Dolok Sanggul around Lake Toba, and Takengon in the Gayo region.

The ancient kingdom of Srivijaya, recorded in history, had its capital at Palembang in northeastern Sumatra. In conflicts with the later-rising Majapahit kingdom on Java, Srivijaya was defeated, moved its capital to Jambi, and was eventually destroyed by Majapahit.

Aceh, also known as Aqi, was an Islamic kingdom that ruled northern Sumatra and parts of the Malay Peninsula from the early 16th century to the early 20th century. It was a trading centre of the Malay Archipelago. Its capital, Kota Raja (now Banda Aceh), was built by the Acehnese, hence the name. In the early 17th century it reached its zenith, extending influence along the entire west coast of Sumatra and conquering many places on the Malay Peninsula. It declined afterwards, and actively resisted colonial invasion when the Portuguese and Dutch arrived. In 1873 it was destroyed by the Dutch.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the victory in the War of Resistance, so here is a little-known historical episode. During the Republic of China era, the great literary figure Mr. Yu Dafu actively promoted anti-Japanese resistance during the war. In 1940 he and a group of progressive writers exiled to Singapore and organised the "Singapore Overseas Chinese Volunteer Army" to resist Japan. When the Pacific War broke out in 1941, Singapore fell at the end of that year. They then travelled to Bukittinggi on Sumatra, eventually settling in Payakumbuh. Yu Dafu and several fellow fighters in exile lived under assumed names and started a distillery to make a living; Yu Dafu used the alias Zhao Lian, married and had children here (his third wife was He Liyou, a local Chinese woman), and waited for the situation to change. In early 1942 Japan invaded Indonesia and the Dutch colonial rulers surrendered. Yu Dafu had studied in Japan in his youth and was fluent in Japanese. When the Japanese military police in Bukittinggi learned that a local Chinese could speak Japanese, they found Yu Dafu and forced him to serve as a translator. That role caused many misunderstandings and much dissatisfaction among local people, but in fact, during his tenure, Yu Dafu used his position to secretly rescue and protect many exiled friends, patriotic overseas Chinese leaders and local residents. In 1945 his true identity was discovered by the Japanese military. Several days after Japan's surrender, Yu Dafu was suddenly summoned by the military police and mysteriously disappeared. The cause of his disappearance remains an unsolved mystery to this day. The Japanese scholar Suzuki Masao, after research and textual criticism, concluded that Yu Dafu was killed on the orders of the Japanese military police.

Medan, the capital of North Sumatra Province, is the main distribution centre for Sumatra coffee; another is the port city of Bandar Lampung in southeastern Sumatra. To reach the Lake Toba production area, though the distance is only a little over 200 kilometres, the lack of highways means a 5–6 hour drive from Medan. Sidikalang, Dolok Sanggul and Lintong are all in nearby areas. To reach the Gayo production area in Aceh Province takes over 300 kilometres from the provincial capital Banda Aceh — 6–7 hours by car — or over 400 kilometres from Medan, more than 10 hours by car.

Mandheling is considered one of the richest, most mellow coffees in the world. Tasting it, you feel a distinct smoothness on the tongue. It is also low in acidity, though that acidity can still be clearly tasted. A lively micro-acidity mixes with the richest aroma and a long sweet aftertaste, letting you easily sense the vibrant elements inside the gentle richness. Mandheling also carries a faint earthy aroma, which some describe as the scent of herbal plants.

Indonesian Coffee Special Recommendations

1. Mandheling G1

Mandheling G1 is a first-grade bean that has undergone three manual selections. Its flavour is very rich, sweet and fragrant, with pure bitterness and mellow body, a slight sweetness and micro-acidity, and a long aftertaste that resonates after drinking. Most ordinary coffee lovers drink it as a single origin.

2. Mandheling Peaberry

Peaberry is commonly called the male bean. Normally, the beans we see have one flat side with a crack groove, where the two seeds from a coffee cherry attach; these are called flat beans. Some cherries contain only one seed, and these beans are called peaberries. Only about 5–10% of the cherries on any coffee tree are peaberries, and they are picked out one by one from mixed beans by hand, so their preciousness speaks for itself. Because a peaberry carries the nutrients of two normal flat beans, its flavour is richer.

Mandheling peaberry has a dense flavour with very obvious Chinese herbal medicine and brown sugar notes. The aroma is strong and persistent, the mouthfeel heavy, the bitterness relatively subdued, and the sweet aftertaste long.

3. Long Berry Takengon

Long Berry Takengon is also known as horse-faced Mandheling or long-strip Mandheling. This bean is a Typica variant with very low production, from the Takengon area of the Gayo region in Aceh Province, planted on small-scale farms above 1,600 metres.

Horse-faced raw beans give off a faint sweet fragrance when smelled, and the beans are long and full, very beautiful. Freshly roasted and ground, they show a dry aroma of preserves and dark plums. The coffee enters the mouth smoothly and roundly, with good balance and medium-to-high body. In the later stage you feel faint hazelnut and caramel flavours, with some plum-fruit acidity.

4. Aged Mandheling

Aged beans are generally stored at origin in excellent conditions, in constant-temperature warehouses, so that after harvest they keep the best parts of the coffee. To ensure quality, farm owners must occasionally turn the bags so that each raw bean contacts air and moisture evenly. Beyond storage conditions, true aged beans must still be covered by parchment. If the parchment is removed at this stage, the raw beans deteriorate easily for lack of protection — especially in Sumatra, where humid air and abundant sunlight speed up the decline. The aging period for aged Mandheling generally ranges from 3–5 years. After aging, the beans' acidity weakens, body increases and the overall texture becomes fuller, completely different from the fresh, lively, bright taste of new-season raw beans.

5. Wild Luwak Mandheling

Wild civets (luwak) like to select the most mature, sweet, plump and juicy coffee fruits from the trees as food. After the fruits pass through their digestive system, only the outer pulp is digested, while the hard coffee beans are excreted intact. This digestive process works an unparalleled magic on the beans, making the flavour unique and especially mellow. The rich, round, sweet mouthfeel is incomparable to other beans: the civet's digestive system breaks down the proteins in the coffee, reducing the bitterness they cause and increasing the round mouthfeel. Because wild luwaks are clearly better at selecting good fruit, this coffee has extraordinary character. Wild civet coffee has extremely low production, so note the key word: "wild".

6. Mandheling Jumbo

Jumbo is a special selection of large (size 19 and above) premium Mandheling beans chosen from Mandheling G1. It is the finest of the Mandheling family, with a richer aroma and a long-lasting sweet aftertaste, and almost zero flaws.

Note that most Mandheling Jumbo beans are bought at high prices by Japanese bean merchants and rarely reach the mainland Chinese market. The Indonesian varieties that Japanese buyers pursue fanatically also include Mandheling Long Berry (horse-faced), Mandheling Peaberry and Toraja coffee beans (introduced below).

Java Coffee

Before the Japanese discovered Mandheling, Java coffee was the only label for Indonesian coffee.

As the name suggests, Java coffee is produced on Java Island, mainly in West Java. The earliest coffee planting in Indonesia was in the eastern part of Jatinegara, now the Pondok Kopi area of East Jakarta. The place name literally translates to "coffee house". As early as the mid-17th century, Dutch colonists transplanted coffee varieties here and later expanded planting to other parts of West Java such as Bogor, Sukabumi and Banten, and to East Java, eventually spreading to other islands including Sumatra, Sulawesi and Bali. Put simply, Java planted coffee more than 200 years earlier than Sumatra.

In those days, Java coffee sold to Europe was a very special coffee. Because it was shipped to Europe and America by sailing ship, the journey was long and slow, and much time was spent in transit. Under those conditions the coffee seemed to undergo a special fermentation, giving it a very distinctive flavour. Later, when steamships replaced sailing ships, shorter transit times meant people drank relatively fresher beans. But those accustomed to aged beans found the fresh taste unfamiliar, and desperately sought aged Java coffee — to the point that the Indonesian government and some merchants deliberately stored fresh beans in warehouses for one to two years before selling them. Compared with fresh beans, aged Java beans have acidity reduced almost to zero, while the aroma becomes richer.

Today, Java's large coffee plantations are concentrated mainly on the Ijen Plateau, more than 200 kilometres from Surabaya, the eastern city of Java.

Toraja Coffee

Toraja is an ethnic minority living in the Tanah Toraja area of the central highlands of Sulawesi. Sulawesi was formerly known as Celebes. The Toraja are a very distinctive people who still keep many original customs and traditions — boat-shaped houses, hanging coffins. It is said they are descendants of an invading people who assimilated or eliminated the aboriginal inhabitants while ruling the island. Later, driven away by Muslim Indonesians (such as the Bugis), they left the coast and settled in the highland mountains. They are fierce and warlike, and to avoid disturbance from other groups they built their villages in easily defended highland areas.

Because the area is highland with extremely inconvenient transport, most Toraja coffee is processed by farmers after harvest using the traditional Indonesian wet-hulling method. They use simple pulpers to remove the cherry pulp, the beans fall into a water basin for soaking, then are packed in plastic bags to ferment, followed by so-called parchment drying. After drying (moisture content between 11% and 13%), the beans are transported from the mountain production areas to Kalosi at the foot of the mountains and sold to intermediaries or processing plants for further refinement, which is why Kalosi has become an important coffee distribution centre and why some people call Toraja coffee Kalosi coffee.

Because the region is highland with extremely backward infrastructure and very inconvenient transport, Toraja production is not high. Japanese bean merchants stationed locally for years have acquired most of the high-quality Toraja beans, so high-quality Toraja rarely reaches the mainland Chinese market.

Beyond the visibly dark-green appearance of Toraja raw beans, the flavour shows low acidity, a thick mouthfeel and gentle, long fruit flavours, highlighting the Sulawesi Toraja character that sets it apart from Sumatra Mandheling. Mild acidity carries some ripe grape notes, with a clean yet solid mouthfeel, and in the later stage an overwhelming caramel sweetness surges up and lingers.

Papua Coffee

Papua Island, also known as Irian Island, lies at the easternmost part of Indonesia. The island is divided down the middle by a straight line, with the west belonging to Indonesian territory and the east forming the independent Republic of Papua New Guinea.

Papua has fertile land and abundant resources, making it a coveted prize for Western colonial powers. The line drawn through the middle of the island is the result of negotiations among Western powers after their struggles since the 17th century. The detailed history is complex and bloody; readers interested in deeper study can look up the relevant historical materials online, which will not be elaborated here.

Most of Papua is covered by dense primeval forest with extremely rich mineral resources. Averaged by area, New Guinea has the most bird species in the world. Papua's forests hold various rare wild animals and many precious plants unique to the world. Although the province has only a little over two million people, it has many ethnic groups — more than 250 confirmed local groups, most of them primitive tribes living in the jungle.

Papua's climate is hot with abundant rainfall. Because of monsoon influence, northwest winds prevail from January to April, while from May to August the region is controlled by southeast trade winds. In the coastal lowlands the average temperature changes little through the year, but the high mountains still hold glaciers and snow. Annual precipitation in the southern coastal areas is about 1,000–2,000 mm; in the northern coastal areas it is 2,500–3,000 mm; and in the central mountainous areas it can reach 3,000–4,000 mm. Soil affected by high temperatures and abundant rainfall erodes and washes away easily, with vigorous leaching and low fertility. Only mountain basins with thicker sedimentary soil and areas of fertile volcanic soil suit agricultural development. With regional climate differences and altitude changes, the vertical distribution of vegetation is very obvious: coastal lowlands below 1,000 metres are mainly tropical rainforest, rich in plant species, with dense forest that is evergreen year-round and particularly lush climbing plants. Above 3,500 metres grow ferns, alpine meadows and even cold-temperate plants such as mosses and lichens; above 4,400 metres is the permanent snow zone. Wild animals also vary with regional differences in climate and plant distribution.

Papua's coffee growing areas are mostly in the highlands at 1,300–1,800 metres in the centre of the island. Its flavour is full-bodied with varied taste changes, pleasant acidity and fruit-like sweetness. Papua beans share the rich, mellow taste of the Mandheling series, but the difference is that their flavour cleanliness is much better, and their sweetness is refreshing rather than syrupy — closer to the cocoa and chocolate flavours of American beans.

Flores Coffee

Flores Island lies southeast of Bali and belongs to East Nusa Tenggara Province.

The territory is mountainous, especially in the west, where Poco Mandasawu Peak reaches 2,400 metres; there are active volcanoes in the central and eastern parts. Nearby Mount Kelimutu means "mountain of three-coloured lakes". The interior is little developed, rivers are not navigable, and the vegetation is mostly tropical deciduous forest and savanna. The western end of the island was originally the habitat of a large lizard species, the Komodo dragon. The indigenous people here are mainly of mixed Malay and Papuan descent. Along the coasts live Bimanese, Sumbanese, Sumbawanese, Bugis, Makassar, Solorese and Minangkabau peoples, as well as Javanese and very few Chinese. Most still believe in traditional animist religions, with Muslims and Christians in the coastal areas. Land generally belongs to tribes, and chiefs hold great power. Agriculture is mainly based on crop rotation, with the main crops being rice, coconuts and coffee.

Flores started planting coffee relatively late, mostly with Tim-Tim varieties, which are natural hybrids of Arabica and Robusta coffee trees. This variety was discovered on Timor Island in the 1940s and cultivated for its natural disease resistance. Today it is also widely planted on Sumatra. It would be wrong to describe it with the saying that southern oranges become trifoliate oranges when planted in the north, because the same variety, planted in different places, shows different richness and sweetness.

Flores coffee has an obvious earthy smell in the cup, with slightly inferior cleanliness, but its richness exceeds that of ordinary Mandheling varieties, with a deep flavour very similar to most Mandheling. It has good sweetness, with a heavy caramel taste in the aftertaste that becomes more obvious and recognisable as the temperature drops.

In this article we have not covered Kalimantan Island, Bali Island or Timor Estate. East Timor is now an independent country, so if there is an opportunity in the future it will be introduced in a separate article.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If this tour of Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi and beyond has tempted you toward Indonesian coffee, FrontStreet's Mandheling range is the place to start. PWN Golden Mandheling is the top of the line: PWN buys only premium Mandheling lots and holds them to a strict standard — beans of 18 screen size and above, fewer than 3 defective beans per 300 g sample to meet the highest G1 grade, followed by three rounds of hand sorting that remove every remaining defect. The result is a fuller, cleaner, sweeter cup with sandalwood, caramel and dark chocolate.

For a more everyday pour-over or an moka-pot brew, FrontStreet Lindong Mandheling comes from the Lake Toba region and is wet-hulled and medium-dark roasted to show the classic wild herbal and earthy side of Mandheling, with low acidity, strong body and a long sweet finish. And if you want that Mandheling richness in espresso or a latte, try FrontStreet Classic Espresso Blend, which layers a medium-dark Mandheling onto creamy, nutty Brazilian beans and adds a touch of Robusta for crema — butter, roasted chestnut and caramel leading the way.