The Relationship Between Sumatran Coffee and Mandheling_What Other Coffee Varieties Exist in Sumatra Besides Mandheling

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style).

In the minds of most of us, Mandheling coffee is almost synonymous with Sumatran coffee, or even Indonesian coffee in general. Moreover, our impression of it typically includes: relatively high body, low acidity, and some herbal and earthy flavors. Here, I'd like to focus on the classification of growing regions.

● Mandheling Coffee

The Mandheling growing region is located in the southern part of Sumatra island. However, in the early days, they would transport the harvested coffee beans to Medan before exporting. As a result, much like Mocha, for quite a long time, Sumatran coffee was often equated with Mandheling coffee. However, with the gradual popularization of the third wave of specialty coffee, the Gayo region in northern Sumatra (Aceh province), the Toba region in central Sumatra, and the SP Bolon region each have their own distinctive characteristics. Therefore, the official classification now specifically designates the Mandheling region as the southern part of Sumatra. Of course, according to traditional understanding, referring to Mandheling as representing Sumatra is not entirely incorrect. However, including Java, Sulawesi, and other Indonesian islands would indeed be a common mistake.

● Golden Mandheling

Many of us are quite familiar with Golden Mandheling. However, the naming of Golden Mandheling might not be what many friends expect.

First, Golden Mandheling does not refer to golden-colored beans, but rather to large-sized coffee beans—that is, coffee beans of 19 screen size or above, which are called Golden Mandheling. However, since many suppliers have discovered that large size has no direct correlation with flavor profile, fewer and fewer people are ordering Golden Mandheling nowadays.

As for why aged Mandheling beans turn golden-yellow, it's because the coffee transit hub Medan is extremely humid (with over 80% humidity). This is why coffee stored for more than 6 months will absorb moisture.

● Sumatra Coffee Bean Grading

We often hear about "Specialty Mandheling," while at the same time, the quality of Mandheling green beans can sometimes be quite poor. In reality, Sumatran coffee has a relatively systematic grading system.

As shown in the image, if there are no more than 11g of physical defects per 300g, it is classified as Grade 1 (GR1). According to traditional Indonesian green bean sorting methods, this typically requires at least two rounds of screening.

If there are 12-25g of defects, that would be Grade 2 (GR2). The coffee beans in the burlap bag shown below are Grade 2.

If we see the coffee beans as shown in the image below, that would be Grade 4 or below. Therefore, if we receive such green beans claimed to be Grade 1, it's clear that the green bean supplier is not responsible.

Of course, you might ask: if we only sort by physical appearance, how are chemical defects addressed? This is a very broad topic, but it must be said that Indonesia's coffee soft power is quite significant. Professional cuppers and even Q Graders maintain very strict systematic control over quality assurance. I will elaborate on this in future articles.

Cupping is routinely conducted for different origins, different burlap bags, different harvest months, and different processing methods. This is basically standard practice to track the quality of various growing regions over time.

● Recommended Sumatra Coffee Bean Brands

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Sumatran coffee—【Golden Mandheling Coffee】—offers excellent guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, it provides exceptional value for money. A 227-gram bag costs only 89 yuan. Calculating at 15 grams per cup, one bag can make 15 cups of coffee, with each cup costing only about 6 yuan. Compared to café prices that often reach dozens of yuan per cup, this is truly a conscientious recommendation.

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find both famous and lesser-known beans. They also provide online shop services. https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473