An Introduction to Sumatran Coffee Beans? Differences Between 【Gold Mandheling】 and 【Aged Mandheling】? Sum

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Introduction to Sumatra Coffee Beans: The Difference Between Golden Mandheling and Aged Mandheling, and the Price of Tiger Mandheling

Mandheling coffee is produced in Sumatra, Asia, Indonesia, also known as "Sumatra Coffee." It has a very rich flavor, fragrant, bitter, and mellow, with a slight sweetness. Most coffee enthusiasts generally drink it as a single-origin coffee, but it is also an indispensable variety for blending mixed coffees. Sumatra is one of the largest islands in Indonesia, and Indonesia is a country composed of thousands of small islands. Ninety percent of coffee grown in Indonesia comes from small independent farms. The label of this coffee features the famous Sumatran tiger, which has significant meaning representing local Indonesian characteristics. Its flavor has distinct herbal and spicy notes, with a rich aroma that showcases the abundant natural resources and sunny climate of Indonesia, which can only nurture such beloved coffee.

In the era when Blue Mountain was not yet known to the world, Mandheling coffee was considered the world's finest quality. After roasting, the beans are quite large, with raw beans appearing brown or dark green. It has a special caramel-like fragrance, with a mellow and rich taste. It is sweet and bitter without soft acidity, yet has bitterness. Due to relatively low production, the price is slightly higher than regular coffee beans. The well-known Mandheling is produced around Lake Toba in northern Sumatra. The finished product has a unique fresh herbal and woody fragrance.

Mandheling Coffee Origin

Mandheling coffee is produced in Sumatra, Asia, Indonesia, also known as "Sumatra Coffee." The main producing areas include Java Island, Sulawesi Island, and Sumatra Island, with 90% being Robusta varieties. Among them, the "Mandheling" produced in Sumatra Island is the most famous. The best of the refined traditional Arabica coffees produced in northern Sumatra are marketed under the names Lintong and Mandheling. More precisely, Lintong refers to coffee grown in a small area in the Lintong administrative region, southwest of Lake Toba. The coffee growing areas are scattered across high, undulating clay plateaus covered with ferns. Lintong coffee is grown without shade, without chemicals, and is almost entirely owned by small private owners. Mandheling is a broader term that includes Lintong coffee and growing areas in Diari (capital Sidikalang) and northern Lake Toba under similar conditions.

Origin of the Name Mandheling Coffee

Mandheling is not a region name, place name, port name, nor a coffee variety name. How did its name come about? In fact, it is a phonetic error of the Indonesian Mandheling ethnic group. During World War II when Japan occupied Indonesia, a Japanese soldier drank incredibly fragrant coffee in a café. He asked the owner the name of the coffee, but the owner misunderstood and thought he was asking about his ethnicity, so he replied: Mandheling. After the war, the soldier recalled the "Mandheling" he drank in Indonesia. So he commissioned an Indonesian coffee merchant to ship 15 tons to Japan, and it became surprisingly popular. The name Mandheling spread this way, and that coffee merchant is now the renowned PWN (Pawani Coffee Company).

Golden Mandheling

Golden Mandheling enjoys a prestigious reputation in the coffee world, produced in the Lake Toba mountainous area of North Sumatra, Indonesia. Pawani Company exclusively sells Golden Mandheling as the finest among Mandheling coffees. The raw beans undergo three rounds of careful manual selection and refined processing. We roast it using Arashiyama light roast method (approximately City Roast). In addition to the rich, wild aroma that Mandheling coffee should have, it has high thickness and pure flavor, displaying an extra elegance, truly a rare coffee masterpiece!

Golden Mandheling: More than a decade ago, Japanese people adopted stricter quality control, using four rounds of manual bean selection to remove defective beans, producing Golden Mandheling with dark green color and uniform bean appearance, creating another wave of market demand that even Europe and America went crazy for.

Aged Mandheling

Aged Mandheling is characterized by its sweetness like honey. Successful aged beans have eliminated the less elegant acidity of Mandheling. The astringent components mature into sugars, making the coffee smoother and sweeter to drink. Failed aged Mandheling is like coffee zombies, with a taste that is difficult to consume.

Tiger Mandheling

Tiger Mandheling grows in Indonesia, with main producing areas located on three islands: Sumatra, Java, and Sulawesi. The northern part of Sumatra Island has relatively high terrain. Aceh Province where Lake Tawa is located and North Sumatra where Lake Toba is situated are the main Arabica coffee producing regions. Lake Tawa is located in the Gayo mountainous area north of Aceh Province, Sumatra.

Mandheling Coffee Characteristics

Its flavor is very rich, fragrant, bitter, and mellow, with a slight sweetness. Most coffee enthusiasts generally drink it as a single-origin coffee, but it is also an indispensable variety for blending mixed coffees. Mandheling has a rich and heavy taste, with rich body and vibrant, lively characteristics. It is not astringent or acidic, with body and bitterness fully expressed. The appearance of Mandheling coffee beans can be said to be the ugliest, but coffee fans say that the less attractive Sumatra coffee beans look, the better, richer, and smoother the taste. Mandheling coffee is considered the world's most full-bodied coffee. When tasting Mandheling, you can feel distinct smoothness on your tongue. It also has lower acidity, but this acidity can also be clearly tasted. The jumping micro-acidity mixed with the richest aroma allows you to easily experience the lively factors in the gentle richness. In addition, this coffee has a faint earthy fragrance, which some describe as the aroma of herbal plants.

Because Mandheling coffee beans themselves do not have acidic characteristics, special brewing methods generally use Mandheling coffee beans as the base. During long-term heat preservation or when making iced coffee, there is no unpleasant astringent taste. After roasting, the beans are quite large, with raw beans appearing brown or dark green. It has a special caramel-like fragrance, with a mellow and rich taste.

Our FrontStreet Coffee's [Golden Mandheling] is 89 yuan for 227g, [Aged Mandheling] is 89 yuan for 227g, [Tiger Mandheling] is 79 yuan for 227g.

FrontStreet Coffee's Recommended Brewing Method

Dripper: KONO dripper

Water Temperature: 88°C

Grind Size: Small Fuji grinder setting 4

Brewing Technique: Water-to-coffee ratio 1:14, 17g of coffee grounds. First pour 25g of water for 30s bloom. Second pour up to 238g of water, extraction time about 2:30 minutes.

Analysis:

The KONO dripper doesn't have many ribs at the bottom, and the filter paper fits tightly against the dripper, achieving the purpose of restricting airflow. This allows water and coffee grounds to have longer contact and steeping time in the dripper, ensuring extraction time and rate for coarse grinding. This allows the coffee grounds to be fully extracted, enhancing the mellow mouthfeel and making the taste more concentrated.

Flavor:

High balance, clean, thick and solid mouthfeel, with persistent dark chocolate aftertaste.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473