The Origin of Mandheling: Region or Variety - A Guide to Indonesia's Golden Mandheling Coffee Bean Growing Areas and Flavor Profiles

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Among the classic coffee beans that have always been maintained in FrontStreet Coffee's bean list, Mandheling coffee is one of them. Known for its wet-hulling processing method, Mandheling coffee beans show a beautiful deep green color as raw beans. After roasting, the coffee beans have a mellow and rich flavor, bitter and aromatic, making them a single-origin coffee choice for most coffee enthusiasts.

The Story Behind Mandheling Coffee's Name

Actually, whenever FrontStreet Coffee mentions Mandheling coffee beans, we always share an interesting story about the origin of this coffee bean's name. Some might think that Mandheling is a coffee variety, but that's not the case. Simply put, the word "Mandheling" is actually the transliteration of an ethnic group in Indonesia.

It was the Japanese who established Mandheling coffee, and this is related to the story of how the name came about. According to relevant sources, FrontStreet Coffee understands that the origin of the story is as follows: During World War II, Japan occupied Indonesia. One of the Japanese soldiers drank an incredibly delicious coffee at a local coffee shop. He immediately asked the shop owner the name of this coffee. However, due to the language barrier, the shop owner mistakenly thought he was asking: "Where are you from?" So he replied: "Mandheling tribe."

After World War II ended, this Japanese soldier remembered the "Mandheling" coffee he had in Indonesia and asked an Indonesian broker to ship him fifteen tons of Mandheling coffee beans to Japan. The result was that it became very popular in the Japanese coffee market, and thus the name Mandheling has been passed down to this day.

FrontStreet Coffee's Daily Selection Beans

Speaking of the origin of Mandheling coffee's name, we must mention FrontStreet Coffee's daily selection beans. Among the seven daily selection beans, there are Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, Guatemalan Huehuetenango, Brazil, Colombian Huilan, Costa Rican Tarrazú, Yunnan small beans, and finally Indonesian Mandheling. FrontStreet Coffee's daily selection beans are the first choice for beginner coffee enthusiasts. They are affordable and clearly display the flavor characteristics of major producing regions, helping drinkers quickly select coffee that suits their taste. Mandheling coffee's characteristic flavor is very rich, aromatic, bitter, and mellow, with a hint of sweetness and a touch of acidity. If you enjoy such rich, aromatic, and mellow coffee, you can choose Frontsteet Mandheling as your first choice.

Indonesia's Coffee History and Mandheling

Indonesia is located in Southeast Asia, and its coffee history dates back to 1696 when Dutch coffee farm owners attempted to find broader coffee cultivation areas. After extensive exploration, they finally settled on Java Island in Indonesia. After 30 years, Indonesia had established a sufficient foundation in the coffee market. Indonesia's main coffee producing areas include Java Island, Sulawesi Island, and Sumatra Island, with 90% being Robusta varieties.

However, today's representative of Indonesian coffee is actually Mandheling produced in Sumatra, which is actually not surprising because most of the Java coffee originally exported to Europe came from this Sumatra region, and Frontsteet Mandheling comes from Sumatra. Therefore, Sumatra can be said to be an important coffee production area in Indonesia.

Characteristics of Mandheling Coffee Beans

Mandheling coffee beans are relatively large with hard bean texture. They are prone to defects during cultivation, and after harvesting, they usually undergo strict manual selection. If the quality control process is not strict enough, it can easily lead to inconsistent quality. Additionally, different roasting levels directly affect the taste, making it a single-origin coffee with more controversy. Mandheling has a heavy taste with rich body and vibrant, lively dynamics, neither astringent nor 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 they taste.

Frontsteet Gold Mandheling

When it comes to good-looking Mandheling coffee, FrontStreet Coffee has Frontsteet Gold Mandheling coffee beans. Its beans are plump, full, and uniform, with almost no defective beans. Why do its beans look so good compared to ordinary Mandheling? This brings us to PWN, which is actually an abbreviation for Pwani Coffee Company. This company is a very famous coffee acquisition company locally in Indonesia, mainly acquiring Mandheling coffee. Almost all the best producing areas in Indonesia are acquired by them, so most of the beans from PWN Company are unique specialty coffees. Frontsteet Gold Mandheling is a product from this company. After acquiring the raw beans, they undergo multiple manual selections to select plump, defect-free beans. Finally, only these fine beans that have undergone layer-by-layer selection, like a talent show, can be classified as Gold Mandheling.

Currently, Frontsteet Gold Mandheling comes from Gayo Mountain in Aceh. Basically, most of the high-quality Mandheling currently comes from this producing area. As for Frontsteet Gold Mandheling, the biggest characteristics are large beans, few defects, and good appearance. To achieve this, Pawani adopts one machine selection and three manual selections, which greatly guarantees the quality of Frontsteet Gold Mandheling. Of course, the price is also higher than other Mandheling coffees.

Brewing Parameters for Frontsteet Gold Mandheling

FrontStreet Coffee's brewing parameters for Frontsteet Gold Mandheling are basically the standard parameters for medium-dark roast coffee beans: Kono dripper, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, 15g coffee dose, 88°C water temperature, and grind size (70-75% pass-through rate with #20 standard sieve).

Frontsteet uses segmented extraction, blooming with 30g of water for 30 seconds. Using a small water flow, pour in circles until reaching 125g, then segment. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring until reaching 225g, then stop pouring. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper. (Timing starts from the beginning of blooming) The extraction time for V60 dripper is 2'00", while the extraction time for Kono dripper is slightly longer at 2'10".

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