How to Prepare Indonesian Mandheling Coffee? What is the World's Best Wet-Hulled Processed Coffee?

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Indonesian Coffee Quality and Characteristics

Indonesian coffee is highly diverse in quality, with most of it marketed by island of origin: such as Sumatra, Sulawesi, Java, or Timur. The advantage of Indonesian coffee is that most coffee varieties feature rich, restrained flavors and lively moderate acidity. Chinese people hold Indonesian Mandheling coffee in extremely high regard, making it one of the most widely accepted single-origin coffee products. Indonesian Mandheling was once hailed as the world's finest unique wet-hulled coffee beans.

The Origin and Trademark of Mandheling

Mandheling is a trademarked product. Today, as long as coffee red cherry fruits harvested in Indonesia undergo this unique wet-hulling process for post-harvest production, the resulting green coffee beans are sold under the Mandheling coffee bean name. Mandheling originated from coffee planted by the Mandailing people in the Tapanuli region of northwestern Sumatra. At the end of World War II, a Japanese soldier introduced it to the Japanese market. Due to pronunciation misguidance, Mandailing became Mandheling coffee through a mistake that was perpetuated. Sumatran coffee is exceptionally complex and elusive.

Premium Growing Regions in Sumatra

The best coffee in Sumatra comes from two places: the area near Lake Tawar in the Aceh province of northern Sumatra, and the mountainous area surrounding Lake Toba further south. Due to many small-scale tenant farmers and their unique semi-washed processing method combined with iron-deficient soil, coffee beans from this region display a distinctive bluish color in the fresh green bean stage. Sumatra Island is Indonesia's second-largest island and the world's sixth-largest, covering an area of 470,000 square kilometers—thirteen times the size of Taiwan. It is divided into eight provinces, but only two provinces grow coffee extensively—Aceh Province and North Sumatra Province. The most representative coffee-producing areas in these provinces are the Gayo Mountain range surrounding Lake Tawar in Aceh Province, where coffee is cultivated by the indigenous Gayo people, featuring a distinctive culture dominated by female farming and harvesting. Meanwhile, North Sumatra Province coffee is grown around Lake Toba. This lake is exceptionally large, being the world's largest volcanic crater lake, with the famous Lintong producing area located south of Lake Toba.

Golden Mandheling: Japanese Innovation

Japanese merchants not only purchase coffee produced on Sumatra Island but also implement meticulous Japanese-style production management for Sumatran coffee. Cultivated according to the Japanese spirit of quality requirements, the resulting high-quality Sumatran Mandheling coffee was given a new name: Golden Mandheling. Therefore, Golden Mandheling is a coffee product trademarked by the Japanese.

Pawani Mandheling Characteristics

Pawani Mandheling consists of native tree species from Indonesia's mountainous regions, undergoing strict cupping and selection. Indonesia is the main production area for Mandheling, but the Arabica coffee beans from Indonesia—Pawani Mandheling—offer an exceptionally strong aftertaste. Amidst the interplay of bitter and sweet, they emit natural fruit aromas.

FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling Brewing Recommendations

Medium-dark roast beans generally have a higher dehydration rate, making them lighter in weight. During brewing, the grounds don't completely settle at the bottom. They absorb water immediately upon initial contact, and due to vigorous degassing, bubbles form around the grounds creating channels. These channels persist longer with fresher beans, causing water levels to drop rapidly. I typically use a coarse water flow and slow circular pouring.

Brewing Parameters

• Filter: KONO
• Water Temperature: 88°C
• Grind Size: Fuji Royal grinder setting 4
• Roast Level: Medium-dark roast
• Bloom Time: 25 seconds

Flavor Profile

Multi-layered, clean, balanced, with persistent caramel sweetness in the finish

Detailed Brewing Method

15g of coffee grounds ground with Fuji Royal grinder setting 4, using a KONO filter cone at 88-89°C water temperature. First pour 30g of water for 25-second bloom, then pour to 104g and pause. Wait until the water level in the coffee bed drops to half before continuing to pour slowly until reaching 220g total (excluding the final 5g). Water-to-coffee ratio is 1:15, with extraction time around 2:00.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473