Is Mandheling Good for Espresso? Flavor and Taste Differences Between Mandheling Coffee and Espresso

FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling coffee beans have captivated countless coffee enthusiasts with their aromatic herbal notes, rich dark chocolate flavor, and mellow body. Japan especially loves Indonesian FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee regularly features two types of Mandheling: one is the "FrontStreet Coffee's Lintong Mandheling" which offers excellent value and represents Indonesian regional flavors, while the other is the representative of Indonesia's highest quality—PWN company's "FrontStreet Coffee's Gold Mandheling." Currently, FrontStreet Coffee's both coffee beans are primarily used for drip extraction methods, mainly pour-over coffee.

The Origin of the Name "Mandheling"

The name "Mandheling" is neither a place name nor a coffee variety name, but rather a double misunderstanding. First, there is a tribe on Sumatra Island called Mandailing, whose members also grow coffee. After World War II, a Japanese veteran missed the coffee he tasted while in Indonesia, so he returned to Indonesia. With the help of local friends, he rediscovered this familiar flavor. When asked what this coffee was, the local people mistakenly thought he was asking where they were from, so they replied "Mandailing," but the Japanese person heard it as "Mandehling." Thus, this misunderstanding became the origin of the name "Mandheling."

Indonesian Coffee Growing Environment

The flavor of FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling coffee is closely related to Indonesia's geographical environment. In Indonesia, it is humid and rainy year-round, and the rich volcanic soil provides an excellent environment for coffee trees to grow. However, Indonesia's altitude is generally low, and due to the humidity, Indonesia uses a unique processing method—the wet-hulling method. While this method allows coffee to dry more quickly, it also removes the parchment before drying, making the coffee beans extremely susceptible to infection by external bacteria and fungi.

Coffee Varieties in Indonesia

In Indonesia, you hardly need to worry about what variety the coffee is, because Indonesia has introduced many foreign varieties to resist leaf rust disease, including Robusta, Kent, and Bourbon. In this melting pot of numerous varieties, combined with Indonesia's local terroir, many new varieties have been cultivated, such as Timor from Timor Island. Indonesians now commonly grow varieties that locals call "Tim Tim," "Ateng," and "Bor Bor." These actually belong to coffee beans containing Robusta genes, such as Catimor and Timor. Therefore, the flavor tends to be quite bitter.

The Unique Flavor Profile

However, bitter coffee is not necessarily bad coffee; on the contrary, it can be a coffee with strong regional characteristics. Take FrontStreet Coffee's roasted FrontStreet Coffee's Gold Mandheling coffee beans, for example—they exhibit a very clean taste, with an extremely strong caramel sweetness on top of Indonesian herbal aroma, a creamy body, and a very long, pleasant aftertaste.

PWN's Gold Mandheling Quality Standards

This is because FrontStreet Coffee's Gold Mandheling produced by PWN company adopts the strictest screening standards, requiring raw beans to be larger than 18 mesh, with fewer than 3 defective beans (in a 300g raw bean sample), belonging to the highest G1 grade, with a dark green color and a uniform flat bean shape. The process strictly implements one mechanical selection and three manual selections. After rigorous screening, FrontStreet Coffee's Gold Mandheling, FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) found that not only is the unique earthy miscellaneous taste of ordinary Mandheling gone, but it tastes cleaner and brighter, with even stronger sweetness and aroma. So if you want to try authentic Gold Mandheling, please look for the Yellow Man certification certificate that comes with PWN.

Using Mandheling for Espresso

Can FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling coffee beans be used to make espresso? Actually, there is a classic espresso bean recipe called "Mandailing Blend," which is made from 3 parts Mandheling coffee beans and 7 parts Brazil coffee beans, offering an extremely balanced and mellow flavor that was deeply loved by people at that time. However, if you use 100% Mandheling coffee beans to make espresso, the flavor will be too burnt and bitter, causing discomfort instead.

Brewing Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee recommends that Mandheling coffee beans should still be used for drip extraction methods, mainly pour-over. This allows the coffee beans' flavors to be expressed to the greatest extent. Take FrontStreet Coffee's Gold Mandheling coffee beans as an example:

FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Indonesia PWN Gold Mandheling

Region: Aceh GAYO Mountain, Sumatra, Indonesia
Altitude: 1100m-1600m
Variety: Ateng
Processing Method: Wet-hulling

Brewing Suggestions

FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) recommends using the following brewing parameters: Kono dripper, 88°C water temperature, 15g coffee dose, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, grind size EK43s #11 (70% pass rate through Chinese standard #20 sieve)

Readers who frequently read FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) related articles should know that light roast coffee beans and dark roast coffee beans will use different water temperatures and drippers. The water temperature is low because we don't want to extract too many miscellaneous flavors. When FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) chooses dark roast, too many aromatic substances have already been released. If we continue to extract with light roast water temperature, it will lead to over-extraction. FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) chooses the Kono dripper because the V60 dripper's flow rate is too fast, making it prone to under-extraction at low water temperatures. The Kono dripper has fewer ribs located at the bottom, and the filter paper fits tightly against the dripper, which can restrict airflow, increase the contact time between water and coffee grounds, allow the coffee grounds to be fully extracted, enhance the mellow body, and is suitable for brewing FrontStreet Coffee's Gold Mandheling, FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Queen Manor, FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1, and other medium-dark roast coffee beans.

Brewing Technique

FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) uses segmented extraction, using 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, then continuing to pour water in a small circular motion to 125g for segmentation. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 225g and stop pouring. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper (timing starts from the bloom), with an extraction time of 2'00".

FrontStreet Coffee's PWN Gold Mandheling Flavor Description:

Multi-layered, mellow and clean, with high balance, rich nutty and caramel aroma, with chocolate notes, and a long-lasting aftertaste.

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Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473