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How to Taste Single-Origin Coffee: A Guide to Tasting Mandheling Coffee

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style). FrontStreet Coffee - Brief Introduction to Single-Origin Coffee Tasting Steps. Mandheling coffee has very rich flavors, aromatic, bitter, and full-bodied, with a hint of sweetness. Since Mandheling coffee beans naturally lack acidic characteristics, they are generally

Coffee tasting may sound difficult, but it's actually quite simple. This is because there is a universal formula that, as long as we follow it, allows us to know how to evaluate whether a cup of coffee is good or bad. At the same time, when we transform the feelings from the tasting process into words or language, we can describe a cup of coffee eloquently~ So next, FrontStreet Coffee will share the five steps of coffee tasting! Hoping to help everyone become a coffee tasting/description master more quickly!‍

Step 1 of Tasting: Aroma

Coffee generates a large amount of aromatic substances during the roasting process due to chemical reactions. These substances are not exclusively extracted by water. When coffee beans are ground into powder, a large amount of aromatic substances are released as the bean structure breaks. Therefore, coffee tasting actually begins when coffee beans are ground into powder. The first step we need to take is to capture and feel these aromas diffusing in the air through our sense of smell before sipping. Simply put: smelling the aroma~‍‍‍‍‍‍

Smelling the aroma mainly consists of two parts: smelling the dry aroma and smelling the wet aroma. The dry aroma mainly refers to the fragrance emitted by coffee beans after being ground into powder but before brewing - this stage is when the aroma concentration is strongest. The wet aroma, on the other hand, refers to the fragrance released after the coffee powder comes into contact with hot water. Compared to the dry aroma, the wet aroma's expression will be much weaker, but due to the decrease in concentration, we have a chance to capture different aromatic characteristics.

Generally speaking, the aroma of light to medium roasted beans mainly consists of fresher notes like floral and fruity; while medium to dark roasted beans mainly express deeper aromas like roasted, chocolate, and spices. Then, according to their respective aromatic expressions, we can add corresponding adjectives to them to form a descriptive sentence. Taking floral aroma as an example, there are many adjectives to describe floral aroma, such as rich, elegant... you can use them according to the character of the aroma~

Step 2 of Tasting: Taste

After smelling the aroma, we come to the most important part: drinking! We need to experience the coffee in our mouths from three different angles. Since these happen simultaneously, FrontStreet Coffee will explain them one by one in sequence. First is: the taste of coffee. In coffee, we can perceive four tastes: sour, sweet, bitter, and salty.

However, we don't just perceive what flavors exist in this cup of coffee, but also distinguish their concentration levels and quality. FrontStreet Coffee will use acidity as an example (because acidity is predominant), coffee acidity has good and bad distinctions, which we habitually call "acidity quality." Excellent acidity makes coffee very pleasant to drink, and related descriptive words include: soft, bright, lively... Conversely, it makes coffee difficult to swallow, and related descriptive words include: sharp, dull, irritating...

Step 3 of Tasting: Flavor

Flavor perception is the most popular aspect in specialty coffee. It involves combining the aromas released from the coffee in the mouth with the taste, then associating it with the taste of certain foods commonly encountered in daily life.

This is the greatest joy of coffee tasting, but also the most difficult point. The core reason why many friends cannot describe coffee is their inability to associate coffee flavors, remaining only at the second step of taste perception. In such cases, FrontStreet Coffee suggests first understanding flavor perception through this article "Is Coffee Flavor Metaphysics?"~

When we successfully master flavor perception, we can combine it with taste to create simple sentences. For example: you perceive citrus flavor from the coffee, and the coffee's acidity feels bright to you, then the description could be: bright citrus acidity.

Step 4 of Tasting: Mouthfeel

Mouthfeel refers to the tactile sensation that coffee gives us. The term "body" that we often hear in the coffee world mainly describes the richness or thickness of coffee. The body of coffee refers to the "weight" felt by the tongue after coffee enters the mouth.

Let me use an example that FrontStreet Coffee often uses: skim milk, whole milk, and cream - these three different dairy products provide completely different mouthfeels. The mouthfeel of skim milk is light like water, whole milk's mouthfeel will be richer, overall fuller and smoother, while cream is very rich and heavy. The same principle applies to coffee!

When the coffee body is higher, the weight felt by the tongue is heavier; when the coffee body is lower, the opposite is true. (For more details about body, you can refer to this article → "The Body of Coffee")

Final Step of Tasting: Aftertaste

After experiencing the coffee from the above three perspectives, we can swallow. After swallowing, there's still one aspect left for us to perceive, and that is the coffee's aftertaste. In other words, coffee tasting should only be considered complete after experiencing the aftertaste. Aftertaste, simply understood, is the aroma that remains in the mouth after swallowing the coffee, or when you can still clearly feel coffee aroma continuously emerging from your mouth.

The coffee's aftertaste mainly comes from the "capture" of coffee aromas by retronasal olfaction. The principle is simple: coffee contains many oil-soluble aromatic substances. After drinking coffee, some of the oils will remain in the mouth and not be swallowed. As these oils gradually break down, the aromatic substances hidden within them will volatilize and be captured by our retronasal olfaction, thus perceiving the aroma - this is the aftertaste!

The evaluation of aftertaste is also divided into two aspects: the duration and the quality of the aroma. Excellent aftertaste will have a longer lingering time because this indicates that the coffee has a high content of substances and has been fully extracted (the aftertaste time judgment varies for different extraction methods); judging the quality of aftertaste from the aroma aspect follows the same principle as flavor - mainly depends on whether the flavor it expresses is positive or negative.‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

FrontStreet Coffee takes light roasted pour-over coffee as an example. In light roasted pour-over coffee, the aftertaste of high quality typically lasts for more than ten seconds, with flavor expressions including light floral notes, tea-like sensations, honey, etc.; while poor aftertaste has a very short duration or even none. The flavor expressions are: astringent, bitter, or other uncomfortable tastes.

How to Taste a Cup of Golden Mandheling Coffee?

Golden Mandheling Coffee is PWN Company's exclusive signature product. Since "Golden Mandheling" was registered as a trademark early on, only Mandheling produced by PWN Company can be called "Golden Mandheling." The characteristic of Golden Mandheling Coffee lies in the multiple screening of raw beans, resulting in extremely high overall quality. PWN purchases Mandheling raw beans of 18 mesh or above, G1 grade with fewer than 3 defective beans per 300g sample, which is the highest grade of Indonesian raw beans. Subsequently, strict standards are followed for 1 machine selection + 3 manual selections of defective beans, ensuring uniform color, shape, and size of Mandheling coffee beans. Therefore, PWN Golden Mandheling tastes cleaner and brighter, with more obvious body and sweetness.

After being ground into powder, Golden Mandheling Coffee emits a rich roasted hazelnut aroma. During the hot water bloom stage, the caramel flavor is very prominent. The coffee presents dark chocolate, nutty, caramel, and sweet fruit flavors upon entry. As the temperature decreases, various spice notes begin to fill the mouth. The finish is long-lasting, with high balance, overall multi-layered changes, rich and full-bodied, with a clean mouthfeel.