Which Indonesian Coffee Brand is Best? Tiger Mandheling Coffee Offers Flavor Comparable to Golden Mandheling

FrontStreet Coffee - Indonesian Coffee Brand: Introduction to Indonesia's Tiger Mandheling

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Mandheling coffee is most famous for its Golden Mandheling variety. Many coffee enthusiasts travel thousands of miles to FrontStreet Coffee specifically to pursue the rich, mellow taste of Golden Mandheling—naturally, because good coffee attracts devoted fans. However, while Golden Mandheling is exceptional, it's not always available. In that case, you might try another variety that is no less renowned—Tiger Mandheling.

Tiger Mandheling grows on slopes around 1,500 meters above sea level. The humid tropical rainforest climate brings abundant rainfall, while volcanic soil provides rich nutrients. However, due to year-round humidity, the Wet Hulling method is used to shorten drying time. Brew with 88-89°C water using sugar-granule sized particles in a Kono dripper, with a water-to-coffee ratio of 1:14. After 30 seconds of blooming, use a single-pour brewing method to reveal distinct dark chocolate and creamy flavors with high clarity.

Each year from March to May and September to December is the harvest season for Mandheling in Sumatra. Currently, most coffee farmers only harvest fully red coffee cherries. After collecting coffee cherries in the morning, they remove the fruit skin and pulp in the afternoon. Sumatra's natural environment is superior, with most water used coming from mountain springs.

The Wet Hulling Process:

1. Coffee cherries are de-pulped, and the parchment beans are placed in large water tanks or troughs. Defective parchment beans floating on the surface are scooped out and removed.

2. The dense parchment beans that sink to the bottom are briefly cleaned, then placed in barrels or plastic bags for a brief dry fermentation process. This allows the mucilage sugars on the seed coat surface to ferment and enhance flavor. Basically, the longer the fermentation time, the stronger the acidity. Fermentation duration varies by practitioner—typically just a few hours. However, some estates skip the dry fermentation stage entirely, directly sun-drying the parchment beans to reduce acidity and increase viscosity, allowing mucilage sugars to fully ferment and enhance flavor. Typical fermentation time is between 12-36 hours, depending on specific conditions.

3. Parchment beans are sun-dried for one to two days until the moisture content reaches 30%-50%, with the beans still semi-hard and semi-soft. A hulling machine is used to remove the parchment shell, then drying continues to accelerate the process. After about two days, when moisture content reaches 12%-13%, the coffee beans are collected into woven bags, typically 40kg and 80kg each, and sent to coffee processing facilities for hulling. The entire process takes about four days. The hulling process involves grinding off the parchment shell with a hulling machine, followed by further drying until moisture content reaches approximately 12%-15%. Then, the coffee beans are sent for mechanical sorting to remove various impurities and are classified by particle size.

Indonesia Tiger Mandheling

Region: Aceh

Varieties: Caturra, Typica, Sidikalong

Soil: Volcanic soil

Altitude: 1500m

Processing Method: Wet Hulling

Flavor Profile: Nuts, cream, caramel, dark chocolate

Knowledge Extension:

The Wet Hulling method produces numerous defective beans. First, natural defects present in the coffee fruit itself are unavoidable. Another contributor to defects is the hulling process. Additionally, corrosion occurs during transport of wet parchment beans, and sunlight and moisture damage exposed green beans. Furthermore, irregular weather causing inconsistent drying speeds also detracts from the flavor profile.

Important Notice :

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