Indonesian Gold Mandheling Coffee Introduction - The Rich Flavor of Gold Mandheling that Conquers the World

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FrontStreet Coffee - Golden Mandheling Coffee Introduction

Golden Mandheling PWN GOLD Mantheling

01 | Region Introduction

Indonesia's main coffee producing regions include Sumatra Island, Java Island, and Sulawesi Island, with "Mandheling" from Sumatra Island being the most famous. Mandheling, also known as "Sumatra Coffee," mostly comes from Gayo in North Sumatra, primarily using the Ateng variety. The Tawar Lake area in the northern part can be called Aceh Coffee or Tawar Lake Coffee, while only the Lintong and Lake Toba areas in South Sumatra can be called Mandheling. The Lintong area is the true Mandheling region, with four best Mandheling varieties: Sidikalang, Bergendar, Siborong borong, and Telok Sanggul.

Lake Toba, located in central North Sumatra Province, where Dutch colonists moved "Java Mandheling" northward to the Lake Toba region in 1888, creating the modern Mandheling legend.

Lake Tawar, located in central Aceh Special Administrative Region. Situated at the northern tip of Sumatra Island, its area is less than one-tenth of Lake Toba. However, in recent years, coffee quality and production have surpassed Lake Toba.

The Gayo Mountains are located in the Aceh producing area of northern Sumatra Province. Most local coffee workers in Gayo are native farmers. The term "Gayo" originates from tribes in Indonesia's Aceh region, which has ideal growing conditions, long historical culture, and unique flavors. This region mainly uses organic methods to grow coffee without chemical fertilizers and is considered a world green coffee production area. Therefore, Gayo coffee is often called green coffee or Gayo organic coffee.

What is "Golden Mandheling"?

Speaking of "Golden Mandheling," we must start with PWN. This abbreviation is often mixed together with Mandheling coffee names. It's actually an abbreviation for a company - Pwani Coffee Company.

This company is a very famous green coffee purchasing company in Indonesia, mainly acquiring Mandheling coffee. Almost all the best producing regions in Indonesia are purchased by them, so most beans from PWN Company are high-quality specialty coffees. Golden Mandheling is a product produced by this company. After purchasing green beans, they undergo multiple manual selections to select full, flawless beans. Only these green beans, which seem to undergo layer-by-layer screening like a talent show, can be classified as Golden Mandheling.

PWN Company has registered Golden Mandheling as a trademark, meaning only Golden Mandheling produced by PWN Company can be considered the true "Golden Mandheling." Many Mandheling coffees on the market not produced by PWN Company merely hang the name Golden Mandheling to increase their value. Such Mandheling can at best be called specialty Mandheling.

"Golden Mandheling" is merely a product named by PWN Company.

02 | Processing Method

Wet Hulling, also known as Wet Hulling or Giling Basah in the local language, is the traditional Indonesian coffee processing method. Judging from the name alone, Wet Hulling seems very similar to wet processing (washed processing), however, the cupping flavors of these two processing methods are completely different. Coffee processed by Wet Hulling is typically mellow and intense, with a very distinct personality.

Wet Hulling Processing Steps

① Remove skin and pulp, retaining parchment and mucilage

② Ferment in water tanks

③ Wash away mucilage

④ Sun-dry with parchment for 2-3 days until moisture content reaches 20-24%

⑤ Hull off parchment

⑥ Dry green beans until moisture content reaches 12-13%

⑦ Prepare for export

Why Use Wet Hulling?

a. Climate Reasons

The reason Indonesia uses Wet Hulling must be explained from the local weather. Indonesia's humidity remains between 70-90% year-round, with continuous typhoons. In some areas, annual rainfall can even reach as much as 2,000mm. Considering that green beans most fear rain, how does Indonesia overcome such harsh weather conditions to produce rich, mellow Mandheling coffee? That is by relying on Wet Hulling.

Under tropical climate conditions, coffee takes an average of 2-3 weeks to dry. In Indonesia's humid climate, drying coffee becomes a major problem. Coffee drying must take longer, during which time the coffee maintains high humidity, making it easier for bacteria to penetrate the green beans.

In the regular washed processing process, drying is done with parchment to protect the green beans from external damage to some extent. However, we can note that Wet Hulling removes the parchment for the final drying step, allowing sunlight to directly reach the green bean surface, making the green beans dry quickly - 2-3 times faster than washed processing.

c. Defects and Kuku Kambing (Goat Hoof Beans)

Because when hulling off parchment in Wet Hulling, the coffee's moisture content is still as high as 20-24%, while in general processing methods, coffee moisture content drops to 10-12% before hulling. In this "semi-dry" state, parchment tends to adhere to the green bean surface, making hulling more difficult than "fully dry" hulling, requiring greater friction during the hulling process.

But on the other hand, "semi-dry" green beans are very fragile at this time, with hardness far less than "fully dry" green beans, so beans are easily crushed and broken, forming small gaps. This is what we often call horse hoof or goat hoof beans (locally known as kuku kambing).

The ultra-fast processing speed of Wet Hulling also results in higher defects in Mandheling. Processing plants arrange employees for manual defect sorting, generally including DP (double picking) and TP (triple picking). Mandheling that undergoes triple picking will have better defect rates than double picking.

The flavor of Wet Hulling, excluding those subtle differences, we generally believe that Wet Hulling beans have earthy, smoky, and chocolatey flavors, with acidity described as "low acidity," mellow yet appearing quite dull.

Low acidity comes from the shorter, less effective fermentation process and longer drying time. As for the "earthy flavor" and similar flavors of Wet Hulling beans, opinions vary. Some say it's related to the bean varieties selected in Wet Hulling-related regions (Timor hybrid & Catimor: with Robusta lineage), some say it's the result of organic interaction between green beans and the external environment, and some even say it's because there are too many defective beans! Of course, there are quite many...

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