The Origin Story of Natural Yirgacheffe Autumn Cherry Coffee Beans - Is Natural Yirgacheffe Autumn Cherry Coffee Delicious?

FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling has become widely popular among coffee enthusiasts. With the development of the third wave of specialty coffee, people's acceptance of different coffee flavors has grown. Indonesian Mandheling coffee beans, known for their herbal flavors and rich body, were initially quite controversial, but now FrontStreet Coffee has found that many people love them. To appreciate the unique aroma of FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling, FrontStreet Coffee's baristas typically use pour-over methods for extraction. Before brewing any coffee bean, FrontStreet Coffee believes it's essential to first understand its information.

What variety is Mandheling?

Indonesia grows numerous coffee varieties. Originally, Indonesia planted the widely recognized high-quality Typica variety, introduced by the Dutch in the late 17th century. In 1877, coffee trees throughout Indonesia were nearly destroyed by severe leaf rust disease, with large areas of Typica trees withering. To solve this crisis, the Indonesian government introduced more disease-resistant Robusta varieties from Africa and other regions. Robusta remains Indonesia's main variety to this day.

To increase coffee production, Indonesia continuously introduced various disease-resistant varieties from other countries. Among these, the Tim Tim hybrid variety (a cross between Robusta and Arabica), Bor Bor, and the Catimor series Ateng, due to their excellent disease resistance and adaptation to Sumatra's terroir, present a unique fir-tree aroma. Currently, Ateng and Tim Tim account for 70% of Sumatra's coffee. FrontStreet Coffee's Indonesian Lindong Mandheling daily bean is a mixture of Tim Tim and Ateng, while FrontStreet Coffee's Golden Mandheling coffee beans are selected from Ateng, which we know as Catimor. Both Mandheling varieties use the most common local wet-hulling method.

Sumatran Semi-washed Method - Wet-Hulling

From 1699, when Dutch colonists introduced coffee to Indonesia for cultivation, coffee became a primary economic crop for local farmers. Traditional natural processing would take too much time, making it difficult to sell quickly to merchants for profit. Both sun-dried and washed methods require at least 2-3 weeks of drying time. Most critically, Indonesia's various islands frequently experience wind and rain, with high air humidity, so coffee beans often become moldy and spoiled before they can dry completely.

The initial steps of wet-hulling are the same as the washed method. Indonesians first remove the pulp from coffee cherries, then ferment them in water for 3 hours. After washing away the mucilage, the parchment-covered green coffee beans are dried for a short 2-3 days. When the moisture content reaches 20-24% in a semi-soft, semi-hard state, the parchment layer is removed (hulled), and then drying continues until the coffee's moisture content reaches 13%, at which point it can be packaged.

Because the hulling machine uses significant friction to tear away the parchment layer tightly attached to the green beans, the stirring action of the friction also makes the green beans more likely to be crushed or bruised, especially at the ends, forming small gaps that create "elephant foot" beans. The "naked beans" without their parchment layer dry very quickly but are also directly exposed to humid environments, allowing various microorganisms to proliferate. This gives Indonesian coffee its unique woody, spicy, and herbal notes—what we call "regional flavor."

Some friends might be curious about how Southeast Asian flavors actually taste. If you haven't tried FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling coffee yet, FrontStreet Coffee suggests starting with small packages of wet-hulled FrontStreet Coffee's Lindong Mandheling daily beans, which present classic Mandheling flavors and are convenient for home experimentation. If you're an "experienced coffee person" looking to taste the excellent aroma of Mandheling, FrontStreet Coffee believes FrontStreet Coffee's Golden Mandheling coffee is perfect for you.

How to brew high-quality Mandheling coffee for great taste?

Dark roasting makes the internal structure of coffee beans loose. You can crush them with a gentle pinch, indicating that the bean structure has changed significantly. When ground into powder, they absorb water strongly. To avoid over-extraction of coffee powder after water absorption, which would release large amounts of bitter substances, FrontStreet Coffee uses a coarser grind than for light-roasted coffee beans. Here we use medium-coarse grinding (70% pass rate through China standard 20 mesh sieve), store EK43s setting 11.

Roasting causes caramelization and Maillard reactions in coffee beans. As the roast level deepens, more non-enzymatic browning occurs due to the interaction and decomposition of monosaccharides and amino acids under heating, making it easier to release bitter-tasting large molecular substances. To avoid extracting too many undesirable flavors, FrontStreet Coffee reduces the water temperature slightly. The brewing water temperature for light-roasted coffee is 91-93°C, while FrontStreet Coffee recommends 87-88°C for dark-roasted coffee beans.

FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling pour-over parameters:

Brewing water temperature: 87-88°C
Coffee powder: 15 grams
Powder to water ratio: 1:15
Filter cup: KONO filter cup
Grind size: Medium-coarse (70% pass rate through China standard 20 mesh sieve)
Brewing method: Three-stage pouring

FrontStreet Coffee's baristas consistently use the three-stage pouring method, which better expresses FrontStreet Coffee's Golden Mandheling coffee's rich body and caramel sweetness while providing higher controllability of time and water volume.

Wet the KONO filter cup to make the filter paper fit better with the coffee dripper. After pouring out the water from the sharing pot, add 15g of ground coffee powder, use 30g of water to bloom for 30s. This initial pour completely wets the coffee powder for degassing, facilitating better extraction of coffee flavor substances in subsequent steps.

Some friends extend the bloom time to 45 or 50 seconds when extracting light-roasted coffee beans to enhance the front-end aroma. However, for dark-roasted Mandheling coffee, too long a bloom time can release excessive woody flavors and undesirable notes, so FrontStreet Coffee chooses a 30-second bloom.

For the second stage, start from the center with circular small water flow, slowly pouring hot water until reaching 125g, then segment. The water flow needs to be steady throughout. Too vigorous stirring can easily break apart the coffee powder bed, leading to uneven extraction.

When the coffee powder bed drops to half the filter cup's height, exposing the powder bed, begin pouring the second stage with the same technique until reaching 225g. Wait until all dripping is complete before removing the filter cup. Extraction time is two minutes, with a 10-second margin of error.

Finally, shake the lower pot's coffee liquid to mix well, then you can start tasting the hand-poured Golden Mandheling black coffee. Brewed FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling coffee presents aromas of spice, dark chocolate, nuts, caramel, and pine, with a rich and clean mouthfeel, obvious aftertaste, and persistent finish.

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat account: qjcoffeex

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473