What Makes a Mandheling a Golden Mandheling? What is the Relationship Between PWN Coffee Company and Sumatra?

Just as Jamaica is associated with Blue Mountain coffee, whenever Indonesia is mentioned, people immediately think of the local specialty coffee—Mandheling. Mandheling comes in many varieties, and "FrontStreet Coffee Golden Mandheling" stands out as the finest among Indonesia's Mandheling coffees.

In the market, we may encounter various Golden Mandheling coffees. Although they all bear the "golden name," the vast majority are not true Golden Mandheling. So what exactly makes a Mandheling worthy of being called Golden Mandheling? Before answering that, let's first understand what Mandheling is!

What is Mandheling?

Mandheling coffee has a very different naming convention compared to other coffees. This name is neither a growing region, a plantation, nor a coffee variety name. The producing region for Mandheling is Sumatra, Indonesia, and Mandheling beans can be Typica, Tim Tim, or Ateng varieties. As long as the Arabica coffee beans are produced in Sumatra, Indonesia, they can all be named Mandheling. Therefore, we can see that the name Mandheling is neither a place name nor a bean name. In fact, FrontStreet Coffee has previously shared that the name "Mandheling" originates from an ethnic group in the Lake Toba area of Sumatra, Indonesia. Through a fortunate coincidence, it naturally became the name for coffee beans from an entire producing region! Although it sounds convoluted, this is indeed the case.

Many of you have probably heard this story: During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia, a Japanese soldier tasted a coffee in Indonesia that he found exceptional. When he asked the shopkeeper for the name of these coffee beans, due to language differences, the shopkeeper thought he was asking about their ethnic group and replied with "Mandheling." When this Japanese officer returned to Japan, he couldn't forget this delicious flavor and wanted to purchase this Mandheling coffee through a friend who traded in Indonesia. However, no matter how hard his friend searched, he couldn't find any beans named "Mandheling," so he sold him the Arabica coffee beans produced in northern Sumatra Island, Indonesia at that time. Unexpectedly, these beans became extremely popular in Japan, and thus, the reputation of Mandheling spread through word-of-mouth errors, gradually gaining market acceptance. This is why coffee beans produced in Sumatra Island can all bear the name Mandheling.

Among Mandheling coffees, there are also many varieties with rich classification methods. In addition to regular Mandheling, there are different regional and appearance varieties like Longberry Mandheling andLintong Mandheling. Of course, there's also today's topic: "FrontStreet Coffee Golden Mandheling."

FrontStreet Coffee Golden Mandheling

FrontStreet Coffee Golden Mandheling doesn't refer to Mandheling beans with beautiful golden-like colors. Why? Because "Golden Mandheling" is a brand name—a trademark created and registered by PWN company.

PWN Company

PWN company is an Indonesian green coffee merchant, fully named "Puwani Coffee Company." It was established in 1957 as Indonesia's first company to export coffee from North Sumatra Island. The friend mentioned in the story above was the owner of this company—a businessman with the surname Du from Quanzhou. Initially, Mr. Du's coffee exports to Japan mainly came from Sumatra, so over time, Arabica coffee beans produced in Sumatra all came to be collectively known as Mandheling. It can be said that this company played an indispensable role in spreading the reputation of Mandheling.

In 1977, Mr. Du's son took over the company. The younger Mr. Du, having inherited his father's expertise, believed that his company's products must be distinguished from other similar products to gain more advantages. Therefore, he began establishing export standards to emphasize the superiority of his products. At this time, PWN company began focusing on exporting high-quality Mandheling and Robusta coffees.

The main export destinations were Japan, followed by Taiwan province of our country and the United States. According to later statistics, Mandheling exported to Japan and Taiwan province accounted for 95% of the company's total coffee exports. Naturally, Japan occupied the majority due to geographical proximity—Indonesia became Japan's nearest source for purchasing coffee beans. And PWN's Mandheling lived up to expectations, distinguishing itself from other Mandhelings at the time with its higher quality.

Quality Standards

The standard requirements for the highest grade Mandheling involve three manual screenings, with no more than 3 defective beans per 300g of green beans, and a bean size of 18 screen. PWN company's requirements for Mandheling are even higher—the beans are 19 screen size. They not only undergo three manual screenings but also an additional machine selection process, using machines for density-based color sorting. This results in beans that are not only uniform but also very consistent in color. Compared to regular Mandheling, the strictly selected FrontStreet Coffee Golden Mandheling has a cleaner taste, softer acidity, and lacks the usual wild earthy flavor, with higher body. Therefore, the name "Golden Mandheling" signifies that this Mandheling has higher quality, comparable to gold. It also enjoys greater recognition among Mandheling varieties, fully achieving Mr. Du's vision.

Trademark Protection

As Golden Mandheling gained popularity, more and more people began imitating and creating different types of "Golden Mandheling." Some named their coffee "Golden Mandheling" based on the golden appearance of the beans, while others used "Golden Mandheling" for large beans of 20 screen or larger (believing larger beans are more delicious and better). Therefore, in 2003, PWN company registered "Golden Mandheling" as a trademark. (PS: Coffee beans are not necessarily better when larger—size has no direct relationship with flavor formation.) Despite this, counterfeit Golden Mandheling products are still numerous in the market, so PWN company introduced "anti-counterfeit certification."

Merchants who purchase PWN Golden Mandheling green beans receive a certificate of authenticity from PWN company, and the gunny sacks containing the green coffee beans are printed with the company's three-letter acronym "PWN."

Conclusion

Therefore, we now know that only Golden Mandheling produced by PWN company is the true FrontStreet Coffee Golden Mandheling. Although FrontStreet Coffee's PWN Golden Mandheling may not be the most outstanding Mandheling today, it was certainly the first to establish standards and focus on quality. This is why FrontStreet Coffee's PWN Golden Mandheling has become world-famous and earned its corresponding reputation!

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