A Cup of Mandheling: Half the History of Coffee

The Understated Excellence of Mandheling Coffee

To many people, Mandheling might seem unpleasant to drink, leaving little to discuss.

In terms of flavor characteristics, today's popular specialty coffees typically begin with Yirgacheffe, which distinguishes itself from traditional coffee with its bright fruit acidity that leaves a lasting impression. This trend has only gained momentum in recent years. When FrontStreet Coffee first opened in 2013, there were only a handful of coffee shops in the city, and Yirgacheffe was quite novel at the time.

The traditional coffee that Yirgacheffe's bright acidity broke away from is represented by Indonesian Mandheling coffee. After sampling many floral and fruity coffees, one still occasionally returns to appreciate Mandheling's rich, woody aroma.

The Historical Journey of Coffee

As an international trade commodity, coffee originated from Africa and was sold to Europe. Its large-scale departure from Africa began in Indonesia.

Anyone familiar with middle school history knows that the Netherlands was the "sea coachman" of the Age of Exploration. When history delves into finer details, we find that the Netherlands established the Dutch East India Company to explore the new Eastern world. This Dutch East India Company should not be confused with Britain's East India Company—the British version was merely a later imitation of the Dutch joint-stock operation model. This "Eastern India" refers to what is now Indonesia. One of the Dutch East India Company's main businesses was establishing coffee plantations in Indonesia, which is why I say coffee's journey out of Africa began in Indonesia.

After decades of effort, the Dutch East India Company's ventures in Indonesia proved successful. How successful? The Netherlands showcased this success by gifting a coffee tree to the French king. Perhaps this boundless display of wealth led to the subsequent development of Bourbon and the expansion of coffee cultivation to South America. Two hundred years later, whether coffee trees were brought north to Yunnan by French missionary Tian Deneng or others via Vietnam, or when Fujian Governor Ding Richang issued regulations encouraging Taiwanese people to grow coffee, or when overseas Chinese workers brought coffee to Hainan farms, all these events left significant marks on history.

The Evolution of Coffee Culture

A small step for the company, a giant leap for coffee—this spanned over 300 years. Traditional merchants maintained continuity, and Mandheling, Brazilian, Colombian, and later Blue Mountain coffees were all graded by size. During this lengthy period, rich flavors also shaped our inherent impression of traditional coffee taste.

People from central China went west, Shandong people ventured northeast, and Guangdong and Fujian people headed to Southeast Asia. Therefore, for Indonesian coffee, we in the south traditionally called it "Nanyang coffee." Many overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia also made this their business. Of course, Nanyang coffee at that time wasn't the three-in-one instant coffee we know today. The Nanyang coffee business back then might not have been as difficult as it is now. For example, over a hundred years ago, Huang Yizhu, the owner of the Tianxing Grocery Store in Semarang, sold sugar and coffee, later becoming a major property owner on Gulangyu Island and one of the bosses of the Four Banks Warehouse in Shanghai. He probably never guessed that his Four Banks Warehouse would later become a symbol of resistance against Japanese aggression, nor could he have imagined that the Nanyang coffee Mandheling he once sold would become popular in Japan.

After the Meiji Restoration, Japan adopted Western systems and lifestyles, with coffee becoming a prominent symbol. In the Korean film "Assassination," when Gianna Jun's character receives her assassination mission and meets at the Milabo Cafe on the Shanghai Bund, before walking down An Jung-geun's righteous path, she does something very personal—orders a cup of coffee. Many early revolutionaries who had studied and worked in France also maintained this lifestyle habit, which was more fashionable than people might imagine.

The Golden Mandheling Story

As we all know, the violent confidence born from the Meiji Restoration eventually led to World War II, when Allied forces destroyed Japan's militarist fantasies. During the post-war reconstruction period, the Japanese people did not forget coffee. Indonesia was the closest coffee-producing region to Japan after the war, with the departure port for coffee shipments being Medan in Sumatra, Indonesia's third-largest city and the port with the largest Chinese population. Sumatran Mandheling was originally a small place name that later evolved to represent an ethnic group. Wang Gengwu, the former vice-chancellor of the University of Hong Kong who was born in Southeast Asia in the 1930s, mentioned in his memoirs a classmate of his from the Mandheling ethnic group.

So what about Golden Mandheling? PAWANI is a trading company in Medan operated by overseas Chinese from Quanzhou, established against this historical backdrop. In 1957, it began its export business, including exporting rubber, cassia seed, cloves, patchouli oil to Japan, and also Sumatran coffee beans. I'm not entirely certain whether it was the first to call Sumatran coffee beans "Mandheling," but to indicate that it offered selected Mandheling, PAWANI registered the name "Golden Mandheling" to distinguish itself from other exporters.

Golden Mandheling became a well-known name perhaps due to its selected origins and three rounds of hand-sorting, which emphasized quality standards. Of course, its price is considerably higher than other Mandheling coffees, with main export destinations being Japan and the United States. It is rarely seen domestically. Earlier on, even obtaining reliable information about it was difficult, resulting in FrontStreet Coffee's single image being repeatedly shared until it became blurred.

Isn't Golden Mandheling widely available on Taobao now? There are more than before, but if you look carefully, many aren't genuine—most merely use similar names to create an illusion. Of course, PWN Golden Mandheling doesn't differ significantly in flavor from regular Mandheling; the distinction is limited to slight nuances in aroma layers and the price of green beans. For many, it's more about sentimentality.

Conclusion

Indonesia initiated overseas coffee cultivation, introduced grading systems, and brought 300 years of rich coffee flavors. Sometimes, true excellence is found in unassuming places. Mandheling is precisely such an unremarkable yet flavor-rich coffee.

As for how Japan, after becoming wealthy, bought everything globally and popularized Blue Mountain coffee—that's another story similar to that of a nouveau riche, which I'll discuss another time if I have the opportunity.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473