Why Does Indonesian Mandheling Coffee Have Herbal Notes? An Introduction to Sumatran Lintong Mandheling

In FrontStreet Coffee's bean selection, the darkest roasted coffee beans are the Mandheling coffee from Indonesia. It is widely popular for its distinctive spice notes, herbal, caramel, and cocoa flavors. Therefore, many people wonder about the unique herbal flavor in Mandheling coffee and where it comes from.

First, this is undoubtedly related to the coffee bean's growing environment. Indonesia is an archipelagic country with multiple islands growing coffee, while Mandheling comes from Sumatra, the country's largest island. Mandheling is actually the name of a local ethnic minority group, but it was mistakenly recognized as the coffee bean's name and has been passed down to this day. Now, Mandheling has become synonymous with "Sumatran coffee."

Mandheling is primarily grown in the northwest of Sumatra Island, mainly concentrated in the Gayo Mountain area around Lake Tawar in the Aceh region and the Lake Toba area in North Sumatra Province. This is also the famous "two lakes, two Mandhelings." Coffee is grown on hillside elevations between 1100-1600 meters. These regions have fertile volcanic soil and abundant water resources, making them ideal for Arabica coffee cultivation and growth.

Furthermore, Indonesia has a long history of coffee cultivation. Initially in the 18th century, Arabica varieties such as Typica and Bourbon were already planted on the islands. However, later due to the emergence of coffee leaf rust disease, which damaged coffee growth, the Indonesian government began to introduce other new coffee varieties to preserve coffee production, including Robusta beans. These varieties may be the reason why Mandheling coffee has herbal and earthy flavor characteristics.

Currently, common coffee varieties in Sumatra include Ateng and TimTim. These are not new varieties - Ateng is actually the Catimor variety, while TimTim is the Timor variety. These are local names for these varieties. Only Catimor varieties grown in Sumatra and Indonesian islands can be called Ateng.

The Timor variety is the Timor Hybrid that appeared on East Timor Island. It's a natural hybrid between Arabica and Robusta varieties. It belongs to the Arabica coffee plant but has Robusta's disease-resistant genes. Catimor is a hybrid between Timor and Caturra, resulting in the first-generation F1 hybrid varieties.

Robusta has higher caffeine, amino acids, and chlorogenic acid content than Arabica, and chlorogenic acid is the source of bitterness. Therefore, it can be said that both Ateng and TimTim contain Robusta genes, giving them some herbal and earthy flavors.

Additionally, Indonesia is located in the tropics with a predominantly tropical rainforest climate. Therefore, most regions have high temperatures, abundant rainfall, short sunshine hours, and humidity that remains between 70%-90% year-round. The rainy weather makes it difficult for Indonesia to dry coffee berries through prolonged sun exposure like other countries.

Therefore, the country adapted to local conditions and developed the Wet Hulling method (called Giling Basah in Indonesian) to process coffee. In the early stages, Wet Hulling is similar to the washed method, with short sun exposure after fermentation, but the moisture content remains high. At this point, a hulling machine is used to remove the coffee bean's parchment layer, and finally, it's dried to 12%-15% moisture content. This method significantly reduces sun exposure time and allows for faster drying completion.

Although the process of using a hulling machine to remove the coffee bean's parchment layer is quite forceful, making it easy to crush and injure the green coffee beans while removing the parchment layer, some coffee beans will form cracks similar to horse hoof shapes, becoming "horse hoof beans." However, coffee processed using the Wet Hulling method is typically rich and intense with distinctive personality.

Currently, FrontStreet Coffee's introductory selected series of Lindong Mandheling consists of Ateng and TimTim varieties, processed using the Wet Hulling method. After brewing, it presents herbal and dark chocolate flavors with a rich body and high caramel-like sweetness in the aftertaste.

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