What Are the Characteristics of the World's Top 10 Mandheling Coffee? What's the Difference Between Mandheling and Golden Mandheling? What Does G1 Grade Mean?

Because in FrontStreet Coffee's bean list, there are two single-origin beans named Mandheling. One is FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling from the Daily Selection Series, and the other is FrontStreet Coffee's PWN Gold Mandheling, which often appears in articles. Therefore, customers often ask about the differences between these two. So without further ado, today FrontStreet Coffee will share the differences between FrontStreet Coffee's Lintong Mandheling and FrontStreet Coffee's Gold Mandheling!

What is "Mandheling"?

First, we need to know what "Mandheling" is. "Mandheling" neither refers to a specific coffee variety, nor a particular growing region, and certainly not the name of any estate/cooperative. It refers to coffee produced on the island of Sumatra. As for the story of Mandheling, I believe everyone is already familiar with it. Simply put: there is an ethnic group in Sumatra called "Mandailing," which mainly relies on coffee cultivation and business for their livelihood. However, due to a mistake, coffee produced in Sumatra was mistakenly named "Mandheling" (a mispronunciation of Mandailing), and subsequently, coffee exported under the name "Mandheling" became widely popular in Japan. Since then, all coffee beans produced in Sumatra have followed suit and been sold under the popular name "Mandheling."

So we can know that Mandheling is a mistranslation of "Mandailing," and it represents coffee produced in Sumatra.

What are the differences between FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling and FrontStreet Coffee's Gold Mandheling?

First is their origin! The Mandheling from the Daily Selection Series is produced in the Lintong mountainous area around Lake Toba in the north-central part of Sumatra Island. The altitude of the Lintong region is 1100-1600 meters. The most classic Mandheling flavor that people talk about comes from Lintong, which is why FrontStreet Coffee chose this classic (Mandheling) from this region as part of their daily selection (also known as FrontStreet Coffee's Lintong Mandheling). FrontStreet Coffee's Gold Mandheling, on the other hand, is produced from Gayo Mountain in the northwestern part of Sumatra Island. The name Gayo Mountain comes from the local Gayo ethnic group. The altitude of this region is 1300-1600 meters, which is slightly higher than the Lintong region. This region has been a popular Indonesian growing area in recent years because the coffee produced here is cleaner than that from Lintong, making it a new favorite among many specialty coffee enthusiasts.

Secondly, the varieties they use are somewhat different. FrontStreet Coffee's Indonesian Mandheling, as a daily bean, is a blend of two different varieties: Tim Tim and Ateng, while FrontStreet Coffee's Gold Mandheling is a single Arabica variety: Ateng. (Ateng is the Indonesian name for the localized Catimor, meaning Ateng = Catimor). Both FrontStreet Coffee's Lintong Mandheling and FrontStreet Coffee's Gold Mandheling are the highest grade coffee beans from Sumatra. Indonesia's coffee bean grading standards are based on a combination of size and defect rate, with the highest grade being G1. The size requirement is that the coffee beans must reach 18 screen size, and the defect requirement is that no more than 3 defects are allowed per 300g of green coffee beans.

Due to the short local sunlight hours, conventional processing methods that require long sunlight exposure, such as natural and washed processing, are not suitable for the region. The processing method used locally is mainly Wet Hulling. However, Wet Hulling has a disadvantage, which is inconsistent quality. For example, the most well-known aspect is a "violent" dehulling step during processing, which can easily cause the coffee beans to be crushed during removal, becoming defective beans or elephant beans. Therefore, local coffee beans generally undergo manual hand-sorting to remove defects and elephant beans. Most G1 grade Mandheling undergoes three rounds of manual sorting. FrontStreet Coffee's Lintong Mandheling is a perfect G1 grade model.

Although FrontStreet Coffee's Gold Mandheling is also G1 grade, it goes beyond that. The PWN company, which produces FrontStreet Coffee's Gold Mandheling, is committed to creating the highest quality Mandheling, different from other Mandhelings, so the production standards for FrontStreet Coffee's Gold Mandheling have higher requirements. The size standard for FrontStreet Coffee's Gold Mandheling must reach 19 screen size or above, while the defect standard is the same as the former. However, the difference is that before manual sorting of defective beans, FrontStreet Coffee's Gold Mandheling also undergoes a color sorter screening.

Through the color sorter, those hard-to-detect defective beans are screened out, and then after three rounds of manual removal of defective beans, the resulting Mandheling not only has a lower defect rate but also very uniform color and size. Below is a comparison of the two green bean images, showing that the differences between them are quite significant.

Left: FrontStreet Coffee's Lintong Mandheling green beans Right: FrontStreet Coffee's Gold Mandheling green beans

This might be what people often say: some people score 100 because they can only score 100, while others score 100 because the score limit is only 100. Finally, let's talk about flavor. To better interpret the "Mandheling flavor," FrontStreet Coffee uses dark roast for both FrontStreet Coffee's Mandhelings.

Then, cupping is used to taste the coffee, avoiding the impact of manual brewing on extraction. FrontStreet Coffee's Lintong Mandheling daily bean shows excellent cupping performance, with flavors of pine, chocolate, toasted bread, and Mandheling's unique "dense, mellow aroma," with a very full-bodied mouthfeel. FrontStreet Coffee's Gold Mandheling, on the other hand, tastes cleaner, without too many herbal or other off-flavors, with flavors of chocolate, spices, pine, and nuts, with a clean and full-bodied mouthfeel, and an excellent caramel sweetness in the aftertaste.

Both are excellent. FrontStreet Coffee's Lintong Mandheling daily bean directly showcases the Indonesian regional flavor, while FrontStreet Coffee's Gold Mandheling has higher cleanliness on top of the original foundation. Through direct comparison, FrontStreet Coffee believes that each has its own merits, and how to choose specifically depends on which type you prefer.

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473