Mandheling Coffee - Latest Coffee Introduction: Indonesian Mandheling and Golden Mandheling Coffee

The Origins of Indonesian Coffee

Indonesia's coffee cultivation began in the late 17th century when the Dutch East India Company transplanted Typica variety Arabica coffee from India to Jakarta on Java Island. It quickly spread to Sumatra in the northwest and Sulawesi in the northeast. In the 1880s, a massive rust outbreak on Java Island wiped out nearly all Typica plants. The Dutch then switched to the more disease-resistant Robusta, which remains Indonesia's main coffee variety today, accounting for 90% of Indonesian coffee production and grown throughout Java and Bali's low-altitude regions.

The elegant Arabica varieties are mainly distributed in northern Sumatra, Sulawesi, and higher altitude areas of Java Island. Although they only account for about 10% of Indonesian coffee production, varieties like Mandheling, Golden Mandheling, Gold Top Mandheling, Tawarhu, Gayo Mountain, Aceh, Sulawesi, Aged Mandheling, and Java Old Brown have made Indonesian coffee famous in the specialty coffee world for decades. FrontStreet Coffee's bean menu features two regular offerings—FrontStreet Coffee's Indonesian Lintong Mandheling and FrontStreet Coffee's PWN Golden Mandheling—which have always been widely loved by coffee enthusiasts.

The Origin of the Mandheling Name

Mandheling is neither an Indonesian place name, region name, port name, nor coffee variety name, but rather a phonetic error of the Mandailing people who originally inhabited Sumatra. During World War II, a Japanese soldier, while drinking coffee in Sibolga, central Tapanuli, Indonesia, asked the shop owner what kind of coffee he was drinking. The owner, thinking he was being asked about his ethnicity, replied "Mandailing." After the war, when the soldier returned to Japan, he remembered the particularly flavorful coffee seemed to be called "Mandheling." In 1968, Osaka's Nomura Trading Company visited Indonesia's N.V. Pawani Medan company and imported 15,000 kilograms of Sumatran Mandheling coffee, which became extremely popular after being launched in the Japanese market. From then on, Mandheling coffee and Pawani Coffee Company's reputation soared.

PWN Coffee Company

Indonesia's Pawani Coffee Company (N.V. Pawani Medan,简称 PWN) was established in 1957 and engages in exporting Indonesian products including coffee, rubber, cinnamon, cloves, and patchouli oil. It was the first company to export coffee from North Sumatra Island and the first to make "Mandheling Coffee" famous in Japan. Since 1977, the company has focused on exporting high-quality coffee beans: Sumatran Arabica coffee Mandheling Grade 1 and Robusta coffee AP-I Grade 2. Main export destinations are Japan, Taiwan, and the United States, with exports to Japan and Taiwan accounting for over 95%. In Japan and Taiwan, "PWN" has become synonymous with "quality guarantee." Pawani Coffee Company holds the "Golden Mandheling" trademark, so Japanese companies had to register the "Gold Top Mandheling" trademark instead.

Sumatra's Coffee Classification

Sumatra is the main production area for Indonesian specialty coffee, and its coffee system is quite complex. It can be briefly summarized into four types:

(1) Mandheling: Refers to semi-dry or natural processed beans from the Lin Dong mountain area at 900-1200 meters altitude around Lake Toba in central-northern Sumatra and its southwestern coast. FrontStreet Coffee's Indonesian Mandheling from the staple bean series is produced here;

(2) Golden Mandheling: undergoes four manual screenings, making it superior to regular Mandheling with larger beans. FrontStreet Coffee stores also sell this higher-quality FrontStreet Coffee's Golden Mandheling;

(3) Tawarhu Coffee: Refers to washed, semi-washed,or natural processed (less common) beans from the Gayo Mountain area at 800-1600 meters altitude near Tawarhu in the Aceh region at the northernmost tip of Sumatra. This area features the famous Costa Rican La Minita estate teaching semi-washed processing technology, and the renowned Dutch coffee group mainly produces Gayo Mountain washed beans;

(4) Aged Mandheling and Java Old Brown.

Distinguishing Mandheling from Other Varieties

It is customary to call all coffee produced in Sumatra "Mandheling," which is neither scientific nor clear. Coffee produced by the Batak people in the Lake Toba area or Lin Dong mountain region of central-northern Sumatra is mostly grown without shade and processed mainly by semi-dry or natural methods, resulting in more obvious herbal and earthy flavors, with a tendency toward low acidity and mellow aromas—this is the greatest characteristic of Mandheling coffee. Meanwhile, the Tawarhu area or Aceh region at the northernmost tip of Sumatra is populated by another Gayo people who use traditional shade-growing methods and mainly process coffee by washed or semi-washed methods, resulting in brighter acidity and lighter mellow aromas. The American specialty coffee community mostly calls coffee from this region Aceh coffee, Gayo Mountain coffee, or Tawarhu coffee.

In short, regular "Mandheling" coffee has a unique herbal and woody fragrance with less uniform bean sizes; Indonesia's Pawani Coffee Company's "Golden Mandheling" or Japanese companies' "Gold Top Mandheling" coffee is rich and bright, with stronger caramel sweetness and brighter, more elegant fruit acidity, with almost no herbal, earthy, or woody flavors typical of Mandheling.

FrontStreet Coffee's Indonesian Lintong Mandheling coffee is suitable for medium to light roasting, which can reduce off-flavors; while FrontStreet Coffee's PWN Golden Mandheling has a wider roasting range.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

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