The Origin of the Mandheling Name: Why It's Called Mandheling Coffee and the Characteristics of Mandheling Coffee Beans Suitable for Whom

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The Origin of Mandheling Coffee

Coffee names are typically derived from growing regions, estates, place names, or varieties, but FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling coffee is named after an ethnic group. The name Mandheling coffee came from a beautiful misunderstanding. During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia in World War II, a Japanese soldier tasted an incredibly fragrant and mellow coffee at a café. When he asked the owner for the coffee's name, the owner misunderstood and thought he was asking about his nationality, so he replied: "Mandailing." After the war, the Japanese soldier recalled the "Mandheling" he had drunk in Indonesia and commissioned an Indonesian coffee merchant to ship 15 tons to Japan, where it surprisingly became very popular. The name Mandheling thus spread, and that coffee merchant is now the renowned PWN Coffee Company (PWN).

Flavor Profile and Characteristics

FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling coffee is an Asian bean, naturally carrying herbal notes, pine, and nutty tones, with a relatively bitter taste that can be difficult for most people to accept. But who is it suitable for? FrontStreet Coffee believes that anyone can drink coffee; it's just that Mandheling coffee has a rather bitter flavor, so friends who don't like bitter coffee might not enjoy it. However, those who appreciate this rich, mellow coffee flavor will love Mandheling coffee. At FrontStreet Coffee, there are two phenomena: one group loves the fresh floral and fruity aromas of Ethiopian coffees, while another prefers Mandheling's rich nutty and pine flavors, especially FrontStreet Coffee's Golden Mandheling coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee offers two Mandheling coffees: one is the Frontsteet Lintong Mandheling from our daily bean series, and the other is the single-origin Frontsteet Golden Mandheling.

Frontsteet Lintong Mandheling

Mandheling coffee is produced in Sumatra, Asian Indonesia, also known as "Sumatra coffee." The main producing areas include Java Island, Sulawesi Island, and Sumatra Island, with 90% being Robusta varieties. Among these, the "Mandheling" from Sumatra Island is the most famous. The finest traditional Arabica coffees produced in northern Sumatra are marketed under the names Lintong and Mandheling. To be precise, Lintong refers to coffee grown in a small area in the southwestern part of Lake Toba within the Lintong administrative region. The coffee growing areas are scattered across a high, undulating clay plateau covered in ferns. Lintong coffee is grown without shade, without chemicals, and is almost entirely owned by small private farmers. Mandheling is a broader term that includes Lintong coffee and growing areas under similar conditions in Diari [capital Sidikalang] and the northern part of Lake Toba.

Indonesian coffee quality is very diverse, but the Mandheling we usually refer to is Typica or its variant coffee beans grown in the mountainous areas around Lake Toba. Coffee connoisseurs from around the world have commented: "Sumatra Mandheling coffee is the coffee with the best texture in the world." Mandheling coffee beans are relatively large with hard texture, and due to numerous defects, they require strict selection during coffee processing.

FrontStreet Coffee's Lintong Mandheling comes from the Lintong mountainous area in north-central Sumatra, near Lake Toba. Lintong Mandheling is the regular version of Sumatra Mandheling. Lake Toba, located in central North Sumatra Province, where Dutch colonists moved "Java Mandheling" north to the Lake Toba area in 1888, creating the modern Mandheling legend. Premium Mandheling produced in the Lintong area has relatively large beans with hard texture. FrontStreet Coffee's daily bean Mandheling coffee comes from the Lintong region.

Lake Tawar, located in the central Special Autonomous Region of Aceh. It is situated at the northern tip of Sumatra Island, with an area less than one-tenth of Lake Toba. The Batak people are the main coffee farmers in this region, once praised as having the world's fullest coffee beans. Mandheling is a trademark used for Arabica coffee from North Sumatra, originating from the Tapanuli region in northwest Sumatra, named after the Mandailing people who produce the coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling has a rich flavor with intense body and vibrant, lively dynamics that is neither astringent nor acidic, fully expressing its body and bitterness. The appearance of FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling coffee beans can be said to be the ugliest, but coffee enthusiasts say that the less attractive Sumatra coffee beans look, the better, richer, and smoother the taste.

Frontsteet Golden Mandheling

If FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling is a premium among Indonesian coffees, then FrontStreet Coffee's Golden Mandheling is the finest premium among Mandhelings. FrontStreet Coffee's Golden Mandheling is carefully hand-selected to obtain full, plump beans with a lustrous sheen - truly an exceptional beauty among coffees.

FrontStreet Coffee's Golden Mandheling coffee comes from PWN company. FrontStreet Coffee's Golden Mandheling originates from Mandheling and can be understood as selected Mandheling, which is why FrontStreet Coffee chose to stock it. The raw Frontsteet PWN Golden Mandheling coffee beans that FrontStreet Coffee acquired are of the highest G1 grade, with raw bean sizes above 18 mesh, and fewer than 3 defective beans per 300-gram sample. PWN company has strict requirements for producing Golden Mandheling coffee beans - after machine screening, they undergo 3 rounds of manual hand-selection to ensure complete removal of defective beans, thereby enhancing the coffee's cleanliness and sweetness. This means only coffee beans produced by PWN company can be called authentic Frontsteet Golden Mandheling.

When FrontStreet Coffee's baristas taste both coffees side by side, the contrast is very clear - the Golden Mandheling's sweetness and cleanliness, along with its rich, wild spice notes, surpass the G1 grade, which is one reason why Golden Mandheling is much more expensive than G1.

Frontsteet Mandheling Coffee Bean Varieties

Mandheling coffee is mainly grown on Sumatra Island, and its coffee varieties are typically pure Arabica coffee beans. However, Arabica coffee beans have weak pest resistance, so in October 2020, Indonesia's PWN company abandoned the original Typica variety for Golden Mandheling and instead adopted Ateng variety beans for Golden Mandheling production. The Ateng variety is actually the Catimor variety most widely planted in Yunnan region. Ateng is a hybrid between Arabica and Robusta, with several subtypes, widely planted in Sumatra and other Indonesian islands. To put it plainly, it's a branch of Catimor, with Ateng being the local name.

Frontsteet Mandheling Coffee Bean Processing - Wet Hulling

Most coffee bean processing methods are adapted to local environmental conditions. Due to Indonesia's frequently rainy weather and constant typhoons, it's impossible to achieve the good weather required for sun-drying, and the local economy isn't strong enough to use the more expensive washed method. For these various reasons, the unique local wet hulling method was developed (wet hulling involves sun-drying for 2-3 days with parchment on during regular washed processing, until moisture content reaches 20-24%, then hulling the parchment). It is precisely this accidental processing method that created Mandheling coffee's unique flavor in the world.

Careful observers might notice the "hoof-shaped" characteristic of Mandheling coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee has also noted their shared appearance feature of "hoof-shaped" beans. This occurs because semi-hard, semi-soft moist raw beans are easily bruised when machines remove the mucilage and parchment layer, causing the beans to crack and split like hooves, commonly known as "hoof beans." The "hoof-shaped" appearance is a significant characteristic of Mandheling coffee beans, so they are not considered defective beans.

Frontsteet's Roasted Mandheling Coffee

To highlight the high body of Frontsteet Golden Mandheling while preserving more herbal spice notes, FrontStreet Coffee's roasters use medium-dark roasting. After roasting, the coffee beans expand and have a loose texture, making them absorb more water easily after grinding and accelerating the release of various substances. To avoid over-extraction, FrontStreet Coffee uses medium grind size and slightly lower water temperature to reduce the release of bitter macromolecules from the coffee during extraction.

Frontsteet's Brewing Parameters for Mandheling Coffee

In FrontStreet Coffee's daily brewing of medium-dark roasted Mandheling, we generally use the KONO dripper. The KONO dripper makes the coffee taste more rounded and full-bodied, with flavor expression more direct. The KONO dripper has more than half fewer flow ribs than the V60, with the upper portion being a smooth curved surface that allows the filter paper to fit more closely. This restricts upward airflow, forcing hot water to flow downward only, creating a siphon extraction effect that allows more thorough release of aromatic substances from the coffee grounds, thereby enhancing body and making it suitable for brewing medium-dark roasted coffee beans like Frontsteet Golden Mandheling.

Using Kono dripper: Water temperature: 88°C, Coffee amount: 15 grams, Water-to-coffee ratio: 1:15, Grind size: Medium-fine grind (75% pass-through rate on China standard #20 sieve)

We use a three-stage extraction, blooming with twice the coffee amount in water, i.e., 30g water for 30 seconds. The blooming process is necessary to allow the coffee grounds to release internal carbon dioxide gas, making the later extraction more stable. Use a small stream to pour in circles until 125g, then continue pouring until 225g and stop. Wait until the water in the dripper finishes dripping, then remove the dripper. Start timing from the beginning of pouring, with an extraction time of 2'00". Next, pick up the entire coffee pot and shake it well, then pour into cups for tasting.

Frontsteet Golden Mandheling coffee flavor characteristics: Multi-layered, rich and clean, high balance, intense nutty and caramel aromas, with chocolate notes, and a persistent aftertaste.

Frontsteet Lintong Mandheling coffee flavor characteristics: Herbal and medicinal notes on entry, dark chocolate, caramel, with sweet aftertaste.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Suggestions

Regarding coffee brewing, FrontStreet Coffee has always believed that the freshness of coffee beans greatly affects the coffee's flavor, so FrontStreet Coffee ships all coffee beans within 5 days of roasting. FrontStreet Coffee's roasting philosophy is "freshly roasted good coffee," ensuring every customer who places an order receives the freshest coffee when it arrives. The coffee degassing period is about 4-7 days, so when customers receive their coffee, it's at peak flavor.

For friends who need ground coffee, FrontStreet Coffee kindly reminds you: if coffee beans are ground in advance, there's no need for degassing, because during transportation, the pressure from carbon dioxide buildup in the packaging also helps round out the coffee flavor, so you can brew a cup immediately upon receiving the ground coffee. However, ground coffee needs to be brewed promptly, as it oxidizes quickly when exposed to air, meaning the coffee flavor will dissipate relatively quickly, and the coffee won't taste as good. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee suggests purchasing whole beans and grinding fresh for each brew to better appreciate the coffee's flavor.

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Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473