Introduction to the Flavor Profile and Taste Characteristics of Indonesian Bali Kopi Luwak Coffee Beans - Indonesian Premium Mandheling Coffee Beans Review

Indonesian coffee is most famous for Mandheling, which has a strong coffee flavor, mellow taste, and slightly syrupy flavor that is deeply loved in Japan. Today, FrontStreet Coffee would like to introduce another type of Indonesian coffee, which comes from the tourist destination: Bali coffee.

Indonesia consists of more than 17,000 islands scattered along the equatorial volcanic belt. Indonesia straddles both sides of the equator, with a humid tropical rainforest climate with abundant rainfall, and fertile volcanic soil that brings rich nutrients. The best planting areas in the entire archipelago are on Java, Sumatra, and Sulawesi islands.

Indonesian Coffee Flavor

Overall, Indonesian coffee has a strong flavor, mellow taste, and slightly syrupy taste, with excellent acidity. Its two main export markets are Germany and Japan, which indirectly reflects the excellent quality of this coffee. What attracts consumers is its superior quality characteristic of Arabica coffee beans. Indonesian coffee has a strong flavor, mellow taste, and slightly syrupy flavor, but the disadvantage is that it may also have uncomfortable harshness or slight musty flavor, while others show earthy notes.

Indonesian Coffee Cultivation History

In the mid-17th century, coffee trees were introduced to Indonesia by the Dutch (some official sources believe it was earlier). Such genuine production was also very scarce. The Dutch were the first to bring coffee to Central and South America in the 1720s. Coffee was transmitted from Dutch colonies to French Guiana and Brazil. During the process of external colonization, the Dutch planted coffee in Malabar, India, and brought coffee to Batavia, Java (now Indonesia) in 1699. At that time, Indonesians called this new crop "KOPI," a name that is still used today.

In 1712, the first batch of coffee from Java was sold to Amsterdam. However, in 1877, due to a major environmental disaster, all coffee trees in the plantations were destroyed by coffee leaf rust disease, and Robusta coffee trees had to be introduced from Africa to replace the original species. Indonesian Robusta coffee accounts for about 85% of total production, with Arabica at 15%. Robusta is concentrated in southern Sumatra, while Arabica is in northern Sumatra. Currently, Indonesia's coffee cultivation area exceeds 1 million hectares, with 90% operated by small farmers.

Today, only 6%-10% of coffee beans are Arabica coffee beans. Indonesia is one of the world's four largest coffee exporting countries, producing 6.8 million bags of coffee annually, with most coffee coming from small plantations, accounting for about 90% of total production.

Sumatra Island:

The best coffee from Sumatra comes from two places: in the northern part of Sumatra, the Central Aceh region near Lake Tawar, and in the more southern region, the mountains surrounding Lake Toba. Due to many small tenant farmers' production methods and their unique semi-washed processing method and lack of soil iron content, coffee beans from this region will have a special blue color in the fresh green bean stage.

Golden Mandheling is produced in the northern (Lintong) region of Sumatra, Indonesia. The harvesting operation is limited to manually picking single ripe fruits to ensure initial bean selection quality. Coffee cherries are processed using the SEMI-WASHED semi-washed method, naturally sun-dried, and after hulling, undergo another drying refinement process, two green bean cleaning procedures, and four Hand-Pick manual selection processes. Therefore, it can be said to be a strictly selected top-grade Mandheling coffee. Golden Mandheling marked with "PWN" is the abbreviation of Indonesia's Pawani company, whose Golden Mandheling coffee has been registered in Indonesia.

Bali:

Although belonging to the Indonesian coffee family, Bali's coffee farmers feel that the quality of Indonesian coffee is inconsistent and does not match Bali's high-quality coffee standards, so they established their own identity, calling themselves "Bali coffee" to distinguish it from Indonesian coffee. Bali not only has Arabica coffee beans but is also rich in Robusta coffee beans. According to data, Bali Golden Coffee is grafted from the roots of Arabica coffee trees and the branches and leaves of Robusta coffee, commonly known as the [Catimor] variety.

Coffee arrived in Bali relatively late. It initially grew in the Kintamani highlands at altitudes of 1000 to 1500 meters. Coffee production was severely affected in 1963 when the Gunung Agung volcano erupted, causing more than 20,000 deaths and widespread destruction in eastern Bali. By the late 1970s and early 1980s, the government promoted coffee production by distributing Arabica seedlings, but some believe this had limited effect, as today about 80% of the island's production is mostly Robusta beans. Although tourism provides the largest income, agriculture employs the most people on the island, and Japan was the largest buyer in the past, with harvest periods from May to October.

Civet Coffee (Luwak):

Civet coffee, coming from Bali, is not famous for its origin but for its unique new processing method. A mammal called the civet eats ripe coffee cherries, and only the fruit pulp on the outside is digested, while the extremely hard original coffee beans are excreted. After manual selection, cleaning, sun-drying, deodorization, screening, processing, roasting, and several other processes, it becomes "civet coffee." This coffee, due to its very limited production and because of its rarity and special flavor, has become one of the rarest coffees in the world and one of the most expensive.

Civets mainly inhabit tropical rainforests, subtropical evergreen broadleaf forest edge shrubs, and grasslands in hills, mountains, and other areas below 2100 meters altitude, choosing rock caves, soil holes, or tree holes as habitat sites. The variety of these coffee beans is generally mainly Robusta, because civets' active range is in middle and low altitudes, so most coffee varieties are Robusta. High-altitude Arabica civet coffee production is scarce.

Indonesian low-altitude Robusta coffee originally has earthy and herbal medicine flavors, with high consistency. Therefore, this civet coffee has the earthy flavor of aged beans with consistency almost approaching syrup, and a very special aroma. If you prefer the earthy flavor of Indonesian aged beans or Indian monsooned beans, you might fall in love with the flavor of civet coffee.

How Should Civet Coffee Be Brewed?

To better express the herbal flavor and rich mouthfeel of civet coffee, FrontStreet Coffee roasts civet coffee beans using medium-dark roasting. Medium-dark roasted beans generally have a higher dehydration rate, so they are lighter in weight. During brewing, the powder does not completely sink to the bottom. When water is first injected, it is immediately absorbed. Due to vigorous degassing, there are bubbles around the powder, creating channels. The fresher the beans, the longer these channels are maintained, causing the water level to drop quickly. I generally use a coarse water flow and slowly circle around.

The KONO dripper can bring out a more rounded and mellow mouthfeel, with more direct flavor expression. However, the KONO dripper has relatively poor degassing effect because its ribs are straight, and the depth is only one-quarter of the dripper. Except for the position above this one-quarter, it forms a sealed state tightly against the cup wall. I would choose the KONO dripper because the only degassing part of this dripper is in those one-quarter ribs. When the water level passes the rib area, the dripper's water volume continuously increases, creating pressure through the weight of the water. Since the outlet is relatively small, it can extend the contact time between coffee particles and water. With the water flow driving, this can more effectively extract soluble substances, generally achieving the high richness effect that guests expect.

Brewing Parameters:

Water temperature: 86-87°C
Grind size: Fine sugar
Powder-to-water ratio: 1:15 (15g powder - 225ml water)

1. First pour 30g of water for a 25-second bloom.

2. After the bloom ends, pour the second water to 125g on the scale. After pouring, wait for the water level to drop to half.

3. When the coffee bed is about to be exposed, pour the third water amount to 225g on the scale. Coffee extraction takes about 1'50-2'00 seconds total.

Civet Coffee Flavor Description:

Herbal, nutty, smooth mouthfeel, rich and mellow.

Important Notice :

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