Sumatra Coffee Beans: Elevation, Cultural Significance, Stories, Pricing, and Flavor Profile

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Indonesian Sumatra Mandheling Premium Coffee Beans

Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic country. Arabica coffee was introduced and began cultivation during the Dutch colonial period in the 18th century. Until modern times, it has become one of the top five coffee-producing countries globally, with main producing regions located on the islands of Sumatra, Java, and Sulawesi. The northern part of Sumatra Island has relatively high terrain and elevation. The Aceh province where Lake Tawar is located and North Sumatra where Lake Toba sits (Lintong is located in this province) are the main Arabica coffee-producing areas.

(I) FrontStreet Coffee Aceh Sumatra Tiger Mandheling

Region: Aceh

Varieties: Caturra, Typica, Sidikalong

Soil: Volcanic soil

Altitude: 1500m

Processing Method: Wet Hulling

01 | Region Introduction

Indonesia is an archipelagic country with main producing regions located on the islands of Sumatra, Java, and Sulawesi. The northern part of Sumatra Island has relatively high terrain and elevation. The Aceh province where Lake Tawar is located and North Sumatra where Lake Toba sits are the main Arabica coffee-producing areas. Lake Tawar is located in the Gayo mountainous area of northern Sumatra's Aceh province. Indonesia, straddling both sides of the equator, has a humid tropical rainforest climate with abundant rainfall and fertile volcanic soil that provides rich nutrients for coffee. However, due to its remote location and inconvenient transportation, coffee cultivation only began in 1924, mostly using traditional shade-grown, pesticide-free organic farming methods.

In Aceh, coffee is the second-largest export economic crop in the region. It is estimated that there are about 60,000 small-scale coffee farmers locally, each owning about 1-2 hectares of coffee cultivation land. The traditional coffee trade method in Indonesia involves multiple point-to-point supply chains, starting from farmers, going through multiple layers of intermediaries, before gradually accumulating into large export shipments. In Indonesia's coffee trading system, direct trade where a single window receives goods from farmers and arranges export is quite rare.

02 | Processing Method

Wet Hulling, also known as Wet Hulling, is called Giling Basah in the local language and is a traditional Indonesian coffee processing method. Judging by the name alone, Wet Hulling seems similar to wet processing (washed processing), however, the cupping flavors of these two processing methods are completely different. Coffee processed with Wet Hulling typically has a rich and intense flavor with a very distinct personality.

Wet Hulling Processing Steps:

1. Remove fruit skin and pulp, retaining parchment and mucilage
2. Ferment in water tanks
3. Wash away mucilage
4. Sun-dry with parchment for 2-3 days until moisture content reaches 20-24%
5. Hull off the parchment
6. Dry green beans to 12-13% moisture content
7. Prepare for export

Why Use Wet Hulling?

a. Climate Reasons

The tradition of using Wet Hulling in Indonesia stems from local weather conditions. Indonesia's humidity remains between 70-90% year-round with constant typhoons. In some areas, annual rainfall can even reach as much as 2,000mm. As we know, green beans fear rain most. How does Indonesia overcome such harsh weather conditions to produce rich and mellow Mandheling coffee? That's where Wet Hulling comes in.

Under tropical climate conditions, coffee takes an average of 2-3 weeks to dry. In Indonesia's humid climate, drying coffee becomes a significant problem. Coffee drying must take longer, and during this time, the coffee still maintains high humidity, making it easier for bacteria to penetrate the green beans.

FrontStreet Coffee discovered that in regular washed processing, the drying process is carried out with parchment on to protect the green beans from external damage to some extent. However, FrontStreet Coffee noted that Wet Hulling removes the parchment for the final drying step, allowing sunlight to directly hit the surface of the green beans, making them dry 2-3 times faster than washed processing.

b. Economic Benefits

Dutch colonists first introduced coffee to Indonesia in the 17th century. These colonists pursued more and faster economic returns. Wet Hulling greatly reduces the time spent on the farm and significantly lowers labor costs. This aligns with the investor mentality of pursuing quick profits and reducing costs. This is also a reason driving the Wet Hulling method.

c. Defects and Kuku Kambing (Goat Hoof Beans)

When hulling off the parchment in Wet Hulling, the coffee's moisture content is still as high as 20-24%, whereas in regular processing methods, coffee moisture content is reduced to 10-12% before hulling. In a "semi-dry" state, the parchment tends to adhere to the surface of green beans, making hulling more difficult than "fully dry" hulling, requiring greater friction during the hulling process.

But on the other hand, "semi-dry" green beans are very fragile at this point, with hardness far inferior to "fully dry" beans, so the beans are more easily squeezed and injured, forming small cracks. This is what we commonly call horse hoof or goat hoof beans (locally called kuku kambing).

The ultra-fast speed of Wet Hulling processing also results in higher defect rates in Mandheling. The processing plant arranges employees for manual defect sorting, generally with DP (double picking) and TP (triple picking). Mandheling that has undergone triple picking will have a better defect rate than double picking.

03 | Green Bean Analysis

FrontStreet Coffee Indonesia Tiger Mandheling

The varieties of FrontStreet Coffee's Indonesia Tiger Mandheling are Caturra, Typica, and Sidikalong.

Caturra has a flavor with lemon or citrus acidity. In terms of sweetness, it doesn't compare to Typica and Bourbon because Caturra's sweetness depends on the frequency and dosage of fertilization by growers. It has high productivity, but to maintain productivity, continuous fertilization and pruning are required, resulting in short plants with many branches. Although productivity increases, the 2-year harvest period and higher care costs still restrict production.

Typica is the variety closest to the original species. The bean shape is slightly elongated, like a stretched egg, and is called Arabigo or criollo in Central America. It has clean lemon acidity, sweet aftertaste, low resistance to leaf rust disease, making care difficult. The plant has low solid yield, plus a long harvest period (once every 2 years), resulting in limited production.

FrontStreet Coffee's Tiger Mandheling green beans are round, greenish-yellow, with good uniformity and high moisture content. FrontStreet Coffee's roasting target is medium-dark roast to eliminate excessive acidity and enhance its body and balance.

In the first batch of roasting, the dropping temperature was relatively high, with an entry temperature of 200 degrees and relatively high heat. During the roasting process, since this bean's altitude is only medium and the bean texture is very soft, to remove excess moisture and avoid astringency from insufficient dehydration, a roasting technique of extending dehydration time with heat reduction sliding was adopted. Heat was adjusted down when the beans entered the yellowing point, after dehydration completion, and before first crack to avoid bean surface scorching. The beans were dropped 4 minutes after the end of first crack and 20 seconds before second crack, extending the caramelization reaction time to reflect its excellent cleanliness and sweetness.

Roasting machine: Yangjia 600g semi-direct flame

Preheat to 200°C, open damper to 3. After 30 seconds, adjust heat to 160°C, damper unchanged. Return to temperature at 1'45", maintain heat. At 5'18", bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, entering dehydration stage. Reduce heat to 140°C, adjust damper to 4.

At 7'30" dehydration completed, reduce heat to 140°C. At 8'55", bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and black spots, toast aroma clearly turns to coffee aroma, can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this time, listen carefully for the first crack sound. At 9'00" first crack begins, reduce heat to 110°C, open damper fully to 5 (adjust heat very carefully, not so small that there's no crack sound). Develop for 4'00" after first crack, drop at 203°C.

This Tiger Mandheling has a relatively balanced flavor, high cleanliness, with distinct cream, dark chocolate, and nut flavors.

(II) Golden Mandheling

01 | Region Introduction

Indonesia's main coffee producing areas include Sumatra Island, Java Island, and Sulawesi Island, among which "Mandheling" produced on Sumatra Island is the most famous.

Mandheling, also known as "Sumatra Coffee," mostly produces Gayo in North Sumatra, with Ateng variety as the main type. Lake Tawar in the north can be called Aceh coffee or Lake Tawar coffee. Lintong in South Sumatra and the Lake Toba area can be called Mandheling. The Lintong area is the actual Mandheling producing region. The best Mandheling varieties include four types: Sidikalang, Bergendar, Siborong borong, and Telok Sanggul.

Lake Toba, located in central North Sumatra Province. Dutch colonists moved "Java Mandheling" north to the Lake Toba area in 1888, creating the modern Mandheling legend.

Lake Tawar, located in central Aceh Special Administrative Region. Located at the northern tip of Sumatra Island, with an area less than one-tenth of Lake Toba. However, in recent years, coffee quality and production have surpassed Lake Toba.

The Gayo Mountains are located in the Aceh producing region of northern Sumatra Province. Most coffee farmers working in Gayo are local farmers. The term "Gayo" comes from a tribe in Indonesia's Aceh region. This area has ideal growing conditions, long historical culture, and unique flavors. The region widely uses organic methods to grow coffee without chemical fertilizers and is considered a world green coffee production area. Therefore, Gayo coffee is often called green coffee or Gayo organic coffee.

What is "Golden Mandheling"?

Speaking of "Golden Mandheling," we must start with PWN. This abbreviation is often mixed with Mandheling coffee names. It's actually an abbreviation for a company - Pwani Coffee Company.

This company is a very famous coffee acquisition company in Indonesia, mainly acquiring Mandheling coffee. Almost all the best producing areas in Indonesia are acquired by it, so most beans from PWN company are unique specialty coffees. Golden Mandheling is a product produced by this company. After acquiring green beans, they undergo multiple manual selections to pick out full, defect-free beans. Only these fine beans that have undergone layer-by-layer screening, like experiencing a talent show, can be classified as Golden Mandheling.

However, PWN company has registered "Golden Mandheling" as a trademark, meaning that in the future, only Golden Mandheling produced by PWN company can be considered genuine "Golden Mandheling." Many beans on the market not from PWN company but labeled as Golden Mandheling should actually be called Specialty Mandheling.

"Golden Mandheling" is merely a product named by the company.

FrontStreet Coffee's Golden Mandheling also uses Wet Hulling. The flavor of Wet Hulling, aside from those subtle differences, we generally believe that Wet Hulling beans have earthy, smoky, and chocolate flavors. Acidity is described as "low acidity," rich and mellow yet seemingly dull.

Low acidity comes from a shorter, less effective fermentation process and longer drying time. If you forget about Wet Hulling fermentation, go back and review. As for the "earthy flavor" and other flavors of Wet Hulling beans, opinions vary. Some say it's related to the bean varieties selected in Wet Hulling-related producing areas (Timor hybrid & Catimor: with Robusta blood), some say it's the result of organic interaction between green beans and the external environment, and some even say it's because there are too many defect beans! Of course, there are quite many...

03 | Green Bean Analysis

Golden Mandheling Gold Mandheling Green Beans

Golden Mandheling

Origin: Sumatra Island, Indonesia

Processing Method: Wet Hulling

Variety: Typica

Roast Level: Medium-Dark

FrontStreet Coffee chooses to drop before second crack, retaining some soft acidity. The flavor is high in sweetness, fragrant, rich and mellow. Flavor notes: toasted bread, pine, caramel, cocoa, with slight earthy notes.

In the specialty coffee system, Sumatra coffee is a wonderful existence. You see, the famous Mandheling is actually not the name of a producing region, nor the name of a coffee bean variety, and even its bean variety origins are so mixed up.

Ateng - A hybrid variety between Arabica and Robusta, with several subtypes, widely planted in Sumatra and other Indonesian islands. To put it bluntly, it's a branch of Catimor, with Ateng being the local name.

Djember - A search on Baidu shows Djember is a place name in Sumatra. It looks quite mysterious, but the variety is actually S-795. Since this variety was spread to the island by the Jember Coffee Research Center, locals call S-795 by this name.

What is S-795? It's a hybrid created by Indian botanists crossing the Typica mutant Kent with S-288.

What is S-288? It's a natural hybrid of Arabica and Liberica.

TimTim - This is Timor Hybrid, which translates to Timor Hybrid, i.e., a hybrid of Arabica and Robusta. Our familiar Catimor is created by hybridizing it again.

Tim Tim - Longberry Mandheling

Tim Tim is a bean from Indonesia. Due to its long shape, many people call it horse face bean, and some call it long Mandheling. Actually, Tim Tim is not a pure variety but a natural hybrid of Arabica coffee trees and Robusta coffee trees. This variety was discovered on Timor Island in the 1940s and was cultivated due to its natural disease resistance. In America, this variety is called Hybrido de Timor, abbreviated as Tim Tim. In Indonesia, this variety is also called Bor Bor.

04 | Roasting Analysis

Golden Mandheling belongs to green beans with relatively high moisture content, with a high deviation value in moisture compared to natural process beans, so special attention must be paid during dehydration. For green beans with high moisture content, you can immediately close the damper after putting in the beans, steam for 30 seconds, then open to 3 until the beans turn light green or white, then open damper to 4, and after first crack, open to 5 (maximum).

FrontStreet Coffee suggests making good data records before roasting: coffee bean moisture content, density, origin, processing method, roasting environment temperature and humidity in the roasting room, etc. Plan your roasting curve well. Record relevant chemical and physical change phenomena during the roasting process, which will help you better understand the final roasting results and improve the roasting curve.

Roasting Curve:

Preheat to 200°C, open damper to 3. After 1 minute, adjust heat to 160°C, damper unchanged. Roast to 5'40", temperature 148°C, bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, dehydration completed. Adjust heat to 140°C, change damper to 4.

At 9'40 minutes, bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and black spots, toast aroma clearly turns to coffee aroma, can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this time, listen carefully for the first crack sound. At 9'54" first crack begins, reduce heat to 60°C, open damper fully (adjust heat very carefully, not so small that there's no crack sound), drop at 204.5°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Cupping Report:

Golden Mandheling tastes cleaner than Lintong Mandheling. The original herbal, earthy, and woody flavors of Mandheling are almost gone, but the caramel sweetness is stronger, and the fruit acidity is relatively bright and elegant. Generally, Lintong Mandheling is best roasted past second crack before dropping to effectively reduce off-flavors, but Golden Mandheling has good transparency and sweetness whether dropped before or after second crack, allowing wider roasting interpretation space.

(III) Aged Mandheling

01 | Region Introduction

The most famous coffee producing areas in Asia include various islands of the Malay Archipelago: Sumatra Island, Java Island, and Kalimantan Island. Among them, Sumatra Mandheling coffee produced on Sumatra Island, Indonesia, is most renowned. It has two famous product names: Sumatra Mandheling DP First Grade and Classic Sumatra Mandheling. Sumatra Mandheling DP First Grade has a long aftertaste with a wild mountain fragrance - that unique earthy flavor characteristic of primeval forests.

Indonesia's main coffee producing areas include Sumatra Island, Java Island, and Sulawesi Island, among which "Mandheling" produced on Sumatra Island is the most famous.

Mandheling, also known as "Sumatra Coffee," Lake Tawar in the north can be called Aceh coffee or Lake Tawar coffee. Lintong and the Lake Toba area can be called Mandheling.

Mainly from two producing regions:

One is the Aceh producing region, which includes five producing areas: Lake Tawar, Gayo Mountain, Gayo tribe, Aceh Mandheling, and Takengon Mandheling.

The other is the North Sumatra producing region, consisting of four producing areas: Lake Toba, Lintong, Mandailing tribe, and Batak tribe.

Aged Bean Processing Method

Aged coffee beans do not refer to coffee green beans that have been stored for a long time, as this is not acceptable because coffee green beans will also deteriorate when stored too long, turning from fresh green to white, then to yellow, becoming tasteless, and even growing insects. Like aged wines, green beans must undergo proper processing and long-term storage before they can be called true "Aged Coffee."

So-called Aged Coffee Beans (Aged bean) mean:

Green beans achieve natural aging through extended storage time (usually 2-3 years)

These changes include reduced acidity, color change, and thickened bean texture.

The storage environment must be cool and ventilated.

Because the storage environment is relatively dark and the time is long,

Aged coffee can hardly escape

Complex flavors similar to mold or commonly known as burlap bags or leather -

02 | Green Bean Analysis

Properly stored coffee beans will change their taste and appearance, such as reduced acidity, darker color lacking moisture, thicker and better texture, honey-sweet sweetness, and some original defects in green beans become less obvious. Because the storage environment is relatively dark and the time is long, aged coffee can hardly escape complex flavors similar to mold or commonly known as burlap bags or leather.

Aged beans (Aged bean) must be stored under strictly controlled conditions during storage, with regular uniform turning, humidity and ventilation adjustment to prevent insect infestation or mold.

Storage of aged beans generally does not occur in producing regions or estates but is a commercial activity of green bean distributors or brokerage companies.

Properly stored coffee beans

Will change their taste and appearance,

Such as reduced acidity, darker color lacking moisture,

Thicker and better texture, honey-sweet sweetness,

Some original defects in green beans become less obvious.

03 | Roasting Analysis

Aged Mandheling looks somewhat ugly. The baptism of time will wear away Mandheling's acidity, increasing its purity, with a more rounded medium-deep flavor.

Because Mandheling green beans have high density and aged beans have low moisture, heat adjustments at various stages must be particularly careful. For Mandheling coffee, be careful not to scorch the oil on the surface of the original beans.

Yangjia 800N, green beans 550g, specific operation:

Preheat to 200°C, open damper to 3. After 1 minute of steaming, adjust heat to 160°C, damper unchanged. At furnace temperature 165°C, adjust heat once, reduce to 140°C. Roast to 5'35", temperature 146°C, bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, dehydration completed, open damper to 4.

At 9 minutes, bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and black spots, toast aroma clearly turns to coffee aroma, can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this time, listen carefully for the first crack sound. At 9'30" first crack begins, reduce heat to 80°C, open damper fully to 5 (adjust heat very carefully, not so small that there's no crack sound), reduce to 40°C, drop at 197.4°C when heat reduced.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommended Brewing:

Dripper: KONO dripper

Water Temperature: 88°C

Grind Size: Fuji Mill grind 4

Brewing Method: Water-to-coffee ratio 1:14, 17g coffee, first infusion with 25g water, 30s bloom, second infusion to 238g water, extraction time about 2:30 seconds

Analysis: The KONO dripper doesn't have many ribs at the bottom. The filter paper fits tightly against the dripper, achieving the purpose of restricting airflow. This allows water and coffee grounds to have longer contact and soaking time in the dripper, ensuring extraction time and extraction rate for coarse grinding. This allows the coffee grounds to be fully extracted, enhancing the rich texture and making the flavor more concentrated.

Flavor: High balance, clean, thick and solid texture, persistent dark chocolate aftertaste.

Indonesia Sumatra Mandheling Premium Coffee Beans Indonesia PWN Golden Mandheling Black Coffee Beans G1 Washed Imported Single Origin Premium Fresh Roasted Free Shipping

Purchase link: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z10.3-c.w4002-15673140470.9.5c9c6d0fNyL16O&id=540335271875

Important Notice :

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Tel:020 38364473