Is Mandheling an Arabica or Robusta Coffee Bean? Flavor Description and Taste Profile

Indonesia: Asia's Largest Coffee Producer

As the largest coffee-producing country in Asia, Indonesia primarily grows commercial-grade Robusta coffee. Arabica coffee, with Mandheling from northern Sumatra being of the highest quality, accounts for less than one-tenth of the total production.

Coffee History in Indonesia

Indonesia's coffee history dates back to the late 17th century when Dutch colonizers first introduced Arabica seedlings to Java Island. Coffee took root in Indonesia and soon spread to islands like Sumatra for large-scale cultivation.

Disease Challenges and Varietal Development

In the 19th century, Indonesian coffee trees were severely affected by leaf rust disease, with large areas of Arabica coffee withering and dying, causing a significant blow to production. Consequently, the government began introducing more disease-resistant varieties, including Robusta, Timor, and Catimor, to replace the fragile Typica and Bourbon varieties.

Timor is a natural hybrid of Typica and Robusta from Timor Island. It inherits Robusta's high yield and disease resistance. When introduced to Indonesia, coffee farmers called it Tim Tim. Another common local variety is Catimor, known locally as Ateng, derived from the pronunciation of Aceh Tengah in central Aceh. Catimor is a hybrid offspring of the Bourbon variety Caturra and Timor from East Timor, also possessing excellent disease resistance. To this day, Timor and Catimor, which carry Robusta genes, have become the main local varieties. After many years of integration into Sumatra's terroir environment, Catimor and Timor have developed unique local herbal and spice flavors. Combined with their strong disease resistance and considerable yields, they are highly favored by Indonesian coffee growers.

FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling Varieties

The FrontStreet Coffee Golden Mandheling beans on FrontStreet Coffee's bean rack belong to the Ateng variety, processed using Indonesia's unique wet-hulling method. After roasting, they present rich herbal spice, dark chocolate, and nutty aromas. FrontStreet Coffee's Lintong Mandheling daily blend consists of a mix of Tim Tim and Ateng varieties.

Wet-Hulling Processing Method

Sumatra is located near the equator and has an island tropical rainforest climate. Air humidity reaches as high as 70-90%, and the hot and humid environment can easily cause coffee beans to mold during fermentation or drying. Therefore, local coffee farmers developed a semi-washed processing method suited to local conditions—the wet-hulling method. Coffee cherries undergo pulping and fermentation, followed by a brief fermentation of several hours before washing away the sticky mucilage layer. Then they are dried for 2-3 days until reaching a semi-dry state with 30-50% moisture content, at which point the parchment is removed. Finally, the hulled coffee beans are dried to 12% moisture content before being packaged. While this shortens drying time, it also gives Mandheling beans some woody, herbal, and spicy mellow aromas.

Quality Control and Selection

The wet-hulling method saves much time and labor costs in green bean processing, but the rapid process also results in higher defect rates. Therefore, only strict manual sorting can eliminate defects that machines cannot screen out. FrontStreet Coffee Golden Mandheling's exclusive supplier PWN company performs one machine selection plus three manual sortings on purchased Mandheling green beans during production, ensuring each bean is complete, uniform, full, and must reach a size of 18 mesh or above, belonging to the local G1 grade in Indonesia.

Cupping and Flavor Profile

Before launching any coffee bean, FrontStreet Coffee evaluates it through cupping. Cupping is an assessment of coffee bean quality and flavor. Unified standards allow for more objective identification of the strengths and weaknesses of the flavors presented by the beans, as well as their characteristics. Through cupping, FrontStreet Coffee's Lintong Mandheling daily blend presents rich nutty notes with a hint of melon aroma in the finish. As the temperature drops, herbal plant flavors emerge, with a full body and saturated aroma. FrontStreet Coffee PWN Golden Mandheling not only has dark chocolate, nut, and caramel aromas but also herbal spice and pine flavors, with a dark chocolate aftertaste, full lingering finish, high cleanliness, and light fruit acidity as the temperature decreases.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee believes that the greatest characteristics of Mandheling coffee are its high body and unique herbal spice aroma, so FrontStreet Coffee uses medium-dark roasting to prevent all the coffee aromas from caramelizing. Freshly roasted Mandheling coffee needs 7-10 days of degassing before entering its optimal flavor period. FrontStreet Coffee hopes every customer who places an order can enjoy the full aroma of the coffee, so they only ship coffee beans roasted within 5 days, allowing everyone to receive them during the complete optimal flavor period.

Dripper: KONO

Water Temperature: 87°Celsius

Coffee Dose: 15 grams

Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15

Grind Size: 70% pass-through rate on China standard #20 sieve

Pouring Method: Three-stage pouring

First, pour 30 grams of hot water for a 30-second bloom. Then, starting from the center, pour in a fine stream and slowly spiral to 125 grams. When the water level in the dripper drops to just above the coffee bed, continue spiraling to 225 grams. Total extraction time is approximately 2 minutes. Gently stir the coffee before tasting.

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Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473