The most famous coffee-producing area in Indonesia is Sumatra. Among them, the well-known Front Street Mandheling coffee beans come from Sumatra. Front Street currently launches 5 types of Mandheling coffee beans with different flavors, including Front Street Golden Mandheling. People often meet in Front Street and ask, is there any difference between Front Street Golden Mandheling and ordinary Front Street Mandheling? Comparing the two types of Mandheling coffee beans, Front Street Golden Mandheling has a cleaner and clearer flavor expression and richer layering than ordinary Front Street Mandheling. The biggest reason for this is that Front Street Golden Mandheling uses more than 3 times of manual screening and the selected bean mesh is more than 18, which makes the beans of Front Street Golden Mandheling uniform in size, so the flavor will naturally be more balanced. Therefore, both in appearance and taste, the difference between Golden Mandheling and ordinary Mandheling can be clearly distinguished.
Starbucks has onesumatra coffee, has been on sale since 1972. Its rich earthy aroma and heavy body are the unique flavors of Sumatran coffee. However, because Sumatran coffee is roasted too darkly, the herbal flavor and burnt bitterness linger in the mouth. This is why some people cannot accept Sumatran coffee.
Sumatran coffee beans
Indonesia is located in southeastern Asia. Its coffee history can be traced back to 1696. Dutch coffee farmers tried to find a wider coffee planting land. After many explorations, they finally determined the Java Island in Indonesia. After 30 years, Indonesia has laid a sufficient foundation in the coffee market.
However, today, the representative of Indonesian coffee isSumatraThe Mandheling produced is actually not an unexpected result, because most of the Javanese coffee sold to Europe at the beginning came from the Sumatra region, and Mandheling came from Sumatra. Therefore, Sumatra can be said to be an important coffee producing area in Indonesia.
Mandheling coffee story
Mandheling originally refers to the name of a tribe in Indonesia. There is also a story about how it became the name of coffee beans by accident. When Japanese soldiers returned to Japan after colonizing Indonesia, they were obsessed with the delicious local coffee, so they used their trade friends to ask locals to help collect high-quality coffee beans, including this Mandheling. The Japanese liked this coffee bean very much and asked for the name. Since the commercial source was not convenient to disclose, the locals casually said "Mandheling", and Mandheling became a coffee bean by mistake.
The local people mentioned earlier are actually the owners of the Indonesian PWN Company (Pwani Coffee Company) mentioned below.
The unique processing method of Sumatra coffee beans - wet planing method
Mandheling mostly uses the wet planing method, a unique coffee bean processing method in Sumatra. Since the local weather is often rainy and typhoons are constant, it is impossible to achieve the good weather required for sun exposure. Moreover, the local economy is not good, and it is also impossible to use the more expensive method of washing, so the wet planing method with local characteristics has been derived.
In the first stage, a wooden peeling machine is used to remove the peel and pulp. After fermentation for 3 hours, it is dried to reduce the moisture content to 30-50%, which is semi-dry and semi-wet.
In the second stage, the pectin and sheepskin are removed, and the subsequent sun-drying process continues. The drying process takes 2-4 days and the moisture content is reduced to 12-13%.
In addition to regular wet planing, there is also an aged wet planing method. The coffee beans are first processed by the ordinary wet planing method, and then sealed in the warehouse for 2 to 3 years. The warehouse environment must be cool and ventilated, and the beans must be turned regularly to prevent mold and spoilage. During this period, the acidity of the coffee beans will slowly weaken and turn into sugar, and the color will also become darker, mostly yellowish brown or dark brown. Mandheling coffee beans using this processing method are also called aged Mandheling coffee beans.
The wet planing method creates the special flavor of Front Street Mandheling. It can be said that Mandheling and the wet planing method are bound to each other, but today’s coffee market is no longer satisfied with being static. Even if the wet planing method is the specialty of Mandheling, there will be attempts at other processing methods, such as the Front Street sun-dried Mandheling in Wahana Manor. There are also requirements for changing the processing method. On the basis of retaining the original coffee bean flavor, other flavors are added.
The difference between Front Street Mandheling and Front Street Golden Mandheling
The most common and highly accepted varieties of Mandheling on the market today are undoubtedly Front Street Lindong Mandheling and Front Street Golden Mandheling. Front Street Lindong Mandheling is the most classic Mandheling.
【Lindong Mandheling on Front Street】
Sumatra Coffee Front Street Lintong Mandheling
Production area: Lindong production area in Sumatra
Altitude: 1100-1600 meters
Variety: Typica, Kadura
Treatment method: wet planing
Flavor: Baked toast, nuts, caramel, pine, herbs
Front Street Lindong Mandheling is produced in the Lindung Mountains in north-central Sumatra, near Lake Toba. Front Street Mandheling is just the regular version of Front Street Mandheling. Front Street Lindong Mandheling also uses the conventional wet planing method, which creates its characteristics of low sourness and high alcohol content. However, what will happen when using the wet planing method is that the semi-hard and semi-soft wet green beans are easily crushed when the pectin parchment layer is removed, and the beans will be damaged and cracked like sheep's hooves, commonly known as sheep's hooves. This is not a defective bean, it can be said to be a very significant feature of Mandheling.
Front Street Lindong Mandheling does not put much effort into the selection. Improper processing can easily lead to unstable coffee beans, but it does not detract from the world's love for its mellow flavor.
The top leaves of Typica are bronze in color, and the bean body is oval or thin and pointed. It has an elegant flavor, but has a weak constitution, poor disease resistance, and low fruit production. In addition to Mandheling coffee beans, several other Front Street coffee beans, such as Front Street Jamaica Blue Mountain, Front Street Hawaii Kona and other high-quality coffee beans, all belong to Typica.
Caturra is a natural variant of the Arabica variety Bourbon, which was discovered in Brazil in 1937. Its tree is not as tall as Bourbon, and is shorter. Because it has inherited the bloodline of Bourbon, it has weaker disease resistance, but its yield is higher than Bourbon.
【Front Street Golden Mandheling】
Sumatran Coffee Front Street Golden Mandheling
Production area: Mount Aceh, Sumatra
Altitude: 1100-1600 meters
Variety: Ateng
Grade: G1, 3 hand selections
Treatment method: wet planing
Flavor: Spice, Herb, Caramel, Pine, Nut, Chocolate
The Japanese have been very interested in this coffee bean since they discovered Mandheling. In the process of cooperating with local green bean merchants, they established a strict screening system. After the processed green beans were screened by density and color separation, they had to manually pick the beans many times. In the end, Mandheling was presented with uniform color and uniform bean shape. It is said that when the green beans are processed, Mandheling emits a golden luster when exposed to sunlight, hence the name Golden Mandheling.
The specification of Front Street Golden Mandheling is more than 18 mesh, with less than 3 defective beans (300g raw bean sample). It belongs to the highest grade G1 grade, the color is dark green, and it is a neatly shaped flat bean. After strict screening, the Golden Mandheling from Front Street not only lacks the earthy smell unique to ordinary Mandheling, but also tastes cleaner and brighter, and has a stronger sweetness.
However, it was not a Japanese company that registered Gold Top Mandheling as a trademark, but a local Indonesian company, PWN (Pwani Coffee Company), which cooperated with Japanese companies in the early days to export Mandheling coffee beans. The Japanese company registered "Gold Top Mandheling", which is also known as Dingshang Golden Mandheling. In terms of flavor performance, there is actually not much difference between the two. However, due to different brands and different marketing strategies of merchants, it is possible that public opinion will change in the end. Therefore, which one of the two golden Mandhelings is better is a matter of opinion.
Ateng is a cross between Arabica and Robusta, with several subtypes, widely grown in Sumatra and other small Indonesian islands. To put it bluntly, it is a branch of Catimor, and Ateng is the local name.
【Front Street Golden Mandheling】
Sumatran Coffee Front Street Golden Mandheling
Production area: Mount Aceh, Sumatra
Altitude: 1100-1600 meters
Variety: Ateng
Grade: G1, 3 hand selections
Treatment method: wet planing
Flavor: Spice, Herb, Caramel, Pine, Nut, Chocolate
The Japanese have been very interested in this coffee bean since they discovered Mandheling. In the process of cooperating with local green bean merchants, they established a strict screening system. After the processed green beans were screened by density and color separation, they had to manually pick the beans many times. In the end, Mandheling was presented with uniform color and uniform bean shape. It is said that when the green beans are processed, Mandheling emits a golden luster when exposed to sunlight, hence the name Golden Mandheling.
The specification of Front Street Golden Mandheling is more than 18 mesh, with less than 3 defective beans (300g raw bean sample). It belongs to the highest grade G1 grade, the color is dark green, and it is a neatly shaped flat bean. After strict screening, the Golden Mandheling from Front Street not only lacks the earthy smell unique to ordinary Mandheling, but also tastes cleaner and brighter, and has a stronger sweetness.
You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.
The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.
FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.
FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473
