Mention Mandheling and the first thing that comes to mind is probably a fairly bitter coffee with herbal, medicinal notes. For people who love that profile it is the ultimate cup; for those who do not, one try is usually enough. Customers who come to Front Street asking for Mandheling often wonder: faced with two single origins that share the same name but sit far apart in price, why is Golden Mandheling more expensive than Lintong Mandheling, and what exactly is golden about it?
Anyone who knows Mandheling probably also knows that the name comes from a rather charming story. Unlike most single origin coffees, which are simply named after where they are grown or the variety, such as Blue Mountain or Kenya, Mandheling comes from the Indonesian island of Sumatra - and yet there is no place called Mandheling there, because the name is tied to an unofficial story.
How Mandheling Got Its Name
The story begins during the Second World War, when Japan occupied Indonesia. Local legend has it that a Japanese soldier drank an exceptionally fragrant, rich coffee in a cafe and asked the owner for its name. The owner thought he was being asked where he was from, and answered: Mandheling, the Mandailing people. The soldier never forgot that coffee after returning home. In 1968 a Japanese merchant visited the Indonesian company N.V. Pawani Medan and imported fifteen tonnes of Sumatran Mandheling, which proved hugely popular on the Japanese market. Mandheling coffee and the Pawani company became famous, and from then on Arabica beans grown on Sumatra were formally known as Mandheling.
At the time Mandheling mainly referred to top-grade Indonesian beans grown in the highlands at 750 to 1,500 metres. Roasted dark, they show a rich, solid aroma, a full and powerful body, a thick texture and a strong sweet finish. Because Mandheling has this irreplaceable richness, UCC of Japan partnered with the well-known Sumatran coffee firm PT Gunung Lintong in 1995 to run its first coffee plantation in Asia - a clear sign of how much Japanese drinkers loved Mandheling.
How Many Kinds of Mandheling Are There?
The earliest way of classifying Mandheling growing areas was the two lakes, two man system. The two lakes are the Gayo and Tawar lakes and the Toba lake area, while the two man refer to the older old man and the more recently planted young man. It is generally held that the area around Lake Toba produces old man and the area around Lake Tawar produces young man.
As demand for higher quality grew, the market became more fine-grained and Mandheling coffees were divided into more categories by their distinctive traits: Lintong Mandheling named after its origin, Aged Mandheling named after its processing, Havana Mandheling named after the estate, and exclusive releases from different producers such as Tiger Mandheling, Golden Mandheling and Dingshang Mandheling - even Long Berry Dragon Fruit Mandheling, named after the shape of the green bean. In short, the Mandheling market is full of names, enough to make anyone's head spin.
But if one Mandheling is the most famous of all, it has to be PWN Golden Mandheling. Once Mandheling entered the Japanese market, Japanese buyers paid close attention to how it was produced and drew up strict sorting standards and defect-removal methods covering bean density, screen size, shape and colour value. All green beans pass through machines and hand sorting to remove defects, ensuring the Mandheling that comes out is complete, even, plump and translucent, with less earthy and grassy character; the beans were also named Golden Mandheling. Before long the Pawani company applied the same selection standards to its own Mandheling production and quickly registered the name as its exclusive trademark, which is how Golden Mandheling became PWN's own.
Why PWN Golden Mandheling Costs More Than Lintong Mandheling
Front Street Lintong Mandheling is an entry-level Mandheling. Made with Indonesia's distinctive wet-hulled process, it keeps the classic old Mandheling taste, and we then roast it dark to bring out a low-acid, full-bodied cup: from the first sip you feel the highly recognisable woody character along with spice, caramel and liquorice notes.
The more expensive Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling has nothing to do with real gold, but it is genuinely the highest grade of Mandheling, the finest of the finest. Indonesia grades green beans mainly by defect rate, with G1 being the top grade. Golden Mandheling starts from G1 Mandheling, screens out beans above 18 screen size by machine, and then has at least three rounds of hand sorting to pick the plumpest beans with the most even colour. Note that PWN Golden Mandheling emphasises evenness, uniformity and few defects - not large bean size.
Because Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling goes through so many rounds of hand and machine sorting, it comes out slightly ahead of G1 (Grade-1) Mandheling in sweetness, cleanliness, body and complexity, so it naturally costs more than a standard lot.
It is precisely because Golden Mandheling is so famous that the market is full of inferior products that do not come from PWN. So if you want the genuine Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling, look for a reputable roaster that can provide the relevant documentation, because real Golden Mandheling beans come with a certificate inside the jute bag - that is how you can tell whether the coffee is genuine. Every bag of Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling carries the PWN logo and certificate on the outside and inside, and so that customers can see the documentation themselves it is available both on our online store and in our physical shops.
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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
