Speaking of the impression of Mandheling coffee, Front Street believes that in addition to the mellow taste and calm burnt aroma, everyone will also associate it with a unique "Mandheling flavor" - herbal flavor.
The herbal flavor of Mandheling refers more to aromas similar to herbs, earth, wood, etc., which are unique and wild after the mellow fragrance. Thanks to this, Mandheling has always been a highly polarizing coffee bean. People who like this aroma will like Mandheling very much, and people who don't like this aroma will dislike it very much.In recent years, many friends have discovered that the herbal flavor in Mandheling has begun to fade, at least not as obvious as before. So many friends began to trace the source, wanting to know why this herbal smell became weaker and where this herbal smell came from.In fact, consistent with the formation of other coffee flavors, the reason why Mandheling has a herbal flavor must be inseparable from these three factors: variety, growing environment, and processing methods.First of all, we need to know that Mandheling coffee does not refer to a specific coffee variety, but refers to all Arabica coffee beans grown on the island of Sumatra. Due to a misunderstanding, Arabica coffee beans on the island of Sumatra were sold as "Mandheling" and became famous. From that time on, Arabica coffee beans on the island were often sold under the name Mandheling. This is a story that is often shared on the front street. I believe my friends have heard it, so I won’t repeat it here.Sumatra has a long history of coffee cultivation. Starting in the 18th century, the Dutch expanded the coffee cultivation industry to this island.On the island of Sumatra, the main coffee-producing areas are around Lake Toba and Lake Tawa. Among them, Lake Toba is more famous for its Lindong production area, while Lake Tawa is more famous for its Kayushan production area. Their altitude is around 1100~1600 meters, which is an ideal altitude for growing coffee. Because of this, Mandheling from the Lindong production area is selected as the representative of Indonesian ration coffee in the Front Street Ration series, while Front Street Golden Mandheling comes from the Kayushan production area.Like many producing areas, the first varieties planted by the Dutch on the island were pure Arabica such as Typica and Bourbon. But not long after, Arabica species fell one after another due to the erosion of rust disease. Therefore, as a last resort, the Indonesian authorities began to introduce new varieties to ensure production. Gradually, the land of Indonesia became a "melting pot" of coffee varieties.The varieties planted in large numbers on the island include: Ateng, TimTim, Typica, Caturra, and Robusta. Among Mandheling coffee, the most common varieties are Ateng and TimTim.Whether it is Ateng or TimTim, they are both varieties that are a mixture of Arabica and Robusta. To put it simply, Ateng is the local Katim in Indonesia, and TimTim is the local Tim in Indonesia. Because both varieties contain Robusta genes, they will have some of Robusta's unique herbal and woody tones, but the taste is relatively less strong.(Pictured is the Ateng variety)What is most often thought to be the reason why Mandheling has a strong herbal taste is actually the unique local processing method - wet planing. You can first take a look at a process of wet planing, which is roughly as follows:First use a peeling machine to remove the skin and pulp of the coffee cherries, clean the coffee beans, and then move the coffee beans outdoors to dry; dry them for about 3 to 4 days to reduce the moisture content of the coffee beans to about 30% to 40%. Then use a shelling machine to remove the parchment on the surface of the semi-hard and semi-soft beans. Finally, you only need to dry them for a few more days to dry the coffee beans to a moisture content of 12% to 13%.As you can see from the introduction above, the wet planing method has a significant advantage, that is, the drying time is relatively short. Compared with other processes, the wet planing method uses very little drying time because the skin, pulp, parchment and other substances of the coffee beans have been removed before drying, so the drying time is greatly shortened.The reason why Indonesia needs to use the wet planing method is because the local weather is erratic all year round, the sunshine time is short, and the environment is relatively humid. Using processing methods such as sun drying that require long hours of sunshine can easily cause the coffee beans to deteriorate due to too long drying time. Front Street believes that when you see this, another question arises: "Why does the wet planing method increase the herbal flavor of coffee?"To be fair, Front Street believes that the wet planing method is not actually the main reason. It was the rough behavior during the operation that accentuated the herbal flavor of Mandheling.First of all, we can see that the beans are forced to remove the parchment layer by the peeling machine in a semi-hard and semi-soft state. In this state, the parchment layer of the coffee beans is more difficult to remove, so the peeling machine willMore violent, thenIn this case, the beans are easily cracked by the peeling machine, and beans with chips are more likely to be contaminated than intact coffee beans;(On the right of the picture are sheepskin beans that have been cracked by the peeling machine, but if they are not contaminated, they are not defective beans)At the same time, the coffee beans are dried after removing the parchment layer, and the drying location is on a cement floor or a flat dirt road! After removing the protective shell of the sheepskin, the beans will be more likely to be directly exposed to dust when dry in this environment, and then be contaminated, and then the herbal flavor in the coffee beans will be enhanced. That’s why everyone thinks it’s because the wet planing method increases the herbal flavor in coffee!To sum up, we can know that the main reason why Mandheling has a strong herbal taste is due to the variety and processing.(Rough behavior in processing)。But as mentioned before, the herbal flavor of Mandheling has become much less popular in recent years! Based on the above introduction, I believe you can deduce that the rough behavior during the processing has been reduced.For example, they will be more particular about drying, keeping the beans away from the ground, and then turning them multiple times to ensure that the probability of contaminating the beans is reduced while increasing the uniformity of drying; or manual screening will be used to screen out defective beans to reduce the proportion of defective beans in the coffee.When the probability of contamination of coffee beans decreases and the number of defective beans decreases, naturally, the herbal taste will not be so strong. In particular, Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling, a high-quality representative of Indonesian coffee in the Front Street bean list, has almost no herbal flavor, replaced by a very comfortable stuffy aroma, which tastes clean and translucent.The reason why Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling can achieve this effect is naturally inseparable from more stringent screening standards. Whether it is variety or processing, its requirements are all more stringent than ordinary Mandheling.In terms of variety selection, the Golden Mandheling currently produced by PWN Company uses the Ateng variety. Although it is also a type of Catim, it does not have as much Robusta genes. Because it is a backcross between Katim and Typica, the Luodou gene will be diluted, resulting in a more superior flavor and less herbal taste.After being carefully processed, this batch of coffee beans will be hand-selected three times! The main purpose of screening is to remove beans that are defective, small, and unsightly. What is left are coffee beans with large, plump particles and very few defects. With fewer defective beans, the cleanliness of the coffee will naturally be improved. In addition, the variety is Ateng, which has a small proportion of Luo bean genes, and the herbal flavor present in this coffee bean is minimal.Because of this, it is difficult for us to taste the herbal flavor in Golden Mandheling. It is more of a soft and unique aroma. In addition, there are also flavors of chocolate, caramel, and spices, which are very good!There are many different versions of "Golden Mandheling" on the market, such as 20-mesh Golden Mandheling, 21-mesh Golden Mandheling, Dingshang Golden Mandheling, etc. But only PWN（Puwani）The Golden Mandheling produced by the company is the real Golden Mandheling. Because Golden Mandheling is a product launched by PWN Company, which was registered as a trademark in 2003.How to distinguish authenticity? It is definitely difficult to tell when you look at the beans, but when you buy PWN Golden Mandheling's green beans, they will come with a sack with PWN printed on it and a corresponding certificate. You can also pay attention to whether the seller shows these two accessories when buying. This can also be used as a way to identify the authenticity. For exampleWhat Baobao Cat sells on Front Street Online is the gold Mandheling produced by PWN Company. These two items are attached to the product details page. You can refer to it~
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
