I don’t know if you have noticed when drinking coffee. Most of the coffee produced in Indonesia is directly named after the island where it is produced, such as Java, Sulawesi, and Sumatra. However, one famous coffee is an exception, which is Mandheling coffee from Sumatra.
Why is Sumatra coffee called "Mandheling」？
Unlike most single-origin coffees that are named by their place of origin and variety, the name Mandheling originated from the mispronunciation of the Mandheling tribe in northwest Sumatra, Indonesia.
During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia in World War II, a Japanese soldier drank extremely fragrant coffee in a cafe, so he asked the shopkeeper the name of the coffee. The boss mistakenly thought he was asking where his hometown was, so he replied: "mandheling". After returning to China after the war, the Japanese soldier remembered that the delicious coffee of the time seemed to be called "Mandheling". In 1968, a Japanese businessman visited the Indonesian Pawani Coffee Company (N.V. Pawani Medan company) and imported 15,000 kilograms of Sumatra Mandheling coffee. It became very popular after being put on the Japanese market. Since then, the reputation of Mandheling Coffee and Pwani Coffee Company has greatly increased, and later people also called the Arabica beans produced in Sumatra.Mandheling coffee。
What is the "Taste of Mandheling"
Mandheling coffeeMost of them use darker roasting to weaken the acidity in the coffee, making the taste more mellow and burnt, with a dull aroma of herbs, spices, and pine wood. The unique taste of Mandheling comes from the wet planing method used by the locals.
Sumatra has a typical tropical rainforest climate, with rain and humidity all year round, frequent typhoons, and scarce fresh water resources. Local people with limited conditions are unable to process large batches of coffee beans using the traditional washing method, let alone drying them in the sun for a long time. Therefore, local coffee farmers invented the wet planing method that only takes 4 days to process. The fermentation time and sun exposure time are greatly shortened, which saves a lot of manpower in production. This also gives Sumatra Mandheling coffee a unique Southeast Asian flavor of herbs, spices, and wood.
If you want to taste the unique flavor of Mandheling's production area, it is recommended to buy the entry-level Front Street Indonesian Mandheling G1 coffee beans. They will be shipped within 24 hours after placing the order. All Front Street Coffee beans are shipped within 5 days.Freshly baked. This entry-level front street MandhelingComing from the Lintong production area in Sumatra, it belongs to the highest G1 grade of Indonesian green beans. It uses wet planing and deep roasting to maximize the caramel, spice, nut and dark chocolate aroma of Mandheling. It has a mellow taste, richness and low acidity. It is suitable for brewing by hand, Moka pot, smart cup, etc., and can also be used as a practice bean for beginners.
Lintong Mandheling refers to the Arabica coffee grown in the mountainous area around Lake Toba in Northern Jiangsu Province. This lake is located in the north of Medan, the capital of Sumatra Island. It is an alpine freshwater lake with an average altitude of about 900 meters above sea level. Lintong Mandheling is processed using the local wet planing method, showing the unique herbal aroma of Mandheling, which is a classic Asian coffee flavor.
But when it comes to high-grade Mandheling coffee, I recommend PWN Golden Mandheling on Front Street. PWN can be said to be a headhunting company for high-quality Mandheling coffee.
The full name of the PWN company is "N.V. Pawani Medan company". It is a trading company that mainly purchases local high-quality batches of Mandheling green beans. The coffee only produces high-quality Mandheling. "Golden Mandheling" is its signature product. The Japanese took a fancy to Sumatra coffee and purchased it for a long time. They gradually discovered that the quality of local beans often varied between good and bad. Therefore, we paid more attention to the production of Mandheling and began to formulate strict standards and methods for screening defects, including bean density, specification, shape, color and other values. The produced Mandheling requires 1 machine selection + 4 manual selections to remove defects to ensure that the produced Mandheling particles are complete, uniform, large and translucent, and also reduce the earthy and grassy smell of Mandheling. It is said that it was named "Golden Mandheling" because it glowed golden in the sun.
Freshly Baked Front Street Golden MandhelingIn the dry aroma stage, you can smell cedar wood, nuts, spices, and herbs. With the injection of hot water, there are flavors of licorice and caramel. It tastes like dark chocolate, cocoa, nuts, and spices. It is clean overall, has a clear sweet aftertaste, and has high mellowness. It is not only suitable for extraction by hand, French press, siphon pot, etc., but it can also show the essence of golden Mandheling when made into hanging ears.
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
