Sumatra has a very complex system to distinguish the Mandheling coffee produced. The most common one is to distinguish different Mandheling coffees by naming them according to different regions, green beans merchants and processing methods. For example, Front Street Lindong Mandheling, Front Street Tiger Mandheling, Front Street Golden Mandheling, and Front Street Vintage Mandheling. The Dongshankou store of FrontStreet Coffee will keep a ration bean "Front Street Lindong Mandheling" and a top-notch "Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling" for everyone to choose from.
Front Street Lindong Mandheling refers to the Arabica coffee produced in the mountainous area around Lake Toba in North Jiangsu Province. This lake is located north of Medan, the capital of Sumatra Island, and is an alpine freshwater lake. The average altitude is about 900 meters above sea level. Front Street Lintung Mandheling is processed using the local wet planing method, presenting Mandheling's unique herbal scent. However, the production of Lindong Mandheling on Qian Street does not put much effort into selection, and it is a regular version of Mandheling coffee. Therefore, Front Street has added Mandheling to the daily Front Street ration bean series, launching it in 100g small packages, so that everyone can taste the taste of Southeast Asian coffee, and it is also suitable for novices who are new to Pour over(V60) coffee.
When it comes to high-quality Mandheling coffee, Front Street has to mention the famousPawanicompany(Pwani Coffee Company, referred to as PWN).After allPawaniIt can be said that it is a high-quality Mandheling headhunting company. It specializes in purchasing high-quality Mandheling green beans and has contracted batches of Mandheling with excellent quality in Indonesia.PawaniMost of the Mandheling coffee beans that come out are of premium grade.
Pawani itself is a trading company engaged in export business. It was founded by a Chinese family from Quanzhou, Fujian. The processing plant is located in Medan, an important port on Sumatra Island. It has been engaged in export business since 1957, such as rubber, cassia, cloves, patchouli oil and other products, including exporting Sumatran coffee beans to Japan.
"Golden Mandheling" is the exclusive brand of the Indonesian Pwani Coffee Company (PWN). There are many different types of Mandheling products on the market. Since PWN has registered the English "Golden Mandheling" as the company's trademark, only the Golden Mandheling coffee produced by PWN Company is the true Golden Mandheling. You can identify authentic golden Mandheling based on the green bean sack with the PWN logo and a certificate of origin signed by the PWN company. Front Street displays these two logos in the Dongshankou store.
Wet hulling is one of the most common green bean processing methods in Indonesia and is "forced" to occur due to local climate conditions. The annual humidity in Indonesia is between 70 and 90%, typhoons come at any time, and the annual rainfall can even reach more than 2000mm. Such bad weather makes it impossible to use 2 to 3 weeks of sun drying like in Africa. The washing process is not only time-consuming, but also consumes more labor costs and water resources. Indonesia, which aims at mass production, simply cannot afford it. So a unique semi-water washing method - wet planing method was summed up.
The coffee cherries with their skins and pulp removed are directly poured into the pool to ferment briefly for a few hours. At this time, a small amount of pectin will remain on the bean shells, and the mucous membrane is removed by scrubbing. Then the shelled beans are dried in the sun. The first drying only needs to reach 30-40% moisture content. In about 2-3 days, the coffee farmers will sell the green beans to buyers. Buyers will directly shell the purchased semi-dry shelled beans using a machine to obtain the innermost green beans.
Because the shelling machine uses a large amount of friction to tear apart the parchment paper layer that is close to the green beans, white or green mucus usually flows out from it at this stage. Due to long-term mucus soaking and humid environment, the green beans finally become soft, white and swollen, turning gray-green. After being stirred by friction, the green beans are more likely to be crushed or squeezed, especially at the two ends, forming small gaps, causing the beans to break. The "naked beans" with the parchment skin removed dry very quickly and can be packaged when the moisture content is 12 to 13%.
The increase in processing speed has also brought a greater proportion of defects to Mandheling. Therefore, hand selection has to be used to remove defects before exporting in order to reach Indonesia's G1 grade (defects per 300 grams of green beans are less than 11). Generally, we will see DP (secondary hand selection) and TP (three hand selection). The heavier the finely screened coffee beans, the higher the quality.
The grading of Indonesian green coffee beans is based on the number of defective beans and the size of the beans. The general quality requirements are that there are no live insects, no moldy and rancid beans, and the maximum moisture content is 12.5%. The impurity rate is less than 0.5%. It will be divided into six levels according to the defect rate, among which the highest level is G1, which requires that the total number of defective beans in a 300g sample must be less than 11. The ration Mandheling coffee beans mentioned above on the front street are G1, which are processed by wet planing, which is the regular version of Indonesian Mandheling flavor.
PWN, which excels in screening, purchases Mandheling green beans with more than 18 mesh. The number of defective beans in a 300g sample is less than 3 G1 grades, which is the highest grade of Indonesian green beans. Subsequently, one machine selection + three manual selections of defective beans will be carried out in strict accordance with the standards to ensure that the shape and size of the Mandheling coffee beans are uniform. In addition, PWN Company will also put the green beans in a machine for density and color screening before packaging, so that the color of Front Street Golden Mandheling is uniform and translucent.
As the market for premium Mandheling coffee grows, PWN Company also realizes the importance of trademarks and registers "Golden Mandheling" as an exclusive trademark in English earlier than the Japanese. Therefore, only the golden Mandheling produced by PWN Company can be regarded as the real "Golden Mandheling", while the one produced by the Japanese can only be renamed "Dingshang Mandheling". The Front Street Golden Mandheling bought by Front Street is of course an authentic product from the PWN company. You can identify the authentic golden Mandheling based on the green bean sack with the PWN logo and a certificate of origin signed by the PWN company. Front Street displays these two logos in the Dongshankou store.
In terms of baking, in order to present the typical Mandheling flavor and retain more herbal spices, Front Street bakers use medium-dark roasting. Every time Front Street launches a coffee bean, it will carry out cupping and tasting at least once. Under the same standards, cupping allows us to more objectively feel the advantages and disadvantages of coffee.
Front Street cupped and compared Front Street Lindong Mandheling and Front Street Golden Mandheling on the bean list at the same time. Front Street Lindong Mandheling has rich chocolate, brown sugar, and nuts, and the aftertaste shows a herbal tone.
In the dry aroma stage of Front Street Golden Mandheling, you can smell pine wood, nuts, spices, and herbs. With the injection of hot water, there are flavors of licorice and caramel. It tastes like dark chocolate, nuts, and spices. It is overall clean, with obvious sweetness and high mellowness.
FrontStreet Coffee Barista’s Front Street Golden Mandheling Brewing Formula
Brewing water temperature: 87 to 88 degrees
Coffee powder: 15g
Pink to water ratio 1:15
Filter cup: KONO filter cup
Grinding degree: medium-coarse grinding (Chinese standard No. 20 screen pass rate 70%)
The brewing method uses a three-stage water injection method. The three-stage water injection can better express the mellow taste of golden Mandheling coffee and the sweetness of caramel.
In the first stage of steaming, 30ml of water is injected. This stage of water injection fully wets the coffee powder and exhausts it, so as to better extract the flavor substances of the coffee later.
In the second stage, 100ml is injected. This stage is mainly to flush out the golden foam of Mandheling and raise the powder layer.
The last section is filled with 95ml of water in the soft center, which can enhance the sweetness of the coffee.
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
