Cat poop coffee, once known as the most expensive coffee in the world, comes from Indonesia, and the most representative coffee is Front Street Mandheling coffee. Mandheling coffee has moderate sourness, a very strong aroma, a bitter taste, a rich body, a rich and full texture, and a flavor that combines aroma, concentration, mellowness and bitterness. Of course, for those who don’t like this taste, Mandheling coffee is like a cup of Chinese medicine that tastes terrible.
Indonesian coffee history
Indonesian coffee is Asia's major coffee producer and the top producer of coffee in the world. Although Indonesia's coffee planting area is the largest in the world, due to low coffee production efficiency, Indonesian coffee production only ranks third in the world after Brazil and Vietnam.
In 1699, when Indonesia was still under a Dutch colony, the VOC (Vereeniging Oust-Indies Company) introduced the Arabica coffee plant to break the Arab global monopoly on the coffee trade. The Dutch colonial government initially cultivated coffee around Batavia (present-day Jakarta).
Additional coffee plantations were established in East Java, Central Java, West Java, and parts of Sumatra and Sulawesi. Indonesia was the first place outside Arabia and Ethiopia where coffee was grown extensively. The VOC held a monopoly on the coffee trade from 1725 to 1780.
By the mid-17th century, the VOC expanded the Arabica coffee growing areas in Sumatra, Bali, Sulawesi, and Timor. In Sulawesi, coffee was first cultivated in 1750. In the North Sumatra highlands, coffee was first cultivated in 1888 near Lake Toba, and later in 1924 in the Gayo highlands (Aceh) near Lake Laut Tawal. In the late 18th century, Dutch colonists established large coffee plantations on the Ijen Plateau in eastern Java.
In the 1920s, small farmers across Indonesia began growing coffee as a cash crop. However, disaster struck in 1876, when coffee rust swept through Indonesia, wiping out most typica varieties. Robusta coffee (C. canephor var.robusta) was introduced to East Java in 1900 as a substitute, especially at lower altitudes where rust is particularly severe.
Java's plantations were nationalized at independence and revitalized in the 1950s with new varieties of Arabica coffee. These varieties are also adopted by small farmers through government and various development schemes. Today, more than 90% of Indonesia’s coffee is grown by smallholders on farms averaging one hectare or less.
Mandheling coffee growing environment and varieties
Indonesia is the largest archipelagic country in the world and is known as the "Country of a Thousand Islands". The distribution of islands is relatively scattered. There are many rugged mountains and hills inside each island. Only the coast has narrow plains and is surrounded by shallow sea and coral. India has a typical tropical rainforest climate, with an average annual temperature of 25-27°C and no four seasons. The north is affected by the northern hemisphere monsoon, with abundant precipitation from July to September, and the south is affected by the southern hemisphere monsoon, with abundant precipitation in December, January and February, with annual precipitation of 1,600-2,200 mm. Because Indonesia’s higher altitude, volcanic ash soil, and its climate characteristics are excellent conditions for the growth of Arabica coffee trees.
At the end of the 17th century, the Dutch East India Company transplanted Arabica trees from India to Jakarta on the island of Java. Due to the very suitable climate, water and soil, Arabica soon spread to Sumatra on Java Island and Sulawesi, another large island in the northeast. But in 1880, a severe leaf rust outbreak occurred in Java Bar, and all Arabica trees died. The Dutch switched to robusta coffee varieties with strong disease resistance to stabilize the Indonesian coffee industry. To this day, Robusta is still the main force in Indonesian coffee. Indonesian Robusta coffee accounts for about 85% of the country's production and is distributed in low-altitude areas of Java and Bali. The yield of Arabica is 15%, distributed in northern Sumatra, Sulawesi, Java and higher altitude areas.
The variety of Front Street Lindong Mandheling coffee bought by FrontStreet Coffee is TimTim Ateng, and the variety of Front Street Golden Mandheling coffee is written as: Ateng. In fact, timtim is Timor, an Arabica variety with Robusta ancestry, while Ateng is Catimor, a cross between Catura and Catimor. That variety is just the local name.
Indonesian coffee producing areas
Sumatra (Sumatra）
A large island in western Indonesia, located above the equator, with an area of 473,000 square kilometers, it is the sixth largest island in the world. It faces the Malay Peninsula across the Strait of Malacca to the northeast and the Indian Ocean to the west, with the equator dividing one into two. It has a tropical rainforest climate and is just on the "coffee belt". In the broadest sense, "Mandheling" coffee comes from this island. Sumatra is not only the largest island in Indonesia, but also the sixth largest island in the world. It is located in the northwestern region of Indonesia. Due to its geographical location, Sumatra has the country's earliest harvest season from November to March.
Front Street Lindong Mandheling is produced in the Lindung Mountains in north-central Sumatra, near Lake Toba. Front Street Lindong Mandheling is just the regular Sumatran Mandheling.
Lake Toba is located in the central part of North Sumatra Province. In 1888, the Dutch colonists moved the "Java Mandheling" north to the Lake Toba area, creating the modern Mandheling legend.
Lake Tawa (Lake Tawar), located in the central part of the Aceh Special Administrative Region. It is located at the northern tip of Sumatra Island and is less than one-tenth the size of Lake Toba.
At present, the best quality beans in the entire Sumatra region come from the GAYO mountainous area, and are mostly grown on old tree species. The Gayo Mountains are located in the Aceh production area in the northern province of Sumatra, with an altitude of between 1,500 and 2,500 meters. Most of the coffee farmers are local farmers, the GAYO people. This area has ideal growing conditions for coffee - high altitude, fertile soil, abundant rainfall, Lake Tawar provides abundant water resources, and the area widely uses organic methods to grow coffee without using chemical fertilizers, and is considered the world's green coffee production area. Therefore, Gayo coffee is often called green coffee and Gayo organic coffee.
The two Indonesian coffee beans currently on the shelves at FrontStreet Coffee are both from the origin of premium Mandheling coffee. The flavor of "FrontStreet Coffee - Ration Series Lindong Front Street Mandheling Coffee Beans" shows roasted toast, nuts, caramel, pine, and herbs; the flavor of "FrontStreet Coffee - PWN Front Street Gold Mandheling Coffee Beans" shows spices, nuts, pine, caramel, herbs, and dark chocolate.
Bali (Bali）
Bali is famous for its beautiful beaches, coral reefs, and yoga and meditation retreats. This tropical paradise offers some of the best coffee that Indonesia and the world has to offer. Most coffee is grown in the Kintamani highlands between the Batukaru and Agung volcanoes.
Mandheling coffee bean grading method
Indonesia is located near the equator and has a tropical rainforest climate. Most of the mass-produced coffee beans are rough wet planing. Wet planing greatly speeds up the entire processing process. However, removing the semi-dry parchment requires a lot of friction, so the green beans are easily crushed and squeezed, especially at the two ends, forming small gaps. Therefore, the defect rate of wet-planed Indonesian coffee beans is generally high. Therefore, green bean merchants will arrange manual hand selection to eliminate incomplete beans with defects before exporting.
Indonesian coffee grading is mainly based on the number of defective beans, supplemented by size grading methods. Indonesia's general quality requirements are beans without live insects, mold or rancidity, and a maximum moisture content of 12.5%. The impurity rate is less than 0.5%. According to the defect rate grading (based on 300g), the grade standard is mainly divided into 6 grades, namely G1-G6.
Usually, the burlap bags containing Indonesian coffee beans are marked with: country + grade name + green bean manufacturer. For example, the Front Street Lindong Mandheling Coffee and Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling Coffee on the Front Street Bean List are both G1 grade. Among them, the green bean sack of Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling Coffee is printed with "PWN GOLDEN MANDHELING TRIPLE PICKED Grade 1 PROD OF INDONESIA 30KGS NET”.
Golden Mandheling
Indonesian PWN Company has gone through 1 machine selection + 3 hand selections on the basis of G1. The Mandheling green beans produced are uniform in color and regular in size. They are Indonesian coffee beans of extremely high quality. PWN, a well-known green bean purchasing company in Indonesia, will use 1 machine selection + 3 manual hand selection of wet planed Mandheling green beans to ensure that the batches produced reach the highest grade of Indonesia, G1. The purpose of machine selection is to first screen out beans whose specifications must be above 18 mesh, with less than 3 defective beans (300g green bean sample), which belong to the highest grade G1 grade, are dark green in color, and are flat beans with a neat shape. The subsequent multiple manual labor is to eliminate irregular and defective beans. The reduction of defect rate greatly improves the quality of Mandheling coffee. In order to distinguish it from Mandheling coffee in the production area, PWN registered "Golden Mandheling" as a trademark.
The golden Mandheling coffee beans sold by FrontStreet Coffee come from PWN. In the offline store on Qian Street, you can see PWN's gold Mandheling coffee bean certification and coffee sacks printed with the company's logo. Golden Mandheling was actually produced by a company, Pawani Coffee Company, which purchased Mandheling locally in Indonesia and registered the name Golden Mandheling. Therefore, the Mandheling produced by this company is actually the real Golden Mandheling in Hong Kong. FrontStreet Coffee found that not only did it not have the earthy smell unique to ordinary Mandheling, it tasted cleaner and more translucent, and the sweetness was more intense.
Mandheling coffee bean processing method——wet planing
Mandheling's unique wet planing method, also known as Wet Hulling, also known as Giling Basah in the local language, is a traditional Indonesian coffee processing method. Judging from the names alone, wet planing and wet processing (washed processing) are very similar. However, the cupping flavors of these two processing methods are completely different. Coffee processed by wet planing is usually mellow and strong, with a very distinctive personality.
Because the local weather is often rainy, with constant typhoons, lack of long-term sunlight, high temperature and humidity all year round, and humidity as high as 70-90% year-round, it is impossible to rely solely on solar treatment. The local economy is also limited, and the more expensive method of washing cannot be used. In the end, the wet planing method with local characteristics was derived. After the previous washing process, the coffee beans with sheepskin are exposed to the sun for 1-2 days, so that the moisture content of the coffee beans reaches 30-50%, and then the sheepskin is removed and sun-dried. This can speed up the drying speed of the coffee beans and greatly shorten the drying time.
The wet planing process is characterized by staged, rapid drying and removal of parchment paper for drying. Teacher Han Huaizong described it as "this is also a rare processing method in the world. It creates Mandheling's special low-acid, thick and stuffy flavor by accident."
Mandheling coffee beans
Careful friends may notice that Front Street Mandheling coffee beans have a characteristic "sheep's hoof shape", and Front Street also noticed that they have a common bean appearance characteristic of "sheep's hoof shape". This is because the semi-hard and semi-soft wet green beans are easily crushed when using a machine to remove the pectin parchment layer. The beans are injured and cracked like sheep's hooves, commonly known as sheep's hooves. The "sheep's hoof" shape is a very distinctive feature of Mandheling coffee beans, so it is not considered a defective bean.
Parameters for brewing Front Street Mandheling coffee:
FrontStreet Coffee baristas use KONO filter cups to brew this type of mellow-tasting coffee. Compared with the v60, the KONO filter cup has a smooth curved surface and a weaker exhaust effect. The straight ribs are only a quarter of the filter cup, allowing the coffee to be layered and soaked with hot water to form a immersion extraction, and the coffee tastes more mellow and mellow. The KONO filter cup is also suitable for coffee beans with rich flavors such as Front Street Brazilian Queen Manor Coffee and Front Street Jamaican Blue Mountain No. 1 Coffee.
Dark roasting makes the internal structure of the coffee beans loose, and we can crush them with just a pinch of our hands, which shows that they are highly absorbent after being ground into powder. In order to prevent the coffee powder from absorbing water and releasing too much bitter substances, Front Street will adjust the grinding degree to a coarser size and use lower-temperature water for manual brewing. The ratio of powder to water used in Front Street Street is 1:15. If you want a stronger taste, you can use 1:13 and adjust it according to your own taste.
KONO filter cup, water temperature of 88 degrees Celsius, powder to water ratio of 1:15, 15g of coffee powder, grinding degree (75% pass rate of No. 20 standard sieve), three-stage extraction.
Using segmented extraction, use 2 times the amount of coffee powder for steaming, that is, 30 grams of water is steamed for 30 seconds. The reason why the steaming process is required is to allow the coffee powder to discharge the internal carbon dioxide gas, thereby making the subsequent extraction more stable. Use a small flow of water in a circle to inject water in stages until 125 grams is reached. Continue to inject water until 225 grams and stop. When the water in the filter cup has finished dripping, remove the filter cup. Start timing from the water injection. The extraction time is 2'00'. Next, pick up the entire cup of coffee and shake it evenly, then pour it into the cup and taste it.
[Lindong Mandheling Coffee on Front Street] Herbal, chocolate, caramel, the overall balance is relatively balanced.
[Front Street Golden Mandheling Coffee] Nuts, spices, herbs, licorice, chocolate, caramel.
Front Street Brewing Coffee Suggestions:
To brew a delicious cup of coffee, Front Street believes that any brewing method requires fresh coffee beans. Front Street has always believed that the freshness of coffee beans has a great relationship with the flavor of coffee. Therefore, the coffee beans shipped by Front Street Coffee are all roasted within 5 days. The purpose of Front Street Roasting is "freshly roasted and good coffee", so that every customer who orders receives the freshest coffee. The bean-growing period of coffee is about 4-7 days, so the flavor is at its best when customers get it.
For those who need to grind the coffee beans, Front Street would like to remind you that if the coffee beans are ground in advance, there is no need to raise the beans. Because during the transportation process, the pressure generated by the carbon dioxide in the packaging can also make the coffee flavor mellower, so you can make a cup of coffee immediately after receiving the coffee powder. But the coffee powder needs to be brewed in time, because the coffee powder oxidizes quickly when exposed to air, which means that the flavor of the coffee will dissipate relatively quickly, and the flavor of the coffee will not be so good. Therefore, Front Street recommends buying whole beans and grinding them freshly, so that you can better taste the flavor 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
