For more knowledge about specialty coffee, please follow the WeChat public account: Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee）
Indonesian Mandheling coffee is rich and mellow, and is a representative of the mellow type of coffee. However, the audience of Mandheling coffee is relatively polarized. People who like it can't put it down, while people who don't like it avoid it. The unique herbal flavor of Mandheling coffee has become a feature that fascinates some coffee lovers.
FrontStreet Coffee has encountered many steadfast Mandheling coffee lovers. Even though they introduced several coffee beans that were also mellow and not sour, such as Brazilian Queen's Manor Sun-Dried Yellow Bourbon, Jamaica Blue Mountain, etc., they finally chose Mandheling coffee beans from Sumatra, Indonesia.
Even though Indonesian Mandheling coffee has been fragrant for more than half a century, Indonesia is not the origin of coffee. Like many coffee-producing countries, coffee cultivation is inseparable from European colonial activities. In the seventeenth century, coffee was popular in Europe, and demand for coffee exceeded supply. In order to capture a larger consumer market, some European countries brought coffee seeds or saplings to their colonies for cultivation.
Among them, the Dutch East India Company transplanted coffee to Indonesia twice. Finally, for the second time, with the harmony of time and place, coffee trees took root and thrived in Java, and spread to Sumatra and Sulawesi.
However, at the beginning of the 20th century, coffee leaf rust swept across the country, causing devastating damage to the coffee trees on the island of Java. Later, they had to switch to planting more disease-resistant robusta coffee trees. Today, Indonesia has become a major coffee-producing country, and its Arabica coffee bean production ranks first in Asia all year round.
The main coffee producing area in Indonesia is located on the island of Sumatra. The coffee produced in Sumatra is also one of the main coffee types in the specialty coffee industry. Sumatra coffee is famous for its unique flavor characteristics, low acidity, richness and special aroma. Mandheling coffee beans are one of the most popular Sumatran coffee beans in the world.
The places where Arabica coffee beans are grown in Sumatra are mainly concentrated in the northwest of the island. According to the different planting environments, they can be divided into the Aceh production area in North Sumatra and the Lindong production area around Lake Toba in North Jiangsu Province.
Among them, the traditional production area of Mandheling coffee beans is in the Lindong production area. Together with the wet planing method with local characteristics, the Mandheling coffee in the Lindong production area has a thick taste, with a unique aroma of herbs and obvious caramel sweetness.
As a relatively new Mandheling coffee bean producing area, the Aceh producing area introduced a batch of Arabica coffee trees from North Subei Province in 1924. Subsequently, the coffee production in the Aceh producing area increased year by year, surpassing the traditional Lindong producing area. However, the global greenhouse effect is becoming more and more intense. As global warming progresses, scientific research shows that the area suitable for growing coffee in the traditional Lindong production area will be significantly reduced or even disappear in the next thirty years. The Aceh production area has survived the disaster of global warming and has become a winner, replacing the Lindong production area.
On the bean rack of FrontStreet Coffee are Mandheling coffee beans from the Aceh and Lindong producing areas. However, some friends are confused about the difference between the two Mandheling coffees.
Front Street compared the two Mandheling coffee beans through cupping and concluded that the Mandheling coffee from the Aceh production area has a brighter flavor and taste, and the herbaceous taste is not so strong.
Of course, such differences are not only due to differences in the local growing environment, but are also closely related to the post-processing methods and production standards of the coffee.
It rains all year round in Sumatra and the climate is hot and humid. It is difficult to meet the length of time required for the sun-drying method. During the sun-drying process, the coffee cherries may be directly scrapped due to being contaminated by rainwater or excessive fermentation. In addition, local economic conditions are limited and it is impossible to invest sufficient funds in water washing treatment. Hence the wet planing method.
After the peel and pulp of the selected coffee cherries are removed, the shelled beans with a thick pectin layer are briefly washed and placed in a pool for fermentation. The longer the fermentation time, the stronger the sour taste. Therefore, in order to create Mandheling coffee beans with extremely low acidity, some processing plants will choose to skip the fermentation step and directly spread the sticky shelled beans evenly to dry. In this way, the sour taste of Mandheling is suppressed and the consistency of the taste is improved.
When the green coffee beans are still in a semi-dry and semi-wet state, a machine is used to shell them. This step generates too much heat and accelerates the aging of the green coffee beans, giving the finished product a special aroma such as wood and earth. At the same time, the green coffee beans are soft in texture in this state. Under the external force generated by the machine, the green coffee beans are easily squeezed out and appear in a "sheep's hoof" state.
Unlike ordinary Mandheling coffee beans, PWN produces gold Mandheling to a set of strict standards. Select beans that are plump and complete in shape, with more than 18 meshes, and have less than three defects per 300 grams of raw bean samples, reaching the highest grade of G1. Three more manual hand selections are carried out to ensure that defective beans are completely eliminated, thereby making the Golden Mandheling brighter in flavor, cleaner in taste, and more sweet. Under strict production standards, the quality of Golden Mandheling is so high that Golden Mandheling has become synonymous with Mandheling. Because of this, its production is relatively rare, and some merchants want to use the same grade of Mandheling coffee beans to pass them off as PWN Gold Mandheling and sell them at high prices.
Front Street has purchased several gold Mandhelings for blind testing. Front Street’s baristas can accurately identify PWN Golden Mandhelings because its taste is incomparably clean. For ordinary consumers, this approach is a bit difficult. If you want to identify the real PWN gold mandheling, you can ask the merchant to provide relevant green bean sacks and certificates. The above two kinds of certificates can also be found in Front Street stores.
On the label of PWN Gold Mandheling coffee beans sold at FrontStreet Coffee, Ateng is listed in the variety list. Compared with the familiar Typica and Bourbon, what kind of Ateng is it? In fact, Ateng is a collective name for Katim coffee, which is widely grown on Sumatra. The variety has Robusta and Arabica genes, and in some cases they can perform well in cupping.
Aged Mandheling For wine, everyone thinks that the longer it is stored, the better, hence the name of aged wine. The same goes for aged coffee. Aged coffee is undoubtedly the best aged Mandheling. In fact, the unique flavor is not intentional. Indonesia was once a colony of the Netherlands. During the colonial period, Indonesia had to transport coffee beans to Europe. In order to ensure continuous supply, coffee beans would be properly stored. However, due to external factors such as long transportation distances, the transportation time was too long and they were eroded by sea breeze. By the time the coffee beans were transported to Europe, they had already developed another flavor, which is the origin of the aged flavor.
Fortunately, at that time, European colonists were amazed by the taste and quickly accepted and promoted this treatment method. Aging of vintage Mandhelings is now quite mature. The coffee beans first go through the wet planing method (the wet planing method is to use parchment paper to dry in the sun for 2-3 days to a moisture content of 20-24% during the ordinary washing process, and finally remove the parchment paper to dry the green beans to a moisture content of 12-13%), and then seal them in the warehouse. The environment in the warehouse must be cool and ventilated, and the beans must be turned over regularly to prevent mold and corruption. During storage for 2-3 years, the acidity of the coffee beans will gradually weaken and turn to sugar, and the color of the coffee beans will also become darker, mostly yellowish brown or dark brown, which is very recognizable.
Aged Mandheling Region: Sumatra Altitude: 1500 meters Variety: Kadura, Typica Processing method: Wet planing Flavor: Cooked pudding, caramel, herbs, chocolate, low acidity
FrontStreet Coffee uses medium-dark roasting of Mandheling coffee beans. Therefore, FrontStreet recommends using the following parameters when brewing:
Filter cup: KONO
Water temperature: 88 degrees Celsius
Amount of powder: 15g
Pink to water ratio: 1:15
Grinding degree: Chinese standard No. 20 screen pass rate 70%
First inject 30 grams of hot water and steam for 30 seconds. Inject a thin stream of water from the center point and slowly circle it to 125 grams. When the water level in the filter cup drops to about to expose the powder bed, continue to add water in circles to 225 grams. The total extraction time is about 2 minutes.
For more knowledge about specialty coffee, please follow the WeChat public account: Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet 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
