Indonesian coffee beans areMandheling coffee beansthe most famous,MandhelingCoffee beans are the representative of Indonesian specialty coffee and also the representative of Asian coffee. They have obvious Asian coffee styles: pine, herbs, nuts and caramel flavors. The taste is very mellow and the flavor is solid. Because of this, not everyone will like this coffee flavor, but for those who are obsessed with this flavor, Mandheling is a flavor that makes people have endless aftertaste after drinking it. Now, Front Street will introduce this coffee to you.
Most coffee beans are named after the country of origin, production area, manor name or variety name. Only the Mandheling coffee beans from the Sumatra region of Indonesia are unusual! It is not an exaggeration to say that Mandheling is synonymous with Indonesian specialty coffee. In fact, Mandheling is not the name of a production area, a place, a port, or a coffee variety, but a mispronunciation of the Mandheling ethnic group that originally lived in Sumatra. Why does this nation get involved with coffee? There is a legend in it. It is said that during World War II, when Japan occupied Indonesia, a Japanese soldier went to a certain cafe and drank a cup of rich and mellow coffee, so he asked the store the name of the coffee beans, thinking he was asking where he was from. The store replied "Mandheling". After the defeat, he returned to Japan, hoping to drink that coffee again, and asked the locals in Indonesia to look for it, but mistakenly called it "Mandheling". Since then, Mandheling's name has been quoted.
Indonesian coffee development
Indonesia has a long history of coffee cultivation. Coffee cultivation in Indonesia originated during the colonial period and plays an important role in the world's coffee industry. Coffee also plays an important role in the growth of Indonesia. Indonesia is an excellent place for growing coffee. It is located on the equator and has many high mountains. Coffee was first brought to Indonesia by the Dutch in 1969 AD. However, due to severe flooding in batavia (today's Jakarta), the planting was not successful. Then it was brought into Indonesia for the second time in 1699, and the first batch was exported to Europe in 1711. Coffee was introduced to the island of Java by the Dutch colonists at that time and began to be cultivated. Later, it spread widely to the island of Sumatra and began to be cultivated on a large scale. Nearly two hundred years later, the Indonesian coffee industry was severely affected by leaf rust. Large areas of coffee trees were infected and withered, seriously affecting production.
Mandheling coffee comes from Sumatra
Indonesia is made up of more than 17,000 islands scattered across the equatorial volcanic belt with fertile soil. Famous production areas include Sumatra in the west, Sulawesi in the center, and Java in the south. Mandheling comes from the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Sumatra is located in western Indonesia and has eight provinces. The high-quality coffee growing areas are all in the north of the island, namely the northernmost Aceh Province (ACEH) and the adjacent North Sumatra Province (Sumetra Utara). Each of the two provinces has a relatively large lake, Tawar Lake in Aceh Province and Lake Toba in North Sumatra Province. The important coffee growing areas in the province are also surrounding these two lakes.
Lake Toba is the largest volcanic lake in the world and the largest freshwater lake in Indonesia. The average annual temperature here is around 22°C, and it has a tropical rainforest climate. The rainy and humid environment, coupled with the altitude of about 1,400 meters, is very suitable for the growth of coffee trees. To the south of the lake is Lintong, a well-known local production area, where the Indonesian Mandheling coffee from Qian Street is produced.
Another Lake Tawa brings an altitude of more than 1,500 meters to the coffee growing area in Aceh due to the surrounding Gayo Mountain. Due to the unstable political situation in Aceh Province, armed conflicts often occur, which has greatly affected the development of the local coffee trade. In 2005, a tsunami broke out in Aceh, and the civil war was terminated due to natural disasters. The coffee industry in Aceh has since gradually returned to the specialty coffee industry.
Lindong Mandheling
Mandheling coffee is produced in the Lindong Mountains in northern Sumatra. Lindong is close to the southwest of Lake Toba and has an altitude of between 1,000-1,500 meters. There are multiple volcanoes and volcanic lakes. The fertile volcanic soil and the local tropical rainforest climate provide abundant rainfall all year round, allowing coffee to flourish.
The Lindong production area, which has a certain reputation in the coffee trade, has also planted many new varieties in order to increase production, making the quality of local coffee not as good as before. The Tawa Lake production area in Aceh Province has always insisted on planting the ancient variety Typica, maintaining high coffee quality. Some large exporters such as Pwanni Coffee Company have also invested more resources here.
Lintong Mandheling, whose raw beans have not been selected, sometimes produces unstable products, but it also retains the flavor characteristics of Sumatran coffee to a large extent, with a strong and rich taste and a unique aroma of spices and herbs. Therefore, Front Street also lists Lintong Mandheling as a cost-effective ration bean series of Front Street, so that everyone can try the unique taste of Indonesian coffee.
front streetGolden MandhelingThe coffee beans come from PWN Coffee Company. Based on the Indonesian green bean grade G1, they have been manually screened four times to ensure that the color, shape and size of the Mandheling coffee beans are uniform. The Mandheling coffee produced has a cleaner taste and a brighter flavor. Golden Mandheling is an upgraded version of Mandheling coffee, as well as another entry-level version of Mandheling, Lindong Mandheling coffee beans. Both coffees have a low-acid, high-bodied taste derived from the wet planing method widely used locally.
After strict screeningGolden Mandheling, FrontStreet Coffee found that not only did it not have the earthy smell unique to ordinary Mandheling, it tasted cleaner and brighter.
Mandheling coffee varieties
The Mandheling coffee variety was originally Typica, an ancient variety of Arabica, but was later switched to Catimu due to leaf rust. As early as 1658, the Netherlands transplanted the descendants of the "European Typica mother plant" to Sri Lanka, but unfortunately the planting failed. Later, in 1699, the Netherlands transplanted the coffee trees from Malaba in eastern India to Java. This trial planting was successful, and Typica grew steadily in Java. In 1718, the Netherlands transplanted the Typica coffee trees that had been successfully planted in Java to Sumatra and Sulawesi. After more than a century of reproduction, just as Indonesia's Typica was at its peak, a leaf rust disease at the end of the 19th century swept most of Indonesia's Typica, and later a more disease-resistant variety, Robusta, had to be introduced.
Typica Tree Species Characteristics Typica has distinctive characteristics that make it probably the easiest species to identify. These plants have a conical shape with a main vertical trunk that can reach up to 5 meters in height. This height means that Typica has longer distances between branches and between nodes on the same branch than other varieties. One of the characteristics of Typica is that its top leaves are bronze in color. The beans are larger and in a pointed oval or thin pointed shape. Some people also call it "red-top coffee". Typica coffee has its own unique quiet and clean flavor, well-balanced characteristics, and high clean taste. However, its shortcomings are insufficient production, high altitude requirements, easy infection by leaf rust, and weak resistance to pests and diseases.
The Indonesian government has successively introduced a number of disease-resistant varieties, including Robusta, such as Tim, Katim and the Indian variety S795, known locally as Tim Tim, Ateng and Jember. Typica is also the variety with the longest history of cultivation in Indonesia. It was originally introduced from Java and planted in the wider Sumatra Island. After a long period of adaptation to the local terroir, it has developed the unique herbal spice, low-acid and mellow flavor of Sumatran Typica. At present, it is mainly distributed in the Lake Toba area and the Lindong production area.
Tim Tim is a natural cross between Typica and Robusta. It inherits the high yield and disease resistance of Robusta. Another Ateng (Katim) variety is a hybrid descendant of Bourbon variants Kaduka and Tim. It is favored by many local coffee farmers because of its strong vitality that can maintain high coffee yields. In many countries, Katim is often criticized by industry insiders due to flavor flaws. Catim, grown in the unique flavor environment of Sumatra, performs better in cupping, with a woody tone and mellow taste.
wet planing
Indonesia's rainy and humid environment all year round makes it impossible to use solar processing like African countries, so the Indonesians invented a unique wet planing method. After the green coffee beans are peeled off with a peeling machine, the pectin layer still feels slippery to the touch. After a night of fermentation, the pectin layer falls off more easily under flowing water, and the appearance of the shelled beans becomes rough. Then start drying the green beans. This step is also "depending on the weather." If it is sunny for two consecutive days, the coffee beans will be exposed to the sun for two days, and the moisture content of the shelled beans will be 30 to 50%. At this time, you can start using a special shelling machine to use friction to peel off the still harder sheepskin. The force is greater, so we can see that the appearance of the green beans will be slightly deformed. Finally, continue drying for two days. The coffee beans are prone to bursting under the sun, which is what we are talking about. When the moisture content reaches 12%, it can be packaged and stored.
However, coffee beans produced by the wet brewing method will burst and deform, which is what we often call "sheep's hoof beans". This is not a defective bean, but a condition that occurs when Mandheling coffee beans are wet brewed.
Wet-planed Mandheling coffee has low acidity and high body. The wet planing method greatly shortens the time for processing green beans and is also widely used in rainy and humid Indonesia. The removal of the parchment during drying makes the coffee less acidic and highlights the mellow taste of the coffee after roasting.
The difference between wet planing and washing is that after the coffee beans are fermented, the parchment is removed while they are still semi-dry and semi-wet. This kind of treatment is based on the fact that under the local high temperature and high humidity air, it is impossible to maintain the sun for more than ten days to dry the green beans like Brazil, Ethiopia and other coffee-producing countries, so this unique method was developed.
Front Street Brewing Mandheling Coffee Parameters:
Front Street's Mandheling coffee will be darkly roasted. The beans are loose in texture and more absorbent. It is easy to over-extract during the extraction stage. Front Street will adjust the grinding degree to be coarser, which can speed up the flow of water and lower the water temperature to avoid excessive bitterness in the extraction.
The biggest feature of Mandheling coffee is its richness, so Front Street uses KONO filter cups. The smooth curved surface of the upper part of the KONO filter cup allows the filter paper to fit better and prevents water vapor from moving upward. The guide ribs in the lower part speed up the water flow, which prolongs the extraction time of water and coffee powder, thus increasing the concentration.
Filter cup: KONO filter cup, water temperature: 88°C, powder amount: 15 grams, powder to water ratio: 1:15, grinding degree: medium-coarse grinding degree (Chinese standard No. 20 screen pass rate 75%).
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, Front Street StreetMandheling coffee flavor characteristics】Herbs, chocolate, caramel, overall balanced.
[Front Street Golden Mandheling Coffee Flavor Characteristics] Nuts, spices, herbs, licorice, chocolate, caramel.
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
