The most well-known coffee in Indonesia is Mandheling coffee from the island of Sumatra, known for its mellow, rich flavor. At FrontStreet Coffee, there are two Mandheling coffees: one is the Lintong Mandheling from the entry-level selection series, and the other is FrontStreet PWN Golden Mandheling from the PWN company. Therefore, quite a few customers are curious: both are Mandheling coffee, so what is the difference between them?

What is Mandheling coffee? "Mandheling" does not refer to a producing region, a place name, or a coffee variety name. In fact, Mandheling is the name of a local ethnic minority in Indonesia, but by a twist of fate it was mistaken for the name of the coffee beans. By now, however, Mandheling has become synonymous with coffee from the island of Sumatra.

On the island of Sumatra, Mandheling coffee is mainly grown in the northwest of the island, concentrated in the Special Region of Aceh (Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam) and North Sumatra Province (North Sumatra). It is mainly concentrated in the Gayo and Lake Tawar areas of the Aceh region and the Lake Toba area of North Sumatra Province. These areas all have high-altitude mountain terrain, fertile volcanic soil and abundant water resources, making them very suitable for Arabica coffee to grow there.

Lintong Mandheling comes from the Lintong coffee-producing area in the Lake Toba region, located south of Medan, the provincial capital of Sumatra, and is a traditional local producing area for Mandheling coffee beans. The coffee is mainly grown in the mountainous areas around Lake Toba at an altitude of 1100-1600 m.

FrontStreet Lintong Mandheling comes from here. It uses the Ateng coffee variety (the local name for Catimor) and the highly locally distinctive wet hulling method, which is a processing method developed to suit local conditions because the area has many typhoons and a humid, rainy climate. This gives this Lintong Mandheling, after brewing, herbal and dark chocolate flavors, a caramel-like mellow mouthfeel, and a high sweet aftertaste.

Golden Mandheling is the term for the more excellent Mandheling. Qianjie PWN Golden Mandheling is produced by the well-known Indonesian export trading company PWN (N.V. Pawani Medan Company), which mainly purchases high-quality Mandheling coffee locally in Indonesia for its products and has contracted the best local Mandheling coffee varieties.

Moreover, because there are many different types of Mandheling products on the market, PWN registered the English name "Golden Mandheling" as its trademark in order to distinguish it and prevent its name from being misappropriated. Therefore, only the Golden Mandheling coffee produced by PWN is true Golden Mandheling in the real sense.

The company originally used Mandheling coffee from the Lintong region, but later switched to Mandheling produced in the Gayo Mountain region. The name of the Gayo region comes from the local Gayo people. This region is located in the mountainous area of Aceh province at an altitude of 1300-1600 m. The most famous coffee here is grown around Lake Tawar. Although Lake Tawar is not as large as Lake Toba, in recent years it has surpassed Lake Toba in coffee varieties and production.

In addition, according to Indonesian national standards, green coffee grading mainly depends on the defect count, with the highest grade being G1. Both Lintong Mandheling and Golden Mandheling are G1 grade. After purchasing G1 coffee beans, PWN also arranges manual hand-sorting of the coffee beans 3 times, removing defective, small and ugly beans, leaving only large, plump beans with few defects. In order to improve the quality and cleanliness of the coffee, this also makes Qianjie PWN Golden Mandheling considerably more expensive than other Mandheling coffees.

Best Coffee's PWN Golden Mandheling, like Lintong Mandheling, is made from the Ateng variety and processed with the wet-hulled method, but the producing regions selected are different, and Golden Mandheling undergoes stricter sorting, so the corresponding price is different too. Golden Mandheling has notes of toasted bread, pine, caramel and cocoa when tasted, and its mouthfeel is cleaner than Lintong Mandheling; overall it is fragrant, rich and full-bodied, with more varied layers, and a finish with a richer caramel sweetness. Both are classic first choices for coffee lovers who enjoy a full-bodied style.

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