Sumatra Mandheling Coffee, USDA Organic

Sumatra Mandheling Coffee is a rare Indonesian coffee that is delightfully smooth with a rich, heavy body, low acidity, exotic flavor with an intense syrupy aftertaste, and earthy richness. Rated a low acid coffee due to the lower acidity.

Certifications:

• USDA Organic
• Fairtrade Certified
  
• Kosher Certified

Flavor Notes: Toffee, Lemongrass, and Dried Fruit

Processing: Washed Process

Roast: Medium Roast

Additional Information:

• Country: Indonesia
• Drying: Sun Dry Process
• Farm: Various Smallholder Farms
• Low Acidity: The process for developing a lower acid in Sumatra Mandheling Coffee involves roasting beans that are already naturally lower in acid, for longer periods of time. This ensures that the acidic components of the coffee are processed out and result in a higher pH.
• pH: 5.2 Low Acid Coffee
• Single Origin Farm

Sumatra Mandheling Coffee

The Sumatra Mandheling coffees have always been highly prized not only because of their full-body flavor but also because of their distinct appearance. Sumatra Mandheling Coffee has low acidity and bold flavors of exotic spices and herbs with earthy tones that are almost woody in sensation.

Green Sumatra coffee beans are often asymmetrical in shape and have a deep aquamarine tint due to the semi-washed, or wet-hulled, processing the beans go through. Coffee experts would agree that their earthy, pungent, and deep character is less a byproduct of the botanical variety of the beans or the growth environment, and more so a direct result of their processing method.

This coffee is lush with syrupy notes of toffeenut and an intriguing hibiscus finish that is complex, exotic and packed with flavor that makes Sumatra Mandheling coffee one of a kind.

Sumatra Mandheling Coffee History

Sumatra Mandheling Coffee comes from Indonesia’s Sunda Islands in the Malay Archipelago and has one of the most distinctive origins of all coffees. Beginning in the 18th Century, when the popularity of Sumatra coffee rose significantly, the unique shape and hue of these beans helped European merchants recognize authentic Sumatra coffee.

While most coffee is named after the growing region or the country, Sumatra Mandheling Coffee is named after the Mandheling people that traditionally farmed and processed the coffee beans. During World War II, a Japanese military man stationed in Sumatra asked a local Sumatran where his coffee originated. The Sumatran man mistakenly thought he was being asked about his ethnicity and replied, "Mandheling”. Later, word spread to Japan of this sensational coffee, and the name stuck as merchants began inquiring about the purchase of Mandheling coffee from Sumatra.

Sumatra Mandheling Coffee is now produced in Pandang, a small island part of Indonesia, close to the Sumatra coffee district, where 65% of the coffee is grown. Coffee trees were bought on this island in the early 19th century in an attempt to break the near-monopoly on coffee beans held by other parts of the world.

Taste Profile of Sumatra Mandheling Coffee

What makes Sumatra Mandheling coffees so unique and distinctive is their semi-washed processing that they go through. The process involves removing the outer skin of the cherry while leaving on the mucilage on the coffee seeds and sun-drying until there is only about 12% moisture left in the beans. The process creates a rich denseness in the body of the coffee’s flavor that gives Sumatra Mandheling coffee’s their distinctive herbaceous aromas with complex tones of star anise, cloves, and even nutmeg.

Many of the varietals of the country are derived from typica that has genetic traceability back to Yemen. Sumatra’s typica is often referred to as Djember Typica. We believe this lends a winey, Cabernet-like, feel to Sumatra Mandheling’s cup that creates this well-rounded effect and has a nice balanced sweetness to its mouthfeel.

Another key component to Sumatra Mandheling coffee is that it is grown in the Barisan Mountain region between 1,100 to 1,300 meters that has rich, volcanic soil that gives the Sumatra Mandheling coffee essential nutrients that makes this coffee one of a kind in body, aroma, and mouthfeel that we’re sure you’ll fall in love with.