About This Coffee
Though often thought of as a growing region in Sumatra, Mandheling is more of a trade name, referring to Indonesian wet hulled coffee. The name came from the Mandailing ethnic group, who historically were coffee traders.
Dutch colonialists already brought coffee to the island group at the end of the 17th century, making the archipelago a pioneer in coffee production, as well as one of the first coffee-producing giants. Yet, challenges brought on by climate change and the demise of the colonies pushed Indonesia from its leading coffee position.
Those who put on their adventurous shoes will discover a truly remarkable and diverse origin. Indonesian coffees are still very popular for coffee blends, as they can give a unique quality of body to your blend.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Coffee from the Mandheling region of Sumatra is known for one very specific feature: the wet-hulled process or gilling basah. This process is only used in Indonesia. This is mostly because the relative humidity in the air is too high to actually dry the beans enough before hulling them. The wet-hulled process starts with a normal pulping step to take off the cherry skin. Next, the beans go into fermentation tanks with most of the mucilage layer still intact on the parchment. The beans dry ferment overnight in their own pulp. The following day, they go through a washing process. After that, the parchment dries for a short time until it reaches 25 to 30% moisture. Producers can sell their coffee as wet parchment or as partially dried parchment to buying centres. These will hull the coffee already at the high moisture level to be able to dry the beans faster.
Triple picked describes the preparation of green beans and means that coffee has been sorted and cleaned three times before bagging and shipment.
Coffee in Indonesia
Indonesia has a long coffee producing history, but recently their coffees have been overlooked by the specialty market. Thanks to our innovative and ever-expanding supply chain, we are proud to bring you high-quality coffees from many of Indonesia’s unique regions, accompanied by in-depth traceability information.
Indonesia is perhaps best known for its unique wet hulling process (giling basah). Though its exact origins are unclear, wet hulling most likely originated in Aceh during the late 1970s.
Wet hulling’s popularity can be attributed to producers’ need for prompt payments. It was also adopted specifically by many producers who lacked the drying infrastructure that was needed to shelter drying parchment from the high humidity and inconsistent rainfall typical in Sumatra. At higher elevations with constant humidity and unpredictable rainfall, drying can prove to be slow, risky and difficult.