Sumatra Mandheling

Sumatra Mandheling coffee, grown at high elevations, is known for its low acidity, full body, and earthy, chocolatey notes. Farmers use the traditional wet-hulling (Giling Basah) process, which enhances its rich, syrupy profile.

REGION : Takengon, Aceh Tengah Regency, Aceh Province, Sumatra, Indonesia 

SOURCE : Family farms organized around PT Ihtiyeri Keti Ara (PT. IKA) exporters

VARIETY : Local catimors Tim-Tim and Ateng Super, bourbon and typica cultivars

PROCESS : Washed, wet-hulled, sun-dried

SOIL : Volcanic loam 

ALTITUDE : 1200-1600 masl

ROAST LEVEL : 4/5

AROMA : Earthy, Spicy

FLAVOR : Dark Chocolate, Nutty, Sweet

ACIDITY : Low

BODY : Heavy, Syrupy

WHY WE LIKE IT : Bold sweetness paired with mild acidity makes for an all-day drinker

RECOMMENDED FOR : Someone looking for a clean easy drinking cup

Sumatra’s smallholder coffee is a complicated process, thanks in large part to Aceh’s very small farm sizes and consistently humid and drizzly climate that makes prolonged parchment drying impractical to do. Processing is typically not overseen by a single individual or team; instead, coffee moves task by task through different hands before reaching its final, fully-dried, state.

IKA follows the local processing customs closely, beginning with farmers picking cherry and selling to local collectors. Collectors aggregate cherry from their local neighborhoods and either process themselves, or deliver to local processors. In processing, cherry is for density, depulped, and fermented overnight. The following morning the fermented parchment is washed clean with spring water and spread out on tarps to dry directly in the sun. After the parchment is dry to the touch, often only a matter of hours depending on the time of day, it is transferred again to a local miller, who mechanically hulls the parchment from around the coffee seed, which is notably still has a moisture content close to 40% at this time (thus earning the coffee its “wet-hulled” label). The miller will proceed to continue drying the wet, naked coffee seeds on tarps under the direct sun.

Final dry milling is done centrally by PT. IKA in Takengon. The fact that they export from the city means containers are filled, sealed, and transported directly from the highlands to port with minimal time in Sumatra’s humid coastal city of Medan—in our experience an extremely key step for retaining quality in Aceh’s coffee.