Culling Roasting and Tasting Sumatra Mandheling
A friend brought me a few kilograms of green beans. Mandheling from Sumatra.
Indonesian beans are not for everyone but I am fascinated by the tones that people call 'earthy'. This origin, if harvested and processed well, reminds me of the spice tea aroma that I delighted in at the Seattle Pike Place Market in 1976 (It may or may not smell like that there today, probably different). Plus something of licorice and bay leaves.
The beans that I received needed a lot of sorting though. A good number of them had been cracked and dented by the washing mills that take the fruit pulp off the coffee cherries, others had dark and broken ends, some were tiny as pin heads, had minuscule dark holes bored by insects or pale spots from moisture.
Sorting through these beans again and again is time consuming but very pleasant once one has let go of the notion that time is money. I thought of the women workers who usually do this in the countries of origin, sorting through a large pile which will be sorted again by another, and another. So much time invested to make the crop more consistent and valuable.
It is a great time to dream, to remember, to make plans.
The reward for me is hopefully a delicious cup, untainted by the wounded beans that would have given the coffee an awful taste.
Next, the roasting. Immediately after roasting, as soon as the beans have cooled to around 37ºC, I take out 11g to grind, smell, and then measure the color using a Tonino. If the grinds seem to be asleep still, not releasing much aroma, this is a warning that my roast profile may be lacking. Then when both color and aroma are promising, it's a few days waiting before an espresso will reveal if I did the beans justice.
The first batch that seemed good had a dry after taste so I made sure the next roast had a more articulate rate of rise in the temperature during the last part of the roast while still not roasting too hot in order to retain the specific Indonesian aromas, not toppling into the boring realm of simply "dark coffee".
The next batch turned out better. I love this coffee. Still, part of that may be caused by my own effort, hoping it will turn out well and wishing it so that I overlook any faults in the tasting. I invited the friend who brought me the beans. He likes the extraction as well and next I have taken a bag to my friends at the Trakteren specialty coffee shop, hoping to hear their verdict soon.
PS a reply from Edward & Eric at Trakteren (Dutch original below): "Frans! Just tasted that Mandheling... wonderfully thick and sweet... delicious mouthfeel... just what you want as espresso aficionado... roast is also spot on with regard to acidity... especially for this Indo."
They went on to point out, though, that far in the aftertaste they still sense a hint dryness like I have had before in my roasts. Before they assumed this had to do with the stocking of the beans but they suggest I work on the roast profile a bit more.
PS 2 The friend who originally bought the large bag of Mandheling does not like the sorting as much as I do. He sent my photos to his importer and he's getting a refund! I think the sorting is well worth the result in the cup. And while sorting, I can listen to the Coffee Awesome podcast!
Indonesian beans are not for everyone but I am fascinated by the tones that people call 'earthy'. This origin, if harvested and processed well, reminds me of the spice tea aroma that I delighted in at the Seattle Pike Place Market in 1976 (It may or may not smell like that there today, probably different). Plus something of licorice and bay leaves.
The beans that I received needed a lot of sorting though. A good number of them had been cracked and dented by the washing mills that take the fruit pulp off the coffee cherries, others had dark and broken ends, some were tiny as pin heads, had minuscule dark holes bored by insects or pale spots from moisture.
 |
| Unsorted beans |
It is a great time to dream, to remember, to make plans.
 |
| Beans sorted once on the left, first set of rejects on the right |
The first batch that seemed good had a dry after taste so I made sure the next roast had a more articulate rate of rise in the temperature during the last part of the roast while still not roasting too hot in order to retain the specific Indonesian aromas, not toppling into the boring realm of simply "dark coffee".
The next batch turned out better. I love this coffee. Still, part of that may be caused by my own effort, hoping it will turn out well and wishing it so that I overlook any faults in the tasting. I invited the friend who brought me the beans. He likes the extraction as well and next I have taken a bag to my friends at the Trakteren specialty coffee shop, hoping to hear their verdict soon.
 |
| 17g of Sumatra Mandheling, ground on HG One, extracted on LONDINIUM I, 32g in 32s |
PS a reply from Edward & Eric at Trakteren (Dutch original below): "Frans! Just tasted that Mandheling... wonderfully thick and sweet... delicious mouthfeel... just what you want as espresso aficionado... roast is also spot on with regard to acidity... especially for this Indo."
They went on to point out, though, that far in the aftertaste they still sense a hint dryness like I have had before in my roasts. Before they assumed this had to do with the stocking of the beans but they suggest I work on the roast profile a bit more.
PS 2 The friend who originally bought the large bag of Mandheling does not like the sorting as much as I do. He sent my photos to his importer and he's getting a refund! I think the sorting is well worth the result in the cup. And while sorting, I can listen to the Coffee Awesome podcast!
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