Sumatra Mandheling

Mandheling — named for the Mandailing people of North Sumatra rather than a place — refers to the heavy-bodied coffees grown around Lake Toba and the Gayo and Lintong highlands between roughly 900 and 1,500 metres. Their hallmark is the regional wet-hulling method, 'giling basah,' in which parchment is removed at high moisture content, giving Sumatran coffee its characteristic deep green-blue beans and distinctive cup: full, syrupy body, very low acidity, and earthy, cedar, herbal, and dark-chocolate notes. Mostly Typica-descended landraces and rust-resistant Catimor/Ateng, grown by smallholders, Mandheling is one of the most recognisable and polarising flavour profiles in coffee.