First off, let's get this out of the way, everything you know about Sumatra Mandheling is wrong, even if you've only heard the name. There's some low-land robusta production in the province, but really, Mandheling is a name that became so synonymous with Sumatra coffee, that any coffee from the northern part of the island may carry that moniker. A lot of the coffee labeled as Mandheling actually comes from further north in the Aceh territory. This particular coffee comes from an estate near Takengon, a city on the edge of Laut Tawar Lake in Aceh, with Gunung Geureudong, a Pleistocene age volcanic complex, and the largest in northwest Sumatra, to the north.The coffee is a classic Sumatra: a large, slightly elongated bean with a deep green color (a result of Giling Basah, a wet-hulled processing step common to nearly all Indonesian coffees. I won't go into detail on it now; I need topics for future posts). The cultivar is unique to the region near Takengon. The fragrance is also deep and dark, with chocolate truffle, ripe berry, and maybe a hint of more tropical fruit. The wet aromatic becomes warm and peppery, with a hint of toast, herbs, and molasses. The cup has a nice astringence and bitterness, a very low acidity, and a full, oily body that develops steadily as the coffee begins to cool slightly.
