The endangered and rare Sumatran tiger is always seen as majestic and composed in people’s minds. On the island of Sumatra, there is a Mandheling coffee with an aroma as powerful as the Sumatran tiger and a mellow, steady taste. When recommending Mandheling coffee, Pergamino often says: If you want high clarity, choose PWN Golden Mandheling; if you want high body, choose aged Mandheling; if you want strong aroma, choose Tiger Mandheling.

Pergamino Coffee – Tiger Mandheling Coffee Beans

Origin: Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia

Variety: Typica, Catuaí

Processing method: Wet-hulled

Elevation: 1500m

Sumatra · Aceh Region

Sumatra·Aceh

Aceh Province is located at the northernmost tip of the Indonesian archipelago's northwest. Situated on both sides of the equator, it has a typical tropical equatorial maritime climate, hot and summer-like year-round, with an average annual temperature of around 27°C. The region is hot and rainy, with the rainy season from October to March influenced by Asian and Pacific air currents, bringing abundant rainfall and cooler weather. From April to October, influenced by continental air currents from Australia, the air carries less moisture, resulting in a dry, hot climate considered the dry season. Pergamino cupped multiple coffee beans from the Aceh region, including Longberry Dragon Fruit Mandheling, PWN Golden Mandheling, aged Mandheling, and this Tiger Mandheling. Herbal, dark chocolate, high body, clean taste, and pronounced sweetness are characteristics of this region's coffee.

Why is it called Tiger Mandheling?

Tiger Mandheling

This Tiger Mandheling from Pergamino is sourced from the homeland of the Sumatran tiger—Sumatra Island. The beans are 19-screen-sized coffee cherries (strictly filtered through a 19-mesh sieve to ensure nearly uniform bean size), then hand-sorted three times to select ripe cherries before processing. Thus, locals describe these 19-screen selected beans as "Sumatran tigers" for their nobility and rarity. In Pergamino’s cupping, the coffee exhibits high viscosity, a smooth mouthfeel, rich sandalwood notes, and high sweetness, with a long-lasting aftertaste that evokes the image of a Sumatran tiger stalking forward.

Wet-hulled processing method

Wet-Hulling

The wet-hulled method involves first removing the coffee cherry's skin and pulp, briefly fermenting, then sun-drying before removing the mucilage and parchment layer, continuing the drying phase until the moisture content drops to 12%. Wet-hulled Mandheling beans often show varying degrees of compression cracks (these beans are horseshoe-shaped, hence called "horseshoe beans"), with a darker greenish color.

This process shortens the drying time to just two to four days, reducing fermentation and significantly lowering acidity. In contrast, body increases, with pronounced caramel and fruity aromas, even hints of herbs, grass, and woody notes, forming Sumatra’s unique regional flavor.

Coffee bean variety

Typica & Caturra

This Tiger Mandheling uses two varieties with pronounced sweetness: Typica and Catuaí. Typica has bronze-tipped leaves and oval or pointed beans. It offers elegant flavors but is delicate, with poor disease resistance and low yield. Pergamino’s cuppings highlight its distinctive clean, balanced profile. Catuaí is a Bourbon mutation with slightly curved, round, and slender beans. It has better yield and disease resistance than Bourbon. ， Its flavor is overall bright with good sweetness.

Pergamino’s roasters observed that Tiger Mandheling green beans are round, yellowish-green, with good uniformity and higher moisture content. The roast target is medium-dark to mute excessive acidity and enhance body and balance.

Pergamino Coffee Roasting Record

Start at 200°C in the drum, fan at 3. After 30s, adjust heat to 160°C, fan unchanged. Turnaround at 1’45”, maintain heat. At 5’18”, beans turn yellow, grassiness fully dissipates, entering dehydration phase. Reduce heat to 140°C, fan to 4.

Dehydration complete at 7’30”. Heat at 140°C. At 8’55”, beans show rough wrinkles and black spots, toastiness shifts to coffee aroma, marking the prelude to first crack. Listen closely for first crack at 9’00”, then reduce heat to 110°C, fan fully open 5 (adjust heat carefully to avoid silence). First crack develops for 4’00”, drop at 203°C.

Pergamino Coffee Cupping Report

Dry aroma: Herbal, nuts

Wet aroma: Herbal, caramel

Flavor: Herbal, nuts, cream, dark chocolate

Pergamino Coffee Brewing Insights

For darker-roasted beans, to highlight body, Pergamino uses the Kono filter. Its immersion feature extracts more coffee compounds, enhancing richness. Few ribs at the bottom ensure the filter adheres tightly, restricting airflow to slow water flow and increase contact time.

Filter: Kono Mingmen

Dosage: 15g

Ratio: 1:15

Temperature: 88°C

Grind: Medium-coarse (73% passing through 0.85mm sieve)

Pergamino uses pulsed pouring: 30g bloom for 30s, small circles to 125g, then pour to 225g when water nears the bed. Remove filter when water drops close (start at bloom). Total time: 2’05”.

Brewed flavors: Nuts, cream, dark chocolate, caramel, herbal medicine, pronounced sweetness, clean and clear profile.