If you want a $15 dollar Rolex, a 50 cent DVD, or a bag marked anyway you want it, Indonesia is still the place to go.īut after a very long successful run, Pawani faded away and we could not seem to find a “Golden Mandheling” like in the good old days. Indonesia has always had its share of pirates and counterfeiters, so it came as no surprise that many other “Golden” types came and went. Relatively expensive at the time, it was very popular and we had a hard time getting enough. The deliveries, refreshingly, were known for their clock-work consistency. The beans were bigger, longer, and fatter, and all but a minuscule amount of defects were picked out. It was generally a little bit cleaner tasting, but not too clean it still had a lot of body and distinct Sumatra character. It was a brand known as “Golden Mandheling.” The genuine Golden Mandheling was sold exclusively by the Pawani Company. The other coffee we used to buy was famous, and one in which we have very fond memories. At some point, drying techniques changed and this coffee, in the mutable tradition of coffee in Indonesia, became part of the Mandheling supply. Treacherous business as you can imagine, but when it was good, despite its ugly appearance, it was really good. This was called Aceh arabica and it was more of a life form than a coffee. The first coffees from these northern areas had tremendously high moisture content and often arrived very soft and damp, looking like green and white salt and pepper…. In the Eighties, the growing areas further up the Aceh Peninsula around Lake Tawar were considered new growing areas. One of these, Aceh Arabica, still exists, but not in its prior condition. Occasionally we also sold a small amount of Lintong and Sibolga from the western shores of Lake Toba and areas south of the lake.īut there were two other types, since disappeared, that I am sure some of our older customers would remember. Back then most “Mandheling” was grown between Medan and the Northern shore of Lake Toba. Our most popular, simply called Mandheling Grade 1, made up most of our volume and still does. Throughout the 1980’s and early 1990’s Royal sold a couple of different Sumatra types.

Sumatra mandheling arabica