# Sumatra Mandheling



## ivawhoppa (Dec 3, 2016)

Hi I have been buying Sumatra Mandheling beans for a while and the last batch arrived to be disappointed with the flavor. Any recommendations for alternative bean to try. Cheers.


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

I am personally not a big fan of Sumatran coffee. What kind of roast profile do you like?

If you are into dark roasts try Coffee Compass. There is a sub-forum here and you can get a discount as a forum member. They are excellent.

Likewise, also really great coffee is Rave. Try the Colombian Suarez or some of their blends. They are really good, and are slightly on the lighter side than Coffee Compass.

There is also HasBean (more on the lighter side than the two above) and many many others.

Foundry Coffee Roasters is another favourite around here, but I haven't tried their beans yet. I've ordered them, however, and really looking forward to trying them out.

Best advice I can give you is to try them out. Luckily for us, there are a lot of coffee roasters in this country. And let the journey begin.

Good luck!


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## slamm (Nov 26, 2016)

If you want to stick with the Mandheling and have a local Waitrose you could give their '1' beans a try, they were surprisingly good when I tried them a few months back.


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

slamm said:


> If you want to stick with the Mandheling and have a local Waitrose you could give their '1' beans a try, they were surprisingly good when I tried them a few months back.


Sorry, but you cannot compare supermarket graded beans to freshly roasted beans. Certainly you can try, and I used to think that Waitrose beans were not that bad when I first started with my Gaggia Classic & Porlex Mini.

A few years down the road of freshly roasted beans and upgraded equipment and I can tell you I'd rather drink PG tips than having Waitrose beans - or any supermarket beans for that matter - going through my grinder.

If you appreciate good coffee, definitely give some of the roasters aforementioned a go - you'll never look back.


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## slamm (Nov 26, 2016)

pessutojr said:


> Sorry, but you cannot compare supermarket graded beans to freshly roasted beans. Certainly you can try, and I used to think that Waitrose beans were not that bad when I first started with my Gaggia Classic & Porlex Mini.


Well I guess I was playing devils advocate there a little! Sorry about that, being a humble green bean and all. But what can I say, I really enjoyed them. Maybe it depends on whether the op's coffee skills are also at 'green bean' level, but for me with the V60 they were really good so could be worth a try. Having said that, I'm well aware that most supermarket beans are best avoided. My guess would be that due to their popularity the 1 range have a high turnover (might depend on the branch) so they don't spend months ageing on the shelf and so are more than acceptable to green beans like me.



pessutojr said:


> A few years down the road of freshly roasted beans and upgraded equipment and I can tell you I'd rather drink PG tips than having Waitrose beans


I'm sure you're right about that, but some of us are still at the stage you were at when you were happy with them. I don't have a spro machine or the skills, being a green bean maybe neither does the op. Until then they can still be enjoyed by those who are less advanced until they have the skill or kit to tell the difference. As you say it takes time and experience, all part of a learning curve.

I have just restocked with some great beans from some of the roasters you mentioned which of course I am really looking forwards to. But I have also had great beans in the past from Union so I'm not expecting to suddenly see the light just yet. Maybe with improved skills or if I get a spro machine, but until then I expect I will still be very happy with the occasional Waitrose 1 beans. Or maybe the incoming Hario Bouno kettle will help me see the light, or maybe a better grinder.

Cheers


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## ivawhoppa (Dec 3, 2016)

Thank you for the feed back , appreciate it. I have ordered some Brazilian Yellow Catuai dark roast from Redber as my grinder is no good for grinding espresso.Next on the shopping list is a grinder.


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## ivawhoppa (Dec 3, 2016)

Received Brazilian Yellow Catuai dark roast from Redber and its very nice.Very quick delivery, came in a vented paper foil bag and the grind was very good. When brewed had a very good crema and not bitter in taste.It does taste stronger than Sumatra Mandheling. I will be alternating between Sumatra Mandheling and the Brazilian Yellow Catuai.


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## slamm (Nov 26, 2016)

If you got the Sumatra Mandheling from Waitrose I hope you have better luck than I did last week with their Kenya AA. The freshest packs on the shelf was bb Sept '17, so about 3 months old assuming their bb is one year after roast date. I decided to risk it but they were no good, obviously stale so they will be going back. I've had at least 5 different packs in the past, the oldest had a bb date 2 months previous and until now they have all been great, but not this time. Lesson learned.


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## Thecatlinux (Mar 10, 2014)

Although buying your beans from the supermarket looks convenient and wow what a selection , these are not going to be anywhere on par with freshly roasted .

you are also correct in thinking about investing in a decent grinder , IMHO this piece of equipment will have the biggest influence of your drink ,other than the quality of the coffee of course.


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## slamm (Nov 26, 2016)

Thecatlinux said:


> Although buying your beans from the supermarket looks convenient and wow what a selection , these are not going to be anywhere on par with freshly roasted


That message comes across loud and clear and I get it, I really do.







But if you ignore the overwhelming shelves of the stale ground stuff my experience has been that there can be some good beans to be had, if you're careful with the bb date. As I see it the problem with supermarket beans is not so much the quality but how long they sit on the shelf. This evening I had a look at the bb dates on some of the high turnover beans in Tesco and Sainsburys and they were both Nov '17. I think I would be quite happy with a roast date of last month. Others were way older and clearly to be avoided.

I hope you right about the grinder, I don't think the mini mill is working as well these days as it used to. I haven't been enjoying some specialty beans as much as expected and I suspect the uneven grind and amount of fine stuff getting through is muddying up the brew. Of course this might also explain why I am just as happy for the time being with some of the better supermarket beans - as long as they are not obviously stale.


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## johnealey (May 19, 2014)

There is another issue with "use by" or "Best before" beans that don't also display their roast date and that is that not all add a year to their roast date, some can add up to 18 months, making assumptions of roast date, at best, shaky.

Ceramic based grinders do wear down contrary to the manufacturers blurb, so if flavour starting to get muddled if you can get replacement burrs ( you could for the porlex if recall correctly) should sort this.

Hope of help

John


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## slamm (Nov 26, 2016)

johnealey said:


> There is another issue with "use by" or "Best before" beans that don't also display their roast date and that is that not all add a year to their roast date, some can add up to 18 months, making assumptions of roast date, at best, shaky.


Interesting, thanks. I had been assuming a 1 year bb date from roast (I'm pretty sure the ones I looked at would be), I didn't know some actually go up to 18 months, how ridiculous.


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## JJlupus33 (11 mo ago)

If you like a cheaper coffee then have a cheaper coffee. I am not paying three times the price just for a name. As long as beans in good date and good source-I try to get organic-prett nice.
I like chocolaty coffee myself and there are cheaper other types than sumatran like brazil or peru or kenyan. Best was jamaican blue mountain brought back from Jamaica-too expensive in uk! I find my filter coffee machine with grinder perfect. I find easy to burn coffee with expresso machines and moka pots too and capsules-yuck! Froth milk with hand frother as found milk frother machines always broke


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## -Mac (Aug 22, 2019)

Has Bean do good Sumatra.


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## liam_415 (10 mo ago)

ivawhoppa said:


> Hi I have been buying Sumatra Mandheling beans for a while and the last batch arrived to be disappointed with the flavor. Any recommendations for alternative bean to try. Cheers.


Hi there,

Indian Monsooned Malabar is quite similar, but has a more complex taste and very mellow body.
However it is a bit different to brew with due to the monsoon processes effect on the beans, so it likes a higher water temp of around 96°C to get the most from it.


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