Sumatran coffees are processed in a unique way. For most washed coffees produced around the world, the coffee is picked and the cherry skin pulped off; fermentation is complete when the mucilage or fruit surrounding the parchment (or pergamino) has dissolved and the fruit-free parchment rinsed off.

The bean within the parchment has very high moisture content. Therefore, in almost all washed coffee origins throughout the world, before the parchment is hulled, it is dried, either in the sun or in machine dryers, until the moisture content is down to around 15-13%. At this point the coffee is ready to ship, store and roast.

Herein lies the difference: in most places, the bean is dried in the parchment and the parchment is milled off the beans when they are dry… not in Sumatra.

In Sumatra, the bean is still very wet when the parchment is hulled. The bean comes out of the parchment quite soft, white, and spongy. These wet soft beans are then sun-dried. Typically, the drying conditions in Sumatra include on-and-off sessions of fierce tropical sun, interrupted regularly by torrential thunder showers. This slow inconsistent drying is in large part what provides the essence of a Sumatra Mandheling, both in flavor and appearance.