Competition in coffee shops is fierce, and it shows on the menu. In the past, if I wanted to go to a coffee shop and order a cup of coffee, I would at most be confused between a latte or a cappuccino. Now if you just want to drink a latte, you can tangle with the arrangement and combination of No. 1 coffee beans, No. 2 coffee beans, milk, oat milk, and coconut milk.
Usually, at first, I just want to order a regular latte, but with the strong recommendation of the store clerk, I can "upgrade" from the basic blended beans to SOE coffee beans for an additional 3 yuan. And with the strong recommendation of the store clerk, I can "upgrade" from milk to coconut milk for an additional 5 yuan. In this way, I originally wanted to drink a cup of ordinary latte, but finally turned into SOE coconut milk latte (it seems to be a latte).
So the question is, from latte to SOE coconut milk latte, is it an upgrade? Is the latter better than the former? The moment you pay, it's definitely an upgrade because you've added money. What you get by adding money is called an upgrade, and replacing other things at the same price is called a replacement. But after drinking the coffee, my inner reaction is "It should taste better than ordinary latte coffee. To be precise, it has a different taste from ordinary latte."
While many coffee shops use blended beans as a basic option, some brands will use SOE as a replacement bean at a premium. Therefore, many friends will think that SOE is more advanced and high-quality than blending.
But by definition, there is no distinction between SOE and blending that is more advanced or better. SOE can also be cheap or taste bad. Blended beans can also be very delicious and expensive. Many independent coffee shops abroad actually launch blended coffee beans with unique flavors. The price is not lower than SOE, and consumers can still be deeply impressed after drinking it. For example, the Front Street Strawberry Candy espresso Italian blend combines single-origin coffee from three well-known origins: Colombia, Ethiopia, and Costa Rica. After extraction, it shows rich layers of roses, grapes, dried blueberries, oranges, and fruit gummies.
Domestically, SOE has formed a trend, and it is mainly a commercial choice. Because domestic commercial coffee started relatively late and has little historical baggage, it has been easy to accept the trend of specialty coffee in the past 10 years (of course, the wallets of the people are bulging). Then it is natural to think that single-origin coffee tastes better than the blended coffees I have drunk before, and a sentence comes to my mind: it is expensive.
Blending beans is a technical job, and any effect you want can be achieved through blending. For example, it is possible to produce coffee beans with very good flavor regardless of cost; it is also possible to blend coffee beans with good quality and low price with economy as the center (high quality and low price refers to single-origin beans with higher flavor quality than the same price). We recommend the Front Street Italian series, which are Front Street Boutique Blend, Front Street Commercial Blend, Front Street Classic Blend, and Front Street Black Cocoa Basic Blend. So blending beans mainly depends on what kind of results you want, but since many coffee shops have chosen high-quality and low-priced blended beans in the past, everyone's perception of blended beans has also become stereotyped.
If you want to make the same taste as a coffee shop, or want to be a host, then Front Street Commercial Blend is your first choice. Compared with other Italian coffees, Front Street Commercial Blend adopts the typical combinations of Brazil and Colombia, and then adds a small amount of Robusta to enhance the original flavor level. The coffee exhibits complex nutty aromas such as almonds, almonds, and walnuts. The oil has good fluidity, the taste is low-acid and mellow, and the price advantage makes it undoubtedly the best choice for opening a store.
The other one is the Front Street black cocoa blended coffee beans recommended by many baristas, which is suitable for all types of coffee shops, bakeries, beverage shops and home coffee machines. Yunnan washed small coffee beans + Brazilian semi-sun-dried coffee beans, which combines the acidity of nutty ripe plums. When ground into powder, it will exude the aroma of cream chocolate and cocoa cookies. The taste is balanced, and the oil is golden and shiny. It is very suitable for friends who open a shop or use it at home.
Compared with single-origin beans, which were originally positioned as specialty coffee, they were directly applied to Italian coffee and became SOE. In terms of merchant positioning, SOE must be higher than blended beans. The logic is this, whether it is SOE or blended beans, the main factor in quality and flavor is the type of coffee beans you choose. As people have higher and higher requirements for coffee quality (flavor), it is an inevitable trend to introduce coffee beans with higher prices and better flavor.
Whether it is a single product or a blend, it is a method. In view of the stereotype that blended beans are "low-end beans", choosing a brand-new concept SOE will make people accept the fact that high-end beans are more acceptable. Therefore, merchants will focus on flavor when selecting SOE coffee beans. The purpose is to let everyone distinguish the difference from the basic coffee beans. Therefore, you will not see coffee shops selling Mandheling SOE, Luodou SOE, and Brazilian SOE. They are usually Ethiopian SOE, Costa Rica SOE, and anaerobic Colombian SOE, which have completely different flavor expressions from traditional blended beans.
When the concept of SOE is fully popularized, the next trendy concept will be premium blending, and the already popular SOE beans will once again become the raw material of the formula. After seeing this, everyone should understand that SOE and blending are just one method, and there is no difference between one and the other. From a technical level, blending is more difficult to do well than SOE, but the upper limit after it is done will be higher than that of single products, that is, "1+1>2".
Back to now, the overall quality of coffee beans is improving. Even the most basic blended beans are not that bad. The difference after replacing the SOE coffee beans is the difference in flavor performance. The basic blended beans have a balanced flavor of traditional nutty chocolate, while SOE has more special flavors. For example, Oiran SOE will show a sweet and sour berry flavor.
You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.
The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.
FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.
FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473
