Blend beans and SOE are not a comparison of flavor, but two different drinking experiences. Blend beans combine the aroma, sweetness and thickness of different beans, and usually pay more attention to overall coordination; SOE focuses on a single origin or a single batch, allowing a cup of coffee to present more distinctive regional and variety characteristics. Looking back to the daily drinking moment, the choice will be much clearer.
When rushing out the door early in the morning, coffee often needs to be finished quickly and taste good for days on end. At this time, the blended beans are easier to integrate into the fixed process: the concentrate has enough weight to make it American-style without looking thin, and the aroma of the coffee can be retained after adding milk. If you use a fully automatic coffee machine, choose a blend with a round flavor and moderate roasting degree, and the adjustment space is relatively loose.
When paired with bread, eggs or sandwiches for breakfast, give priority to blended beans with associations of cocoa, nuts, and caramel. These flavors blend naturally with cereals, creams and baked goods without overpowering the palate. For example, the Front Street dark cocoa blend has the sweetness of dark chocolate and the aroma of roasted nuts after being concentrated. When made into a latte, the milk will make the taste smoother, making it suitable for drinking while having breakfast.
If you are used to drinking a hand brew alone in the afternoon, SOE can provide clearer identification. It might start out as floral, then move on to citrus, berry, or tea, with new sweetness revealed as the temperature drops. This kind of coffee is suitable for slowing down, so you don't have to rush to finish it, and it is also convenient to observe the changes of the same cup of liquid from hot to cold.
Front Street Yirgacheffe Guo Ding is suitable for experiencing this level. After the hot water is brewed, bright citrus aroma, light floral aroma and a green tea-like ending are easy to appear in the cup, especially light roasting. If you feel that the acidity of hot drinks is too active, you can make it into cold brew. The low temperature will make the taste softer, and the berry tones are more suitable for drinking slowly in summer.
If you want to try new flavors on the weekend, or plan to use ice cubes to make refreshing drinks, SOE's personality will be more present. Front Street Ethiopian Oiran can be used as an experiment in the direction of fruity aroma. When brewed, it is easy to think of strawberry, passion fruit and other tropical fruits, and the sweetness is lively. Add ice directly after hand brewing, and the aroma will become lighter; cold brewing is suitable for preparation in advance, and the drink will be smoother.
However, liking fruity scents doesn’t mean you have to choose SOE every time. If the iced Americano is a regular drink during the workday, it is usually easier to maintain a stable concentration and sweetness with blended beans, and there will still be a clear coffee skeleton after the ice cubes melt. Especially when multiple people share the same machine in an office, it is easier to cater for different tastes with a neutral flavor and appropriate thickness, and both black coffee and milk coffee can be blended smoothly.
Those who like the concentration itself can make a judgment based on the entrance feeling after extraction. Blended beans tend to have a more balanced balance of acidity, sweetness and body, making them suitable for making multiple cups in a row; SOE may push a certain kind of fruity acidity or floral aroma to the front, making it suitable for sitting down and tasting. If you prefer short, concentrated cups with outstanding aroma, SOE is worth trying; if you value roundness and drinkability, blending will be more suitable for daily life.
Household appliances also influence choices. The Italian machine pursues stable pressure and concentration, and the blended beans are usually easy to bring out the familiar chocolate, caramel or nut directions; the hand brewing kettle can amplify the aroma changes of SOE. When you don’t have a fixed preference, you can first buy beans based on the utensils you use most often, rather than just looking at the flavor words on the package. The simpler the appliance, the more easily you should choose a style that you can control.
You can also pay attention to the frequency of drinking when purchasing. If you drink it every morning and evening, blended beans are more suitable as a regular choice; if you only arrange to brew it by hand a few times a week, SOE can bring a more obvious sense of freshness. The two can also be separated according to time: use blending to complete a stable cup on weekdays, and switch to single-origin beans on holidays. This will not complicate daily life, but also retain the fun of exploring the flavor of the origin.
Therefore, "Which one tastes better" ultimately comes down to the purpose of the cup: rushing for time, adding milk, sharing with many people, choosing a blend with balanced flavor; brewing by hand, drinking black coffee, preferring floral and fruity aromas, SOE has more room to play. First decide what this cup of coffee wants to accomplish with you, and then choose the beans based on concentration, aroma and taste. The choice you buy home will naturally be more suitable for your life.
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
