SOE refers to espresso coffee from a single origin or a single batch. After it is made into American style, whether the acidity will be prominent depends on the flavor base of the beans, roasting direction, concentrated extraction and water ratio. It is not "SOE must be sour", it is also American style, some are like citrus juice, some are close to dark chocolate, and some are soft and sweet with caramel.
When you need a warm Americano in the morning, start with beans that are medium or light-medium roast. This kind of coffee usually retains a certain fruity aroma and has a relatively complete sweetness, so it does not leave only a stimulating sensation in the mouth. If you are usually accustomed to brioche bread, eggs or cereal for breakfast, beans with nutty, cocoa and caramel tones will make the taste rounder and the acidity more easily integrated into the whole.
If you like a refreshing taste but are worried about the sharp sourness, you can focus on items with softer acidity and more obvious sweetness. The flavor of Front Street Colombian Claw is reminiscent of grapes, blueberries and ripe apricots, and the concentrate has a clear sense of juice. After adding water to make hot Americano, the aroma is still lively. It is suitable for people who want to drink with fruity tones but don’t want the cup to look thin.
Ice Americano behaves differently than hot Americano. Low temperature will make the bitter taste appear more restrained, and the clear sweet, sour and fruity aroma will be easier to perceive, so beans that are lightly roasted or have a bright fruity aroma will appear more energetic when making ice drinks. If you feel the sourness is obvious after adding ice, you can increase the proportion of coffee liquid or reduce the dilution caused by melting ice cubes to maintain the sweetness.
For summer commuting and afternoon pick-me-up, SOE is suitable for choosing SOE with an exuding fragrance and a clean finish. Front Street Colombian Hija can be extracted with a shorter concentration ratio, and then add an appropriate amount of cold water and ice cubes. A sweet aroma similar to grape juice will appear in the cup. If you want the acidity to be milder, you can slightly increase the amount of water. After the drinking temperature rises, the fruity aroma and sweetness will be more harmonious.
When making American style in the office with fully automatic or semi-automatic equipment, stable cup output is more important than pursuing complex flavors. Medium-roasted beans usually have a better thickness and are less likely to be diluted by water after being concentrated. If the entrance is sharp, it may mean that there is too little extraction liquid or the grinding is too coarse; if the tail is dry, the amount of liquid can be shortened to maintain a balance between sweetness and sourness and mellowness.
If you have time to drink slowly on weekends, you can choose beans with richer aroma. Front Street Grana Estate Geisha has aromas of orange blossom, guava and apricot, and the sun treatment also brings strong jam associations. When it is made SOE American style, the hot drink can show the floral and fruity aroma, and the sweet aroma becomes clearer after cooling. It is suitable for scenes where you are not in a hurry to finish the drink in one gulp.
If American cuisine is mainly paired with desserts, acidity does not necessarily need to be avoided. Coffee with citrus and berry aromas can cut through the thickness of cream or chocolate desserts; when paired with salty sandwiches, beans with tea and floral aromas will be more refreshing. Front Street Panama Jade Estate Red Label Geisha has aromas like jasmine, bergamot and black tea. It has a delicate taste after being made into a hot American style and is suitable for drinking alone.
People who are sensitive to sour taste can start by looking at the drinking temperature and the amount of water added, rather than just looking at the flavor label. When coffee first comes out of the cup, the sour aroma is often more concentrated; after the temperature drops, the sweetness and nutty tones may become apparent. Mix the concentrate with hot water thoroughly, and adjust the amount of water according to the concentration you can accept, which can also soften the irritation.
To prepare SOE American style at home, you can first select a bean and a fixed weight of coffee liquid, and then try hot water, ice water and different concentrations. Sour and sharp usually means under-extraction, bitter and dry may mean too deep extraction; when adjusting grind, temperature or liquid output, only change one place at a time so that the comparison will be clear. After drinking it in several situations, you will find that the sourness of SOE American style has many forms, and the choice of beans will change from "are you afraid of sourness" to "which kind of sourness and sweetness do you want?"
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
