When you go to a cafe and want to order a cup of American style or milk coffee, you will often be faced with two options: one is the default Italian blend, and the other is SOE that requires extra money. At this time, some people may wonder, why is this "SOE" more expensive than the blend? How expensive is it?
What is SOE coffee?
SOE and blending are both terms that belong to the category of Italian coffee. SOE (single origin espresso) refers to espresso made using coffee beans from a single origin, which is different from house blend espresso.
In the era when "sour coffee" was not yet popular, the raw materials used by major coffee shops to make concentrates were almost all coffee beans that were combined from two or more production areas. At that time, merchants would not emphasize where they came from, nor would they pay too much attention to the formula (proportion) used. At the same time, according to the mainstream taste at the time, coffee beans are usually roasted to a darker degree, which not only ensures stable extraction, but also allows the espresso to easily have beautiful coffee crema and mellow body. It is recommended to try the classic Italian blend of Front Street, which can easily bring out the full aroma of coffee during extraction.
In the 1980s, with the release of the concept of "specialty coffee", high-quality single-origin beans that emphasized the flavor of the production area suddenly emerged and became a "superstar" on the coffee stage. They also attracted the attention of roasters and baristas, who tried to tap out more exquisite flavors.
According to Front Street, single-origin coffee that emphasizes the flavor of the place of origin was initially extracted only through normal pressure methods such as hand brewing, siphoning, and French press. At the 2007 World Barista Competition, contestant James Hoffmann made a single-origin coffee bean into espresso and won the championship. Immediately, SOE gradually became popular along with the international competition stage and the wave of specialty coffee.
Nowadays, in addition to more and more coffee shops adding SOE to their menus, we can also find "SOE" on major shopping platforms. Most of these coffee beans have very detailed flavor descriptions such as floral aroma, fruit, tea flavor, fermented wine flavor, etc., as well as detailed origin information. It can be seen that SOE has become one of the indispensable products in the coffee market. Coupled with the publicity and promotion of major chain brands, single-origin espresso coffee is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Why does it cost extra to replace SOE? How expensive is it?
Regarding the definition of SOE, there is no doubt that E = Espresso, but the explanation of Single Origin is somewhat ambiguous. In theory, coffee beans harvested in the same batch from a certain production country, region, cooperative, estate or farm are all single-origin coffee. For example, on the blackboard on the left side of the front street bar, there are dozens of single-origin coffee beans from different origins, all of which can be used as SOE coffee beans.
But what is different from blending is that in order to make SOE different from traditional "bitter coffee", merchants will give priority to single-origin beans with higher reputation and more prominent flavor for production, especially coffee with a light to medium roasting degree, because this can show personalized flavors through concentration, such as the sour citrus of Front Street Yirgacheffe, the berry tone of Front Street Oiran, the sweetness of Front Street Honey-treated Geisha, the tomato aroma of Front Street Kenya...
All in all, the higher the recognition of coffee, the easier it is for people to remember the characteristics of the SOE. From a cost perspective, the price of higher-quality single-origin beans will be more expensive than ordinary blends, so naturally additional money will be required.
How to make delicious SOE coffee?
In fact, it is not difficult to make delicious SOE. Just like debugging espresso, the first step in making SOE is to apply the basic formula of "powder to liquid ratio 1:2" and control the time within 25 to 35 seconds. The grinding degree depends on whether the flow rate can fall within the above time range.
For example, Front Street uses 20g of Oiran SOE coffee powder to extract 40g of coffee liquid (18g of coffee powder corresponds to 36g of coffee liquid). If the time is far less than 25 seconds, it means that the grinding degree is too coarse and needs to be finer; if the coffee liquid flows out in about 30 seconds, it means that the thickness of the powder is roughly OK, and there is no need to change the scale.
Since SOE will eventually be made into fancy coffees such as American, Latte, and Australian White, once the espresso is determined, we have to make some fine adjustments to the extraction plan in advance based on SOE's own flavor profile.
If you are using medium/medium light roasted Ethiopian coffee beans, the flavor of the production area is fresh tones such as floral, bright fruit acid, and berry. When it is concentrated, the oil will be thin or even non-existent. At this time, we can add 0.3 to 0.5g of powder to make up for the aroma substances in the coffee. For example, Front Street will use 20.5g of Oiran SOE coffee powder to extract 40g of coffee liquid in 31 seconds as the base. The American style produced can show a refreshing and sweet taste. The coffee concentration of the latte will also be increased, so that you can better feel the aroma of concentration and milk.
When we make SOE from single-origin beans with a fruity aroma and a certain fermentation flavor, the concentration will bring a strong sweet and sour flavor. If we want the American SOE to also show a rich aroma, we might as well increase the concentrated extraction amount by 3 to 5g, which can make it more delicious. Coffee is sweeter and has a longer-lasting finish; if you are making an SOE latte and want to highlight the aroma of single-origin coffee, you only need to reduce the amount of milk. Suppose you originally used 200g of fresh milk, then you can change the amount to 160-180g.
The last common situation is that when using medium-dark roasted single-origin beans, the SOE shows pungent flavors such as tires, hay, smoke, coke, etc., indicating that the concentration has probably been over-extracted, which is why the American latte is so difficult to drink. The way to save it is very simple. Reduce the extraction volume of the coffee liquid by 3 to 5g, which can effectively remove the imperfect aftertaste;
But if your coffee has a light aroma, short aftertaste, and obvious sourness, it means that the SOE may be under-extracted, and you need to finer the grind slightly to extend the extraction time by 2 to 3 seconds to ensure that the coffee concentration is moderate.
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
