Nowadays, when you go to a specialty coffee shop, you can always see Italian coffee drinks made with SOE (Single Origin Espresso) on the recommended menu. Does espresso made from single-origin coffee beans taste better than espresso made from blended coffee beans? Which single-origin coffee beans are suitable for making espresso? This article will answer them one by one.
What is SOE?
SOE (single origin espresso) represents coffee beans made from a single origin/region/estateespresso. The emergence of SOE reflects that everyone's pursuit of specialty coffee can no longer be satisfied with Pour over(V60) coffee. In the past, people thought that espresso powder had a stable and mellow sweet and bitter flavor through blending coffee beans. Due to the promotion of specialty coffee, single-origin coffee beans were gradually extracted to produce espresso with a strong flavor layer.
SOE is so expensive! It must taste better than ordinary Italian coffee made with blended coffee beans!
Not really sure. Since espresso is a pressurized and rapid extraction of high-concentration coffee liquid, the flavor of the coffee beans will be concentrated. Coffee beans taste just right in Pour over(V60) coffee, but they may become extreme when made into espresso. For example, lightly roasted coffee beans may overly highlight the acidity, which will also turn the originally pleasant fruit acid into unpleasant acerbic acid/acetic acid; for example, dark roasted coffee beans may increase the bitterness and become very bitter/burnt, with a smoky taste that is difficult to swallow.
So why is SOE still so popular?
As Front Street mentioned just now, the promotion of SOE reflects coffee lovers’ pursuit of the ultimate coffee flavor. This has also led many people to form a habitual thinking that the flavor of SOE coffee is better than blended coffee. In fact, many stores are actually launching SOE after fully understanding SOE. They believe that Pour over(V60) beans will taste good, and they believe that the extracted espresso will also taste good.
But they tend to ignore that coffee beans are concentrated and their quality cannot always remain stable. Therefore, in many cases, if you drink delicious SOE in this coffee shop this time, you will be disappointed the next time you drink it. This is why blended coffee beans are called the standard blend for making espresso. The reason is that different proportions of coffee beans can be blended from different production areas/different coffee beans to keep the coffee flavor stable for a long time.
Don’t be numb and follow the trend of SOE!
SOE can be used as a limited supply drink in the store, but it cannot be used as a long-term promotion/my store only sells SOE! Front Street has also talked to many coffee practitioners about issues produced by SOE, and everyone’s answers are surprisingly similar. They reported that many customers would feel that after drinking it, it was just ordinary and not as good as the blended coffee beans. Some stores that originally only had SOE in their stores finally lost to reality and replaced them with blended coffee beans.
What coffee beans are suitable for makingSOE Espresso？
In order to better express the flavor of the production area, you can choose coffee beans with obvious flavor to make SOE. Although FrontStreet Coffee does not sell single-origin coffee beans for SOE, it does espresso extraction on several single-origin coffee beans in a spirit of exploration. Finally, we list a few single-origin coffee beans that you can try to make SOE. (Only coffee beans are recommended here, there are no stable parameters to provide, after all, every coffee machine has a different temperament)
Light roastFrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe Sun-Dried Red Cherry Coffee Beans」After being extracted into espresso, the flavor shows the sweetness and sourness of berries, the acidity is not particularly irritating, and there is a caramel aftertaste. made intoAmericanoAfter being made into a latte, the soft acidity highlights the sweetness of the milk with a honey-like aftertaste.
Medium roast "FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rica Mozart coffee beans"Extracted into a concentrated flavor, it shows a very obvious raisin aroma, pleasant sweet and sour flavor with fermentation aroma. made intoAmericanoIt has a sweet and sour fruity and fermented aroma at the end, with a slight floral aroma in the aftertaste; when made into a latte, it has a charming aroma of preserved fruits, sweet and sour, and brings out the sweetness of milk.
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
