When we often order at coffee shops, many baristas will recommend, "Would you like to try our SOE?" Some customers who come to Qian Street to drink coffee also take the initiative to ask if there is SOE coffee. The so-called "SOE" stands for Single Origin Espresso, which refers to espresso made from single-origin coffee beans.
In recent years, coffee culture has been continuously promoted, and the concept of single-origin coffee has become very popular, with cafes in streets and alleys becoming a trend. SOE options have been added to many menus. The novel concept, unique style and high price make SOE a "permanent" in many coffee shops. Some friends even subconsciously think that SOE will taste better than Italian blends. Let's talk about SOE in front of the street.
The origin of SOE?
Literally understood, SOE is to distinguish it from House Blend Espresso, where roasters select coffee beans from different origins and flavors to be mixed and roasted (or roasted separately and blended in proportion) to create an espresso with rich and balanced flavor. Back to our SOE, the purpose of using coffee beans from a single origin is to highlight the unique taste of the production area, such as the floral and fruity aroma of Front Street Ethiopian coffee, the nutty chocolate sweetness of Front Street Colombian coffee, etc.
When Italian coffee first became popular, coffee shops around the world used single-origin coffee beans, but did not place too much emphasis on the origin of the coffee. As the consumption demand for coffee continues to increase, coffee from major producing areas is prone to uneven levels and unstable flavor and quality. In order to avoid the impact of this low-quality coffee, some businesses have begun to combine coffee beans from different producing areas to make the coffee taste more stable. In recent years, coffee culture has become more and more intense, and coffee people have begun to emphasize the traceability of coffee beans, hoping to drink some Italian coffee made from coffee beans from well-known specialty coffee producing areas, so SOE has become popular again.
What are the characteristics of SOE?
Since we know that SOE is coffee from a single production area, if we use the best batches of beans from the region and add appropriate roasting and extraction parameters, the brewed coffee can fully demonstrate the flavor characteristics of this production area. For example, the full juice and acidity of Front Street Kenyan coffee, the rich creamy chocolate flavor of Front Street Brazilian coffee, and the floral and citrus tones of Front Street Ethiopian coffee.
Whether it is Italian blended coffee beans or Italian single-origin coffee beans, they have to go through the high temperature and pressure of the Italian coffee machine. The taste of the extracted espresso coffee will be amplified a lot, that is, the acid will become more sour and the bitter will become more bitter.
In order to reflect the "personalization" of SOE, the quality of coffee beans must be guaranteed to a certain extent, and the defect rate cannot be too high. The degree of roasting and extraction must take into account the unique flavor characteristics of the production area, which imposes technical requirements on roasters and baristas. If the roasting degree is too deep, the espresso coffee will tend to have only a bitter taste, and the aroma substances cannot be reflected; if the roasting degree is too light, the requirements for coffee extraction will increase. Once the grinding degree and extraction parameters are not controlled well, the taste of SOE espresso will easily be thin, and the milk coffee will be even more "coffee-free".
Therefore, Front Street recommends not to use single-origin coffee beans with extremely dark or light roasts for making espresso, to avoid overly strong taste and unpleasant flavor experience.
Is SOE better than blending?
As Front Street said, the reason why SOE uses coffee beans from a single production area is to highlight the unique flavor of coffee in that region, that is, to make certain flavors clearer. On the contrary, Italian blending is to neutralize various different flavors and achieve a balanced taste. On this basis, the espresso produced does not highlight who tastes better, but more about the taste differences brought by different coffee beans.
In order to find an espresso that suits your taste, Front Street believes that we should focus on the various flavor characteristics of the coffee beans based on factors such as the production area, roasting level and processing method. This will allow us to better confirm the type of flavor we like.
What coffee beans are suitable for SOE?
When we come into contact with Pour over(V60) single-origin coffee, we can find that the flavor of coffee beans can be mainly divided into three types: sour, bitter and fermented. SOE coffee beans are also based on the above flavor and tonality, and we can choose according to our own preferences and needs.
1. Fresh fruit sour flavor
Mainly using traditional washing and sun-drying methods, the flavor of the coffee shows rich floral aroma and sweetness of citrus and berry fruits, such as the very popular Front Street Yirgacheffe sun-dried red cherry coffee beans on the Front Street Bean List.
FrontStreet Coffee · Ethiopian Yirgacheffe sun-dried red cherry coffee beans
Production area: Yirgacheffe production area Altland Manor G1
Altitude: 1700-2200m
Treatment method: Sun exposure
Variety: Heirloom native species
Flavor: Berry Jasmine Lemon
Produced in the famous Yirgacheffe production area in Ethiopia, Front Street Sun-Dried Red Cherry Coffee selects coffee red cherries that meet the ripeness standards. During the sun-drying process, manual turning is used from time to time to allow the green coffee beans to moderately ferment with the pulp, forming a full tropical fruit sweetness. The SOE coffee produced tastes fresh, sweet and sour.
2. Fermented wine flavor
In order to make the flavor extracted from SOE coffee more specific, Front Street recommends choosing some coffee beans with high flavor recognition, such as Front Street Honduran sherry barrel coffee.
FrontStreet Coffee · Honduras Moca Estate Sherry Barrel Coffee Beans
Origin: Masaguala, Honduras
Manor: Moka Manor
Altitude: 1500m-1700m
Varieties: Kaduura, Kaduai, Pacas
Processing: Fermentation in fine washed whiskey barrels
Flavor: Vanilla Whiskey Cream Chocolate
The washed green coffee beans are placed into a wooden barrel for brewing whiskey and rotated regularly to allow the beans to fully absorb the aroma of the wine in the barrel. The SOE coffee made from Honduran sherry barrels on Front Street has a rich aroma of wine and vanilla, and is blended into the milk to present a dense taste of chocolate cream.
3. Mellow, rich and bitter
Some friends may think that the SOE coffee produced by the above two types of Front Street is not "coffee-flavored" enough. The mellow and rich coffee beans should be suitable for you. For example, the Brazilian Queen Manor coffee beans on Front Street are very representative.
FrontStreet Coffee·Brazilian Queen’s Manor Yellow Bourbon Coffee Beans
Production area: Morgiana production area
Manor: Queen Manor Fazenda Rainha
Altitude: 1400-1950m
Variety: Yellow Bourbon
Treatment method: Sun treatment
Flavor: Cream Peanut Sucrose Nut Chocolate
Unlike many commercial beans produced on a large scale in Brazil, Queen's Manor in Brazil mainly produces fine batches of coffee beans, using excellent yellow bourbon varieties. Through sun-drying treatment, Front Street Brazilian Queen Manor coffee not only has a strong flavor of cream, peanuts, and nuts, but also has a super sweet aftertaste of sucrose. Made into SOE, it has a strong coffee aroma and a significant aftertaste.
Professional coffee knowledge exchange. For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account cafe_style)
For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on private WeChat, WeChat ID: qjcoffeex
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
