As the habit of drinking coffee gradually integrates into the daily life of Chinese people, people’s demand for coffee becomes more and more sophisticated. In order to create their own characteristics, major chain brands have successively launched personalized SOE coffee, forming a new popular trend.
What is the difference between SOE and blending?
Before the advent of the specialty coffee wave, the raw materials used to make espresso were generally a blend of coffee beans from two or more origins, without paying too much attention to the origin and batch of coffee. Producers use dark roasting to eliminate unpleasant flavors and acidity, so that even if a batch from an individual origin is of lower quality, dark roasting can mask its flaws. The extracted coffee oil is relatively rich, with a smooth, mellow and balanced taste, with the main flavors being roasted hazelnuts, chocolate and caramel.
In the 1980s, everyone began to emphasize the concept of specialty coffee, and roasters realized that coffee from each origin has different characteristics. So I began to adjust the roasting degree of some coffee beans to a lighter level to highlight the regional flavor characteristics of the coffee and at the same time "excavate" more fruit flavors. Originally, most coffee from a single origin was extracted by hand brewing, siphoning, French press, etc., and everyone began to study how to brew various flavors in coffee. Some baristas, in order to shine in competitions, will use a variety of personalized coffee beans for brewing. James Hoffmann, the 2007 WBC World Barista Competition champion, used coffee beans from a single origin in his espresso machine, and SOE gradually became popular.
SOE is the abbreviation of single origin espresso, which refers to espresso made from coffee beans in a single producing area. The "producing area" can be the producing country, region, cooperative, manor or farm. Coffee harvested in the same batch belongs to single origin coffee. For example, on the small blackboard on the left side of the Front Street bar, dozens of coffees from different origins are single products, and Front Street generally produces them in the form of Pour over(V60) coffee. Single-origin coffee is based on the concept of specialty coffee, with the purpose of emphasizing the regional flavor of coffee, such as the sour citrus of Yirgacheffe, the herbal flavor of Indonesia, and the rich chocolate of Colombia.
Therefore, espresso made from single-origin beans can be called SOE, and both it and blend (Blend) belong to the category of espresso coffee. To highlight the unique flavor of the production area, SOE needs to be lighter in roasting. For example, the SOE extracted from Ethiopian sun-dried Yirgacheffe red cherry coffee beans on the Front Street Bean List shows the sour and sweet flavors of berries and citrus. Because the taste is softer and the flavor is brighter, merchants will emphasize the flavor characteristics when producing.
Why is SOE more expensive than blending?
Some coffee shops provide SOE coffee beans for an additional price difference. Many friends think that SOE is more advanced and has better flavor than blending. It is not difficult to see from the above that SOE only means that the coffee beans come from a single origin, so it does not mean that the quality of the coffee is better, nor does it mean that the taste must be better than a blend.
The single-origin beans used for hand brewing take into account the unique regional flavor of the place of origin and the aroma of the coffee beans themselves. For example, Yirgacheffe will have fresh and bright citrus and citric acid, and Blue Mountain coffee will have sweet chocolate and caramel aromas. Similarly, SOE should also show the taste characteristics of the place of origin. If the roasting degree is too deep, the flavor and aroma will be easily obscured by the heavy substances after roasting. If the roasting degree is too shallow, the extraction will be insufficient, resulting in a sour and thin taste. Therefore, whether a cup of SOE coffee tastes good or not will test the roaster and barista's "interpretation" of SOE.
Pressurized extraction of Italian coffee will use blended beans as raw materials. Producers will combine coffee beans from different origins and use deep roasting to highlight the rich, mellow, and bitter taste. The flavor is basically fixed on the tonality of caramel, dark chocolate, nuts, and cocoa. To differentiate espresso from traditional blended beans, single-origin SOE will use lighter roasting to present a lighter taste that is different from traditional bitter flavors. For example, Ethiopian beans are mainly fruity and floral. Higher recognition makes it easier for consumers to remember the characteristics of SOE, but from a cost perspective, higher-quality single-origin beans are of course more expensive, so it is reasonable to pay extra.
SOE production is more difficult
In order to present the unique style of SOE, high-quality coffee beans, appropriate roasting degree, corresponding grinding parameters, and proper extraction are all indispensable. The extraction adjustment of espresso needs to take into account the environmental humidity, extraction time, grinding degree of coffee powder, amount of powder, powder-to-liquid ratio and other subtle fluctuation factors, making it more difficult to ensure stable production.
If we are making SOE at home, Front Street recommends using medium-dark roasted or flavored single-origin coffee beans to avoid strong and irritating taste caused by roasting factors. For example, Front Street Brazilian Queen Manor coffee beans are roasted in a medium-dark color, and the extracted SOE presents chocolate, roasted hazelnuts, cream, and a sweet aftertaste like sugarcane. Or Front Street Costa Rica Mozart coffee beans are processed with raisin honey. The SOE will have preserved fruit, tropical fruits and light floral aroma.
No matter how a coffee bean is extracted, Front Street believes that freshness is very important. If you use coffee beans that have been roasted for more than a month, some of the aroma may have been lost, resulting in a bad woody taste. Front Street hopes that every customer who places an order can taste the aroma of coffee during the best tasting period, so it will ensure that only beans freshly roasted for 5 days are shipped. If you want your SOE coffee to have a better flavor, Front Street recommends using freshly roasted single-origin coffee beans.
When we use lighter roasted coffee beans to extract SOE, because the roasting time of the coffee beans is shorter, the internal texture of the coffee beans is still relatively hard, and the flavor is more difficult to extract. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the extraction parameters to improve the extraction rate, such as extending the extraction time, increasing the water temperature, finer grinding, increasing the amount, etc. Since the fineness of Italian grinding is much higher than that of hand drip filter grinding, the adjustment should not be too drastic, which can easily lead to excessive variables and more unstable extraction. Front Street is a daily product produced by the store, so the adjustment of parameters will be based on daily experience accumulation. If the cup volume at home is low and it is difficult to grasp, Front Street recommends recording it and summarizing the relationship between extraction parameters and flavor performance. This will help us adjust quickly and save unnecessary waste.
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
