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Some people think that the espresso (SOE/Single Origin Espresso) made from single origin (single origin) coffee beans must be of higher quality than the espresso blend made from blended coffee beans? The price will definitely be more expensive than the blended espresso. In fact, these are wrong views. In this article, FrontStreet Coffee will talk to you about the advantages and disadvantages of single origin espresso and blended espresso.
what isSOE single origin espresso?
SOE has appeared abroad ten years ago and is now very mature. It has only gradually become popular in China in the past two years. If you still don’t know what SOE is, you should really learn about it. This word will appear more and more on cafe menus in the future.
SOE, which was popular in 2007, has gradually matured since 2010. Most typically, those of us who follow WBC will notice that most of the contestants in the WBC (World Barista Competition) use SOE coffee, which is single-origin coffee.
For example, there are two coffee beans A and B. A uses Brazilian and Mandheling, while B uses Mandheling. Then A is a blended bean in a broad sense, while B is considered to be SOE. It is just a wrong concept for SOE to be labeled as expensive. It can also be popularized and accepted by the general public. As long as there are beans with exciting enough flavor, the recipe of Italian coffee beans does not need to be complicated. A single bean can still be very exciting. Of course, this is also a major trend in modern coffee.
FrontStreet Coffee believes that SOE is becoming more and more popular. One reason is that contestants in major coffee competitions are using single-origin coffee beans to make espresso. Many coffee practitioners and coffee lovers have the understanding that SOE is better than blending espresso, and it is also one of the practices that can highlight their professionalism.
One is that with the continuous spread of specialty coffee culture, consumers are gradually beginning to appreciate the taste and flavor levels of coffee beans extracted in a conventional way without adding any ingredients. Coffee beans from a single origin can better meet such needs. Therefore, no matter what the extraction method is, more and more people will pursue the use of single-origin coffee beans.
Although single-origin coffee beans make espresso delicious, not all single-origin coffee beans are suitable for making espresso. One is because as a crop, the flavor quality of coffee will be affected by the climate of the place of production, so the flavor of coffee cannot be stable for a long time.
Instead, espresso is a type of coffee that is ground extremely finely and then pressurized and high-temperature by a machine to quickly extract a highly concentrated coffee liquid, so that all the flavors of the coffee beans themselves are concentrated and amplified. Some sour/mellow substances tend to be sharp, astringent, thin, burnt and difficult to swallow.
Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee does not recommend that you try to use single-origin coffee beans to extract espresso. If you really want to drink SOE, you can directly purchase coffee beans roasted specifically for SOE/choose coffee beans with a medium roast or above.
what isEspresso blend?
Blended espresso is our most common espresso and is also the default espresso practice in most coffee shops. It is usually adapted to the production of comprehensive coffee beans mixed from coffee beans from two production areas. It is characterized by mellow flavor, rich and solid taste, low acidity and strong sweetness, but the flavor level is not as rich as SOE.
The emergence of blended coffee beans is to alleviate the problem that single-origin coffee beans will over-exhibit their own shortcomings in high-pressure concentrated extraction, and at the same time, they cannot have stable flavor performance for a long time. Therefore, coffee practitioners began to use coffee beans from different production areas in different proportions and learn from each other's strengths to blend comprehensive coffee beans that can have stable and balanced flavor performance no matter how many years.
Therefore, if it is produced by a coffee shop, FrontStreet Coffee recommends that you use blended coffee beans as the default beans for espresso, and add SOE coffee beans if necessary.
FrontStreet Coffee currently sells 4 types of Italian blended coffee beans. In order to allow everyone to drink the most complete coffee flavor, all coffee beans sold by FrontStreet Coffee are shipped within 5 days after the roasting is completed.
"Nuanyang Blend Coffee Beans" is composed of Ethiopian sun-dried red cherry coffee beans (30%) + Honduran sherry barrel coffee beans (70%). It has a rich aroma of wine, vanilla cream, sweet and sour berries, and the flavor of roasted nuts.
"Front Street Blend 100% Arabica Coffee Beans" is composed of Colombian washed coffee beans (30%) + Brazilian semi-dried coffee beans (70%), with flavors of nuts, dark chocolate, and caramel.
"Front Street Commercial Blend Coffee Beans" is composed of Robusta washed coffee beans (10%) + Colombian washed coffee beans (30%) + Brazilian semi-dried coffee (60%), with flavors of nuts, cocoa, and caramel.
"Front Street Black Cocoa Blend (100% Arabica) Coffee Beans" is composed of Yunnan washed arabica coffee beans (30%) + Brazilian semi-sun-dried coffee beans (70%). It has a soft fruity acid, caramel, and nutty flavor.
Is SOE better than blended concentrate?
There are many factors that determine whether a cup of coffee tastes good, such as coffee bean quality, freshness, roasting, coffee machine, production process, personal taste preference, etc. SOE only refers to espresso made with single-origin coffee beans. The coffee beans used are not necessarily better than blended coffee.The coffee beans used must be good, and several other factors also have a great impact on the quality of the coffee. Therefore, we cannot generalize about what kind of coffee tastes good~
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
