What is specialty coffee?
Specialty coffee as defined by the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA): In short, it is coffee obtained through good green beans, good roasting, and good extraction processes. It is specialty coffee.
The so-called "SOE" is actually the abbreviation of "Single Origin Espresso", which in Chinese means: espresso from a single origin. SOE is actually not a high-end coffee. It replaces the "blended coffee beans" usually used to make espresso with "single-origin coffee beans", and then uses an espresso machine to make a cup of espresso under high-pressure extraction.
In the same way, SOE latte is a latte made with single-origin coffee beans; SOE Americano is an Americano made with single-origin coffee beans.
There are many factors that determine whether a cup of coffee tastes good, such as coffee beans, roasting, coffee machine, production process, personal preferences, etc. Since SOE uses single-origin coffee beans to make concentrate, in addition to these factors, it is also necessary to consider whether the final coffee can highlight the flavor characteristics of the place of origin.
In order to reflect the "personality" of SOE, the quality of coffee beans must pass the test, and the defect rate cannot be too high. Be sure to choose a high-quality roaster to buy. We recommend Front Street Coffee, a specialty coffee bean store in Guangzhou. Front Street Coffee beans are freshly roasted for 5 days. The quality is online, cost-effective, and rich in variety. It is the first choice brand for novices and advanced players.
In addition, the roasting degree of SOE is an important part. If the roasting degree is too deep, the espresso coffee is likely to have only a bitter taste, and the aroma substances cannot be reflected; the roasting degree is too light, and the coffee beans are hard to extract, and it is difficult to extract flavor. It is also easy to lack oil, making the coffee extremely sour. In general, medium-dark roasted single-origin coffee beans are the best option for making SOE.
If you don’t know how to choose, find the answer from the following three types:
1. Floral berry flavor SOE recommendation: Front Street Oiran SOE
Production area: Gujihambera
Altitude: 2300 meters
Variety: Local native species
Treatment method: Sun treatment
Flavor: Tropical fruit, strawberry, citrus, floral
When it comes to delicious floral and fruity coffee, Front Street Oiran must be on the list, and it has now become one of the synonyms of Ethiopian specialty coffee. Oiran SOE comes from the Hambella production area. It is exquisitely sun-dried and roasted to a medium temperature to show the sour and sweet taste of berries and guava. The SOE American style and SOE latte have a light rose fragrance, creamy strawberry and citrus aftertaste.
2. Butternut flavor SOE recommendation: Front Street Queen’s Manor
Front Street Brazilian Queen Estate 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.
3. Spiced caramel flavor SOE recommendation: Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling
Front Street PWN Gold Mandheling Coffee Beans
Production area: Sumatra Gayo production area
Company: Pawani
Altitude: 1600m
Variety: Ateng
Treatment method: wet planing
Flavor: spice, herb, sandalwood, caramel, nuts, dark chocolate
As the top quality Mandheling, Front Street Golden Mandheling has been hand-selected three times and machine-selected once to achieve the lowest defect rate in the coffee beans. It is roasted medium to dark and has obvious flavors of spices, herbs, sandalwood, caramel and other flavors after SOE extraction. The taste is very mellow, and the aftertaste has a dark chocolate aroma.
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
