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In recent years, as the wave of specialty coffee has swept across, soe coffee has also begun to gain momentum. Therefore, many coffee fans who come to Front Street recently have asked why there is no soe coffee in Front Street stores. This is because Front Street believes that the flavor of soe will be affected by various factors, which is like opening a blind box and cannot give coffee fans a stable taste. Style coffee, and the Front Street store has always been dedicated to allowing coffee fans to drink coffee beans with high quality and stable flavor for a long time. Therefore, Front Street does not sell soe coffee, but focuses on single-origin coffee, because the flavor of Pour over(V60) single-origin coffee will be more stable. In this article of Front Street, let’s talk about the difference between single-origin coffee and soe coffee.
What is single origin coffee?
Single-origin coffee refers to the specialty coffee in the Front Street store, also called coffee from a single origin, such as Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee beans or Ethiopian Sidamo Oiran coffee beans. These are both called single-origin coffee, and their flavor expression is also relatively prominent and obvious. For example, Ethiopia belongs to the African production area, and its flavor is The expression tends to be sour, such as Front Street Oiran, Front Street Fruit Ding Ding, and Front Street Kaffa Forest. The flavor expression of Indonesian Mandheling coffee beans from Asian production areas is bitter, and the Colombian flavor expression from Latin American production areas is nuts. These all refer to a single flavor, so single-origin coffee also refers to coffee beans with a single flavor from a single production area.
What is soe coffee?
The full name of soe is "Single Origin Espresso". It refers to espresso coffee from a single origin. It sounds very similar to single-origin coffee, but in fact, although it expresses espresso coffee from a single origin, it is not specialty coffee, because specialty coffee is generally Pour over(V60), while soe is espresso made with an espresso machine, and the coffee beans used for hand-brewing and the coffee beans used to make soe coffee are also roasted in different degrees.
Front Street’s previous article also mentioned that espresso coffee machines will amplify the flavor of coffee under high pressure. For example, if Yirgacheffe coffee beans are concentrated with an espresso machine, the sourness will be amplified and may even be unpleasantly sour. Therefore, soe will be more prominent in the expression of flavor than Pour over(V60) single-origin coffee.
At this time, there will definitely be coffee fans who will be curious and ask Front Street Soe Coffee why it is so popular recently if it is not good in terms of flavor. This is actually because the tasting situation of Soe Coffee is not like single-origin coffee, which is brewed by hand and drunk directly. Like traditional Italian coffee, it can be made into American style, milk coffee, fancy coffee or creative coffee. Therefore, there are now many specialty stores focusing on Soe Coffee in the coffee market.
As for why Soe coffee is not sold on Front Street Street, as mentioned above, its flavor is very unstable, because the flavor of coffee fruits will change slightly every year. Just like coffee beans grown in the same country will have different flavors due to different microclimates, coffee beans will have different flavors due to factors such as weather, planting and roasting. Differences, and this means that there is no guarantee that the flavor of every cup of espresso will always be the same. Its flavor expression will not deviate from the original taste every time you drink it like Pour over(V60) coffee. Therefore, there is no soe coffee on the shelves in Front Street, but there are blended coffees, that is, traditional Italian coffee, such as mocha, cappuccino, latte, etc.
What is a coffee blend?
Here on the front street, I have to talk about blended coffee. Soe coffee is also derived from blended coffee, and blended coffee is our common Italian coffee. It is produced for cost-effectiveness. Coffee fans all know that single-origin coffee beans are more expensive because of their high quality. Blended coffee first appeared in Italy. It is also called comprehensive coffee. The advantage is that it can balance the shortcomings of espresso machines and is more affordable than single-origin coffee.
As mentioned in Front Street, espresso coffee machines can amplify the original flavor of coffee beans, while blended coffee can combine various single-origin coffee beans to give full play to the strengths of various single-origin coffee beans, and combine coffee beans from different origins to create a more balanced taste. For example, if a coffee bean is smooth but lacks aroma, you can add another coffee bean with a rich aroma. The advantages of single-origin coffee beans can be complemented by each other, and the taste may be complementary or enhanced, thereby creating a new and richer taste of coffee. Sometimes the beans are mixed first and then roasted, which is called raw blending; sometimes the coffee beans are roasted and then mixed, which is called cooked blending.
Front Street currently has four bean blends in the store. If you like creamy aroma, we recommend Front Street Sunflower Warm Sun Blend (Yirgacheffe + Honduras); if you like nutty flavor, we recommend Front Street Boutique Blend 100% Arabica (Brazil + Colombia); if you want coffee with rich oils, we recommend Front Street Commercial Blend (Brazil + Colombia + Robusta);
If you are looking for cost-effectiveness, we recommend the Front Street basic blend (Brazil + Yunnan); among them, the one used to make espresso in the Front Street store is the Sunflower Warm Sun blend. The combination of these two beans makes Front Street's espresso coffee have a soft acidity and fermentation feel, as well as the aroma of fermented wine and chocolate aftertaste, which is very sweet and delicious.
makeWhat you need to pay attention to when making soe coffee
It can be seen that Front Street makes blended coffee because it can provide stable flavor and balanced taste, while soe comes from a single production area, and the bad flavor of the beans itself is easily amplified due to factors such as roasting and particle size. The biggest difference between soe and single-origin coffee is the expression of flavor and brewing form.
Therefore, Front Street suggests that when coffee fans who like soe coffee choose coffee beans, the roasting degree should not be too dark or too shallow, because the espresso machine itself will amplify the flavor. If the roasting degree is too dark, the flavor will be more difficult to extract. If it is too shallow, the texture of the coffee bean itself will be harder, resulting in insufficient concentrated extraction, and the coffee will become extremely sour. Based on this, if you want to make delicious soe coffee, we recommend the coffee beans of Front Street Bird of Paradise, Front Street Mozart, Front Street Oiran Soe, and Front Street Queen's Manor, which can make a good blend of Italian coffee.tasteFlavor of origin.
In terms of extraction, Front Street believes that on the one hand, the extraction parameters need to be adjusted to increase the extraction rate. For example, lengthen the extraction time, adjust the grinding degree, increase the amount of powder, etc.
On the other hand, when using soe as the espresso base, you need to adjust the ratio of espresso to milk and water, reduce milk or water, and highlight the taste of coffee.
Next, Front Street will share with you coffee fans the data on how Front Street makes soe coffee, single-origin coffee, and blended coffee.
First, Front Street chose lightly roasted Yirgacheffe sun-dried red cherries for comparison:
FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe sun-dried red cherry coffee beans
Country: Ethiopia
Origin: Yirgacheffe
Altitude: 1700-2200m
Treatment method: Sun treatment
Variety: Local native species
SOE espresso extraction parameters:
Amount of coffee powder 20g
Coffee liquid volume 40g
Extraction time 30 seconds
SOE flavor description: citrus, berry, fermented aroma, viscosity, medium bitterness, medium to high acidity, bright and lively acidity.
After talking about Front Street’s extraction of soe, let’s talk about how Front Street extracts Nuanyang blending.
Blend combination Honduran sherry & Yirgacheffe sun-dried red cherries
Blended coffee bean extraction parameters:
Amount of coffee powder 20g
Coffee liquid quantity 40g
Extraction time 28 seconds
Flavor: Smooth taste, obvious acidity in the entrance accompanied by a light berry aroma, whiskey aroma and rich chocolate flavor, with a clear sweet aftertaste.
Finally, Front Street will share the brewing data of sun-dried red cherry single-origin coffee.
Brewing parameters:
Amount of powder: 15g
Water to powder ratio: 1:15
Filter cup: V60
Water temperature: 91 degrees
Grinding degree: No. 20 screen pass rate 80%
Brewing method:
In the first stage, 30 grams is steamed for 30 seconds. After steaming, water is poured in circles to reach 125 grams. After the water level drops by half, water is continued to be poured in circles to reach 225 grams. Extraction time is 2'00.
Flavor: The sweet and sour taste is obvious at the entrance, with the aroma of lemon, berry, and fermented wine. The lemon acidity in the aftertaste is long-lasting and has a clear sweet aftertaste.
The above is the difference between soe and single-origin coffee compiled by Front Street. I hope it can help coffee fans who want to know more about soe coffee.
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
