What does SOE coffee mean for espresso and lattes

SOE stands for Single Origin Espresso, espresso pulled from beans of one origin to showcase that region's signature flavor. Where blends aim for balance and consistency, SOE highlights origin character, usually through a lighter roast that brings out floral and fruity notes, though darker nutty and chocolatey styles exist as well.

The term contrasts with blended espresso on cafe menus, and a well-made soe espresso can serve as the base for lattes, Americanos, and flat whites. Flavor depends on terroir, processing, roast level, and brewing parameters, so higher-quality lots are selected for SOE. Extraction advice and a full workflow for one Ethiopian lot illustrate how to dial in the shot and the milk drink.

SOE stands for Single Origin Espresso, which refers to espresso extracted from coffee beans of a single origin, with the core aim of showcasing the signature flavors of a specific region. Unlike blended beans, which pursue balance and consistency, SOE places greater emphasis on origin character, usually adopting a lighter roast to highlight floral and fruity notes, though there are also darker-roasted styles with nutty and chocolatey flavors. This article will systematically explain how to make a delicious cup of SOE coffee and latte, from the definition, characteristics, and historical origins of SOE to bean selection advice and specific extraction parameters, and will include the complete workflow for Front Street Coffee's Huakui SOE.

What exactly is SOE coffee?

SOE is the abbreviation of Single Origin Espresso, translated into Chinese as "single origin espresso," and its core pursuit is to highlight the unique flavor of a single coffee origin. In other words, it is espresso extracted from single-origin coffee beans, in contrast to espresso made from blended beans.

On café menus, drinks labeled SOE mostly use beans with a lighter roast level, with the aim of showcasing the floral and fruity notes unique to the origin. For example, Front Street Coffee's Ethiopia Yirgacheffe has jasmine floral aromas and citrus acidity, while Front Street Coffee's Kenya Little Tomato Washed Coffee presents the acidity of black plum and dark berries. Of course, some cafés also offer darker-roasted nutty SOE, such as the dark chocolate sweetness of Colombian coffee, or the creamy and caramel richness of Brazilian coffee. Using these distinctive SOEs as a base, a variety of coffee drinks such as lattes, Americanos, and flat whites can be created.

What are the characteristics of SOE?

Traditionally, bean suppliers blend coffee beans from two or more origins into a new blend to gain the advantages of balanced flavor, stable extraction, and lower cost. SOE differs from blended beans in that it emphasizes origin traceability, and from roasting to extraction it must present the unique flavor of that origin.

The flavor of a cup of coffee is influenced by many factors, including the terroir of cultivation, processing method, roast level, brewing technique, and parameters. In order to make the flavor in the cup more outstanding, merchants must select coffee lots of higher quality for production, and the cost and selling price will naturally rise accordingly.

When making blended beans, roasters often deepen the roast level to make the flavor more balanced and stable, while also masking some quality defects in the coffee beans. SOE, however, needs to present a distinct flavor profile, so the roast level is usually not too dark; otherwise, the extracted espresso lacks persuasiveness in flavor. But it also does not pursue light roasting like pour-over single-origin coffee, because at high concentration it easily produces harsh sourness and astringency. Therefore, SOE requires a dedicated roasting curve and corresponding extraction parameters to bring out the high-quality flavors of the origin.

How did SOE come about?

With the rise of the specialty coffee wave, various high-quality single-origin coffee beans gradually appeared on the menus of coffee shops, such as the large blackboard on Front Street Coffee's bean list. Some competing baristas, when making espresso, were no longer satisfied with balanced blended beans and instead turned to high-quality single-origin coffee as the raw material, paired with repeatedly tested brewing parameters, to extract highly distinctive espresso that added much to their competition performance. In addition, with the media dissemination of videos and images in recent years, making espresso with single-origin beans has become a new trend.

In fact, SOE did not appear only in recent years. In the era when espresso began to become popular, coffee shops around the world used single-origin coffee beans, though they did not particularly emphasize this. As consumer demand for coffee continued to grow, coffee quality from various origins became prone to unevenness, with unstable flavor and quality. To avoid the impact of low-quality coffee, some merchants began blending beans from different origins to make the taste more stable. In recent years, as the specialty coffee atmosphere has become increasingly strong, coffee people have begun to value traceability of coffee beans, hoping to drink espresso made from beans from well-known specialty origins, and SOE thus became popular again.

Which coffee beans are suitable for making SOE?

Front Street Coffee believes that drinking coffee is a very subjective matter, and everyone's taste preferences differ. Here are three different flavor-type coffee beans recommended, and you can choose according to the flavor profile you like.

Single-origin coffee dominated by fruity sweetness and acidity will use a medium-light roast level, and the SOE presents the bright sweet-and-sour flavors of various fruits. For example, Front Street Coffee's Ethiopia Natural Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Coffee Beans on the bean list have the sweet-and-sour taste of tropical fruits and berries.

When using single-origin coffee beans with chocolate and nutty notes, a darker roast level is used, and the resulting espresso has thick crema and rich hazelnut aroma, such as Front Street Coffee's Brazil Queen Estate Coffee Beans, which present the sweet fragrance of creamy peanut and dark chocolate.

Tips for making SOE

No matter what method is used to extract coffee beans, Front Street Coffee believes freshness is crucial. If beans with a roast date more than a month ago are used, the aroma may have partially dissipated and an unpleasant woody taste may develop. Front Street Coffee hopes that every customer who places an order can taste the coffee aroma at its best flavor period, so it ensures that only beans freshly roasted within 5 days are shipped. To make SOE coffee with better flavor, Front Street Coffee recommends choosing freshly roasted single-origin coffee beans.

In addition, when extracting SOE with coffee beans of a lighter roast level, because the beans have a shorter roasting time, their internal texture is still relatively hard, making the flavor harder to extract. Therefore, extraction parameters need to be adjusted to increase the extraction yield, such as extending the extraction time, raising the water temperature, making the grind finer, and increasing the dose.

Making SOE greatly tests a barista's extraction skills, requiring gradual adjustment of different extraction parameters according to the roast level of the coffee beans to present the best flavor and mouthfeel. If the coffee beans are not well chosen and the barista is also unfamiliar with the espresso-making process, the probability of failure is higher, and the resulting coffee is either so bitter it is hard to swallow or so sour it makes people frown. So in Front Street Coffee's view, choosing a coffee bean suitable for SOE extraction not only makes it easy to produce a delicious espresso, but also makes Americanos or lattes made by adding water or milk achieve twice the result with half the effort.

Take Front Street Coffee's much-loved Front Street Coffee Huakui Coffee as an example. Considering that everyone may brew it differently after purchase, Front Street Coffee's roasters specially developed two different roasting curves: one is a medium-light roast suitable for cold brew and pour-over, and the other is a medium roast suitable for espresso machines and moka pots.

For example, if someone likes something simple and convenient and chooses cold brew, or pursues a sense of ritual and extracts by pour-over, then the medium-light roast can be chosen; if you prefer golden crema, or hope to draw delicate patterns on a latte, Front Street Coffee recommends choosing the SOE roasting curve.

Front Street Coffee Huakui SOE Espresso Extraction Parameters

Coffee beans: Front Street Coffee. Natural Huakui SOE

Coffee dose: 20g

Coffee liquid yield: 40g

Dose-to-yield ratio: 1:2

Extraction time: 26–32 seconds

Grind setting: Galileo 2.0

The coffee machine used by Front Street Coffee has a double basket capacity, requiring 20 grams of coffee powder each time, and the extraction dose-to-yield ratio is 1:2, meaning 40 grams of coffee liquid is produced within a reasonable time. The extraction time is related to the flow rate of the coffee powder. Generally, a single extraction is controlled between 20 and 35 seconds. If it is less than 20 seconds, the coffee taste tends to be thin and bland, while if it exceeds 35 seconds, over-extraction easily causes a burnt bitter taste in the coffee. Therefore, when producing, Front Street Coffee controls the espresso time within the range of 26–32 seconds.

Before extraction, we need to first wipe the basket dry, turn on the grinder, grind a double dose of coffee powder, place it on an electronic scale to measure and adjust until it reaches 20 grams. Then use a distribution tool to level the coffee powder, and use a tamper with vertical downward force to press the coffee puck firmly, ensuring more stable coffee extraction.

Then turn on the extraction switch and let water run for 1–2 seconds to wet the group head, while also carrying away coffee grounds stuck on it. Place an electronic scale under the cup that will receive the Espresso, tare the weight to 0, and place it together under the group head during extraction.

Gently lock the portafilter onto the group head and start the extraction switch. Observe the changes in the extracted liquid. When the electronic scale shows 40 grams of coffee liquid extracted, at about 30 seconds, turn off the extraction switch. The brewing parameters will change subtly according to daily air humidity and the condition of the coffee beans, so it is necessary to adjust the coffee powder dose, grind setting, and extraction yield up or down.

The ingredients for a latte are simple; only espresso and milk are needed, and there is likewise no fixed ratio, with most falling between 1:5 and 1:8. The Front Street Coffee. Huakui SOE latte introduced by Front Street Coffee today uses a 1:5 ratio: 40g espresso liquid with 200g milk added.

For example, when producing a hot latte, Front Street Coffee adds the espresso liquid to a preheated coffee cup, then uses the espresso machine steam to froth the milk. The milk temperature is best controlled at 55–65°C, so that it forms dense milk foam with moderate thickness, then it is evenly integrated with the coffee liquid, and the final latte art is the icing on the cake.

Front Street Coffee Huakui hot latte presents the sweet aroma of berries and cocoa, creamy and smooth. Front Street Coffee's iced latte first adds 75 grams of ice cubes + 200ml of fresh milk, then extracts 40 grams of coffee liquid and pours it on top, and it should be stirred evenly before drinking.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.