Can Huakui 8.0 Pull a Balanced SOE Espresso at Home?
Ethiopia Huakui 8.0 can be pulled as SOE espresso, but not with the same parameters used for pour-over. Applying the single-origin beans directly to an espresso machine tends to produce runaway flow rates, splashing gushers, and sharp acidity. Adjusting grind size, dose, and yield, together with two tested roast profiles, brought the fruit aromas and the rich body of espresso into balance.
The problem is usually roast level, not equipment or beans. Huakui 8.0 is roasted for filter brewing, so its solubility does not match standard espresso parameters. Testing two roast profiles for espresso showed that matching the roast to the brew method, then fine-tuning grind and yield, is what makes a home SOE latte or americano taste like a café version. Home machines can reproduce the result once roast and parameters align.
The recently launched Ethiopia Huakui 8.0 from Front Street Coffee, with its full fermented fruit aromas and the rich sweetness characteristic of natural-process beans, has become a daily staple for many coffee lovers, and has also tempted those with espresso machines at home to try their hand at recreating a cup of Huakui SOE latte or americano. However, many people who directly apply single-origin beans to espresso machine extraction end up facing runaway flow rates, sharp acidity, and other disastrous results. Is the problem with the equipment or the technique? Through repeated adjustments to grind size, dose, and yield, and by testing two brand-new roasting profiles, Front Street Coffee ultimately found the balance point that preserves both the origin's fruit aromas and the rich body of espresso. This article will present the entire exploration process, offering practical reference ideas for those who enjoy high-sweetness espresso.
The Ethiopia Huakui 8.0 that Front Street Coffee recently launched, with its full fermented fruit aromas and the rich sweetness unique to natural-process coffee, has become a daily staple for many enthusiasts, and has also tempted those with espresso machines at home to try their hand at recreating a café-style Huakui SOE latte or SOE americano—just thinking about it is already delightful.
But Front Street Coffee has found that many people assume SOE simply means applying single-origin beans directly to espresso machine extraction, thereby producing a single-origin espresso series, until they buy all kinds of floral and fruity beans from their shopping cart, take them home, and only after trying them realize something is off. First comes the splashing "gusher" scenario, then they're startled by an extremely sour espresso and dare not take a second sip, and then they start wondering if their equipment is too poor, or if they made a mistake somewhere in their technique.
Actually, the reason you can't make the same SOE at home as in the café is very likely not a problem with your equipment or beans, but rather that this coffee bean's roast level is not suited to the current extraction parameters. Don't believe it? Look—when Front Street Coffee directly made SOE from the Huakui 8.0 single-origin beans normally used for pour-over, it also "crashed hard." Since the Sunflower·Warm Sun blend used for daily Front Street Coffee café output is a medium-to-dark roast with a relatively fluffy texture, to accommodate the denser Huakui 8.0 single-origin beans, the grinder setting needs to be adjusted finer first. So next, let's walk you through Front Street Coffee's adjustment approach! First Huakui SOE extraction parameter setup: Galileo Q18 setting 1.4, dose 20g, yield 40g, brew ratio 1:2. After pressing the extraction button, the first drop of coffee began releasing at 8 seconds, with a somewhat slow flow rate, and the full yield finished at 37 seconds. The espresso crema was pale yellow with dark tiger stripes, sharply acidic on the palate, with only a tiny bit of citrus aroma and caramel finish in the flavor—clearly under-extracted.
So Front Street Coffee adjusted the grind setting slightly coarser to 1.6 and extracted with the same dose and ratio. After adjustment, the espresso began flowing at 7 seconds, with a relatively faster flow rate, taking 32 seconds total. espresso The mouthfeel was less harsh than the first cup, but the flavor was still thin, with only a faint citric acidity and a black tea sensation after swallowing—completely lacking the fermented fruit aromas that Huakui should have.
On this grind setting, Front Street Coffee then reduced the dose to speed up the flow, extracting 40g yield from 19.7g, finishing in 30 seconds. Compared to the first two cups, this faster-flowing espresso had better aroma, with slight fruit notes in the crema and citrus and passion fruit acidity on the palate. So Front Street Coffee used this extraction formula to make a hot americano and a hot latte. However, the taste performance of both was equally unsatisfactory. The americano lacked aroma, like drinking a very watery sour plum drink; the SOE latte was largely masked by the milk flavor—while there were no negative flavors, there was also almost no "coffee taste" to be found.
The reason is quite simple: the ratios we currently use are all based on the original espresso blend beans, which mostly reach a medium-dark roast level and possess a fairly substantial so-called "coffee taste"! Therefore, the ratios for making americanos and lattes go to about 1 (espresso) : 4~5 (water/milk)! Simply put, because the extracted coffee taste is strong, even adding more water or milk for dilution won't risk masking the flavor. Since single-origin beans are generally roasted lighter, the advantage is that when used for drip or immersion extraction, they can better showcase their own flavors; the disadvantage is that they cannot be used with the original espresso recipes. So when we want to use SOE made from single-origin beans to create an americano or milk coffee with a rich coffee taste, we need to reduce the amount of water and milk to lessen the dilution of the coffee flavor!
Sure enough, after Front Street Coffee reduced the water and milk amounts slightly, Huakui's coffee taste began to show, but it still wasn't particularly outstanding—especially in the milk coffee, which remained mediocre, mainly because the roast was too light. To this end, Front Street Coffee readjusted its approach, shifting the focus of Huakui SOE to the roasting stage. The attempt was to reduce acidity by increasing the roast level slightly, while also increasing the coffee taste generated by roasting, so that no major adjustments to the original ratios would be needed!
Drawing on past production experience, Front Street Coffee's roaster developed two new profiles for Huakui 8.0: one was fine-tuned with reference to the Natural·Red Cherry in the Sunflower·Warm Sun blend, aiming for more stable espresso extraction; the other profile was fine-tuned from the pour-over single-origin Huakui 8.0, with the goal of giving the SOE both the origin's flavors (rich fruit aromas) and the rich body of espresso, without losing cocoa-like sweet notes.
On the 7th day after roasting, when the beans had roughly completed resting, Front Street Coffee immediately conducted a trial. Huakui SOE extraction parameters: dose 20g, yield 40g, extraction time 30–35 seconds. The SOE espresso from the first profile had rich crema, with a golden, delicate creamy appearance, but unfortunately, the taste still didn't reach the expected effect. Due to the longer roasting time, more caramelized substances were produced in the beans, and correspondingly, Huakui's own fruit aromas were also worn away considerably in the Maillard reaction , ultimately pushing the coffee toward a caramel and spice bitterness direction. In contrast, the Huakui SOE from the second medium roast delivered an unexpected pleasant surprise. The parameters were still 20g coffee powder extracting 40g espresso, at 33 seconds. Drinking the espresso straight offered a balanced aroma of dark berries, dried apricot, caramel, and creamy chocolate; made into an americano, one could sense fresh citrus-like fruit acidity; and when made into a latte with milk added, it displayed rich flavors of butter cookies, plum, almond, and chocolate biscuits.
After multiple trials, Front Street Coffee found that this was exactly the SOE taste we wanted! The three flavors of acidity, sweetness, and bitterness were perfectly balanced, without overly prominent sourness or bitterness—very friendly to those who dislike excessive acidity and are tired of burnt bitterness! After much deliberation, Front Street Coffee decided to launch this profile of Huakui, so that all friends who love high-sweetness espresso can also enjoy this wonderful experience! For specific information, please refer to the second article for details. The promotion is only available today~ - END -
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
