With the popularity of espresso, SOE espresso has also become fashionable, so guests visiting Front Street Coffee often ask questions like "Can you choose beans for espresso?" or "Do you offer SOE coffee options?"

What isSOEcoffee

The full name of SOE is "Single Origin Espresso", which means "Single Origin Espresso". As the name suggests, it is espresso made from coffee from a single origin. For example, if Front Street Coffee uses Qianjie Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee beans to make espresso, it is calledSOE, while the English name for espresso is "Espresso”.However, not all coffee beans are suitable for making SOE.

Because espresso machines have a characteristic of amplifying the original flavors of coffee beans. For example, if you only extract Front Street Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, this bean's flavor profile is citrus and lemon notes, relatively fresh, then theSOEcoffee pressed out by the espresso machine will be particularly sour. Or if you use Front Street Indonesian Mandheling to extract, this coffee bean's flavor profile is herbal and earthy, then the extractedSOEcoffee will be very burnt and bitter.

There is also a difference in roasting between SOE and single-origin beans sold on the market. For example, some coffee beans with obvious acidity,in pour-over and other drip brewing methods,are roasted relatively lighter,if used on an espresso machine,they will be roasted relatively darker.So theoretically, SOE used for making espresso is not suitable for pour-over coffee.Similarly, most light-roasted coffee beans are not suitable for espresso machines, because their water absorption and expansion degree is small, prone to channeling, and the flavor naturally won't be good.

SOECoffee's characteristics

As mentioned above by Front Street Coffee, the espresso extracted by an espresso machine will have deepened flavors, soSOEsingle-origin espresso beans generally are not roasted too dark. Therefore, compared with traditional darker-roasted espresso beans, the flavors are harder to extract, so the extraction parameters need to be carefully considered.

On the other hand, when producingSOE-based espresso drinks, it is necessary to adjust the ratio of espresso to milk or water. Reduce the milk or water to highlight the coffee's taste, so that the coffee does not become too bland. Finally, there are also very strict requirements for choosing beans to makeSOE. AlthoughSOEcoffee performs outstandingly, because it comes from a single origin, its shortcomings are also relatively easy to magnify, so factors such as roasting and grind size will all affect the flavor.

Previous articles from Front Street Coffee have also said that coffee beans are affected by weather, cultivation, roasting and other factors, which will cause slight differences in flavor between different batches of coffee beans each year. Therefore, using these single-origin coffee beans to makeSOEcoffee cannot guarantee that every cup ofSOEwill have a stable flavor. This is also the reason why Front Street Coffee has not listedSOEcoffee. The original intention of Front Street Coffee when it first opened the cafe was to let coffee fans who come to FrontStreet Coffee be able to drink single-origin coffee with stable quality and regional characteristics, or high-quality espresso and milk coffee, every time. The risk in taste ofSOEis too great. But this does not mean thatSOEcoffee has no advantages. Next, Front Street Coffee will talk about the advantages and disadvantages ofSOEcoffee.

SOEAdvantages of

SOEcoffee. The biggest advantage ofEspressocoffee is that, like single-origin coffee, it belongs to "single origin" coffee beans, so its flavor is purer, and compared with the

SOEblend coffee beans mentioned by Front Street Coffee, it also has clearer flavor layers.

Disadvantages ofsoecoffee. As mentioned above by Front Street Coffee, it seems simple to makesoecoffee: you only need to replace the coffee commonly used for espresso with single-origin coffee beans. But in fact, it is very difficult to extract a delicious flavor, because in roasting, you want to show the flavor of the coffee origin, while using an espresso machine, so the roasting of the coffee beans must be well controlled and not too dark, because once too dark it will cover the original flavor of the origin, but it also cannot be too light, which will makeSOEespresso's acidity unbalanced, thereby increasing the difficulty of extraction. Therefore, high-quality

coffee also greatly tests the roaster's skill.SOESecondly, as Front Street Coffee said, there will be subtle differences in flavor between each batch of coffee beans each year, and the pressure extraction of espresso is also very sensitive to many factors, so the freshness of coffee beans and flavor differences are also factors affecting the extraction ofSOE. It is also for these reasons thatespressocoffee is much more expensive than

.soeThe above is Front Street Coffee's compilation of relevant introductions tosoecoffee. I believe coffee fans, after reading this article, will also have a deeper understanding of

coffee. Front Street Coffee also mentioned espresso blend coffee beans above, so below Front Street Coffee will give a supplementary introduction to blend coffee.

What is blend coffee?Front Street Coffee also said above that blend coffee is mainly used in commonespresso drinks such as mocha and latte, with the purpose of optimizing coffee flavor. Generally, blend coffee is a mixed coffee bean made by combining two or more different varieties of coffee beans. Only when roasted into coffee beans suitable for use in espresso machines is it calledespresso coffee beans

.

Of course, this kind of blended coffee bean cannot be blended casually. Instead, through the blender's unique understanding of coffee flavor, different coffee beans complement each other's strengths and make up for each other's weaknesses, reconciling a blend coffee bean with excellent flavor.1For example1:

Two coffee beans from different origins mixed in proportion would definitely have a dark and strange flavor, so there are also strict proportion requirements in coffee bean blending. For example, Front Street Coffee's blending approach is to blend according to acidity, bitterness, sweetness, aroma, and body into another coffee with a unique flavor.

For example, Front Street Coffee also has four espresso blend coffee beans in its store. Each has its own characteristics, and all are coffee beans with the best ratio and flavor obtained by Front Street Coffee's roasters through extensive ratio testing.7Among them, such as Front Street Coffee Sunflower Warm Sun blend coffee beans, when this bean is used to make espresso, it gives off an obvious fermented wine aroma. When tasted, the acidity of citrus and berries immediately emerges, with the aroma of whiskey, and the aftertaste is dark chocolate. Its blending components are Front Street Yirgacheffe Sun-Dried Red Cherry and Front Street Honduras Sherry3:

blended in a ratio ofsoe.

Therefore, Front Street Coffee suggests that if coffee fans pursue espresso with stable flavor, compared with

coffee, blend coffee beans will be a better choice, and also more cost-effective.

SOEFront Street Coffee found that many people think SOE is simply applying single-origin beans directly to espresso machine extraction, thereby making a single-origin espresso series, until they bring home beans with various floral and fruity flavors, try them with a coffee machine, and only then discover something is wrong. First comes the splashing spray like below, then they are shocked by the extremely sour espresso and dare not take a second sip, and then they begin to suspect whether their equipment is too poor or whether they made a mistake in operation.

In fact, the reason you cannot make the same SOE at home as in the store is likely not your equipment or technique, but that this coffee bean's roast level is not very suitable for making espresso. Based on the experience of FrontStreet Coffee baristas, choosing a coffee bean suitable for SOE extraction not only allows you to easily make delicious espresso, but also makes Americano or latte made by adding water or milk twice as effective. On Front Street Coffee's bean list, two single-origin coffee beans have SOE versions: one is the strawberry-scented Front Street Huakui SOE, and the other is the classic Yirgacheffe-flavored Front Street Ethiopian Konga SOE. We only need to check espresso roast when placing an order.

Espresso extraction parameters Coffee powder amount 20g

Coffee liquid amount 2735 grams

Extraction time

SOEseconds  

Grind size Galileo 1.9 settingsoeFlavor description: citrus, berries, fermented aroma, syrupy, medium bitterness, medium-high acidity, bright and lively acidity.

Having talked about Front Street Coffee's extraction of, now let's talk about how Front Street Coffee extracts Front Street Sunflower Warm Sun espresso blend coffee beans.Blend combination Front StreetHonduras Sherry

&Front Street 7:3

Yirgacheffe Sun-Dried Red Cherry

Blend ratio 20Blend coffee bean extraction parameters

Coffee powder amount  40grams

Coffee liquid type  30grams

Extraction time

seconds

Grind size Galileo 2.2 setting
[Front Street Sunflower Warm Sun Espresso Blend] Flavor: smooth mouthfeel, obvious fruity acidity on the palate accompanied by a light berry aroma, whiskey aroma and rich chocolate flavor, with an obvious sweet aftertaste.

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