When you go to a café and want to order an Americano or a milk coffee, you often face two options: the default espresso blend, or an SOE that costs extra. At this point, some people may wonder: why is this "SOE" more expensive than a blend? What exactly makes it cost more?

What is SOE coffee?

SOE and blends both fall under the category of espresso coffee terminology. SOE (single origin espresso) refers to espresso made from coffee beans from a single origin, as opposed to House Blend Espresso.

In an era before "acidic coffee" became popular, the raw materials used by major coffee shops to make espresso were almost all coffee beans blended from two or more origins. At that time, merchants would not specifically emphasize where the beans came from, nor would they pay much attention to what recipe (ratio) was used. Meanwhile, according to the mainstream taste of the time, coffee beans were usually roasted to a darker level, which not only ensured stable extraction but also made it easy for the espresso to carry a beautiful crema and a rich body. We recommend trying Front Street Coffee's classic espresso blend, which can easily bring out a full coffee aroma during extraction.

In the 1980s, with the emergence of the concept of "specialty coffee," high-quality single origin beans that emphasized origin flavor rose rapidly and became "superstars" on the coffee stage, also attracting the attention of roasters and baristas, who tried to uncover more delicate flavors.

According to Front Street Coffee's understanding, single origin coffee that emphasizes origin flavor was initially extracted only by atmospheric pressure methods such as pour-over, siphon, and French press. But in 2007, at the World Barista Championship, contestant James Hoffmann made a single origin coffee bean into espresso and won the championship with it. Soon after, SOE gradually became popular along with the international competition stage and the wave of specialty coffee.

Nowadays, in addition to more and more coffee shops adding SOE to their menus, we can also find "SOE" on major shopping platforms. This type of coffee bean mostly comes with very delicate flavor descriptions such as floral, fruity, tea-like, and fermented wine notes, along with detailed origin information. From this, it can be seen that SOE has become one of the indispensable products in the coffee market, and with the promotional help of major chain brands, single origin espresso has become even more deeply rooted in people's minds.

Why does switching to SOE cost extra? What makes it expensive?

As for the definition of SOE, E = Espresso is beyond doubt, but the explanation of Single Origin is somewhat ambiguous. Theoretically, coffee beans from a certain producing country, region, cooperative, estate, or farm harvested in the same batch all belong to single origin coffee. For example, on the blackboard on the left side of Front Street Coffee's bar, there are dozens of single origin coffee beans from different origins, all of which can serve as SOE coffee beans.

But unlike blends, in order to make SOE different from traditional "bitter coffee," merchants will preferentially choose single origin beans with higher recognition and more prominent flavor for production, especially coffee roasted to a light to medium level, because only in this way can personalized flavor be highlighted through espresso, such as the citrus acidity of Front Street Coffee's Yirgacheffe, the berry notes of Front Street Coffee's Huakui, the sweetness of Front Street Coffee's honey-processed Geisha, and the tomato aroma of Front Street Coffee's Kenya...

In short, the more recognizable the coffee, the easier it is for people to remember the characteristics of that SOE. From a cost perspective, higher-quality single origin beans are somewhat more expensive than general blends, so naturally an extra charge is required.

How do you make a delicious SOE coffee?

Actually, making a delicious SOE is not difficult. Just like routinely dialing in espresso, the first step in making SOE is still to apply the basic formula of "dry coffee to liquid ratio of 1:2," and keep the time within 25 to 35 seconds. The grind size depends on whether the flow rate can fall within the above time range.

For example, Front Street Coffee uses 20g of Huakui SOE coffee powder to extract 40g of coffee liquid (18g of coffee powder corresponds to 36g of coffee liquid). When the time is far less than 25 seconds, it means the grind is too coarse and needs to be adjusted finer; if the coffee liquid finishes flowing in about 30 seconds, it means the coarseness of the powder is roughly fine, and there is no need to change the setting.

Since SOE is ultimately going to be made into fancy coffee drinks such as Americano, latte, and flat white, once the espresso is determined, we need to make some slight adjustments to the extraction plan in advance based on the flavor profile of the SOE itself.

If you are using medium/medium-light roasted Ethiopian coffee beans, with origin flavors of floral notes, bright fruit acidity, and berries, the espresso is likely to have thin crema or even none. At this point, we can compensate for the aromatic substances in the coffee by adding 0.3 to 0.5g of powder. For example, Front Street Coffee will use 20.5g of Huakui SOE coffee powder extracted for 31 seconds to get 40g of coffee liquid as the base. The Americano made from it can show a refreshing sweet and sour taste, and the coffee concentration of the latte will also be increased, allowing a better appreciation of the aroma of espresso combined with milk.

When we use single origin beans with a fruity flavor and certain fermented notes to make SOE, the espresso will naturally carry a rich sweet and sour flavor. If you want the SOE Americano to also present a rich aroma, you might as well increase the espresso extraction amount by 3 to 5g, which can make the coffee sweeter and the aftertaste longer. If you are making an SOE latte and want to highlight the aroma of the single origin coffee, simply reduce the amount of milk. Suppose you originally used 200g of fresh milk; in this case, you can change the amount to 160 to 180g.

The last common situation is when using medium-dark roasted single origin beans, where the SOE shows stimulating flavors such as tire, hay, smoke, and charcoal. This indicates that the espresso has most likely been over-extracted, which is why the Americano or latte made from it is so hard to drink. The way to save it is simple: reduce the espresso extraction amount by 3 to 5g, and the defective aftertaste can be effectively removed;

But if your coffee has a light aroma, short aftertaste, and obvious acidity, that means the SOE may be under-extracted. You need to slightly adjust the grind finer, extend the extraction time by 2 to 3 seconds, and thereby ensure the coffee concentration is moderate.

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