When we often order at coffee shops, many baristas will recommend, "Would you like to try our SOE?" Some customers who come to Front Street Coffee for coffee also actively ask if there is SOE coffee. The so-called "SOE" is Single Origin Espresso, which refers to espresso made from single-origin coffee beans.

In recent years, coffee culture has been continuously promoted, and the concept of single-origin coffee has become very popular, along with the trend of cafes appearing on every street and in every alley. Many menus have added SOE options. With its novel concept, unique style, and relatively high price, SOE has become a "regular" in many coffee shops. Some friends even subconsciously think that SOE tastes better than espresso blends. So now Front Street will talk about what SOE is really like.

Where did SOE come from?

Literally speaking, SOE is meant to be distinguished from blended espresso, House Blend Espresso, which is coffee beans made by roasters selecting coffee beans from different origins and with different flavors, blending them and roasting them together (or roasting them separately and then blending them in proportion), and then making espresso with a rich and balanced flavor and mouthfeel. Back to our SOE: it uses coffee beans from a single origin, with the aim of highlighting the unique taste of that region, such as the floral and fruity aroma of Front Street Ethiopian coffee, the nutty and chocolatey sweetness of Front Street Colombian coffee, and so on.

In the early days when espresso first became popular, coffee shops around the world all used single-origin coffee beans, but they did not put much emphasis on explaining the coffee's origin information. As consumer demand for coffee continued to increase, coffee from major origins was prone to uneven quality, with unstable flavor and quality. In order to avoid the impact of this low-quality coffee, some merchants began to blend coffee beans from different origins to make the coffee taste more stable. In recent years, the coffee cultural atmosphere has become stronger and stronger, and coffee people have begun to emphasize traceability of coffee beans, hoping to drink espresso made from coffee beans from well-known specialty coffee origins, so SOE has become popular again.

What are the characteristics of SOE?

Since we know that SOE is coffee from a single origin, if high-grade batches of beans from that region are used, together with suitable roasting and extraction parameters, the brewed coffee can fully present the flavor characteristics of that origin. For example, the full juice-like acidity of Front Street Kenyan coffee, the rich, mellow, creamy chocolate smoothness of Front Street Brazilian coffee, and the floral and citrus tonality of Front Street Ethiopian coffee.

Whether it is espresso blend coffee beans or single-origin espresso coffee beans, they must pass through the high temperature and high pressure of an espresso machine, and the extracted espresso flavor will be greatly amplified, that is, acidity will become more acidic, and bitterness will become more bitter.

To reflect the "individuality" of SOE, the quality of the coffee beans must be guaranteed to a certain extent, and the defect rate cannot be too high. The roasting degree and extraction must take into account the flavor characteristics unique to the origin, which places technical demands on both roasters and baristas. If the roast is too dark, espresso can easily show only bitter and astringent notes, and aromatic substances cannot be expressed; if the roast is too light, the requirements for coffee extraction increase. Once the grind size and extraction parameters are not well controlled, the flavor of SOE espresso can easily be thin, and when made into milk coffee it becomes even more "coffee-less."

Therefore, Front Street suggests not choosing single-origin coffee beans with extremely dark or extremely light roasting degrees for making espresso, so as to avoid producing an overly intense mouthfeel and thereby bringing an unpleasant flavor experience.

Does SOE taste better than blends?

As Front Street said, the reason SOE uses coffee beans from a single origin is to highlight the unique flavor of coffee from that region, that is, to make certain tastes clearer. On the contrary, espresso blends are meant to neutralize various different tastes and achieve a balanced mouthfeel. On this basis, the espresso made will not show which one tastes better; it is more about the mouthfeel differences brought by different coffee beans.

To find espresso that suits your own taste, Front Street thinks it is better to focus on the various flavor characteristics under factors such as coffee bean origin, roasting degree, and processing method, which will help us better confirm the type of flavor we like.

What coffee beans are suitable for making SOE?

When we come into contact with hand-brewed single-origin coffee, we can find that the flavor tonality of coffee beans can mainly be divided into three types: acidic tonality, bitter tonality, and fermented flavor. SOE coffee beans are also based on the above flavor tonalities, and we can choose according to our own preferences and needs.

1. Fresh fruity acidity

Mainly using traditional washed and sun-dried processing methods, the coffee presents rich floral aromas and the sweetness of citrus and berry fruits, such as the very popular Front Street Yirgacheffe Sun-Dried Red Cherry coffee beans on Front Street's bean list.

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) · Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Sun-Dried Red Cherry Coffee Beans

Region: Yirgacheffe Region, Aricha Station G1

Altitude: 1700-2200m

Processing method: Sun-dried

Variety: Heirloom native species

Flavor: Berries Jasmine Lemon

Produced in the famous Yirgacheffe region of Ethiopia, Front Street Sun-Dried Red Cherry coffee selects coffee red cherries that have reached the proper ripeness. During the sun-drying process, it is manually turned at irregular intervals, allowing the green coffee beans to ferment moderately with the fruit pulp and form a full tropical fruit sweetness. The SOE coffee made from it tastes fresh, with pleasant acidity and sweetness.

2. Fermented vinous flavor

If you want the flavor extracted from SOE coffee to be more vivid, Front Street recommends choosing coffee beans with high flavor recognition, such as Front Street Honduras Sherry Barrel coffee.

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) · Honduras Moca Estate Sherry Barrel Coffee Beans

Region: Marcala, Honduras

Estate: Moca Estate

Altitude: 1500m-1700m

Variety: Caturra, Catuai, Pacas

Processing method: Refined washed whisky barrel fermentation

Flavor: Vanilla, Whisky, Cream, Chocolate

The washed green coffee beans are placed into oak barrels used for brewing whisky and rotated and turned at regular intervals, allowing the beans to fully absorb the vinous aroma in the barrels. The SOE coffee made from Front Street Honduras Sherry Barrel carries a rich vinous aroma and vanilla flavor, and when added to milk it presents a dense, creamy chocolate mouthfeel.

3. Rich, full-bodied bitterness

Perhaps some friends feel that the SOE coffee made from the above two types at Front Street is not "coffee-like" enough, then rich, full-bodied coffee beans should suit you. For example, Front Street Brazil Queen Estate coffee beans are very representative.

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) · Brazil Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon Coffee Beans

Region: Mogiana Region

Estate: Queen Estate Fazenda Rainha

Altitude: 1400-1950m

Variety: Yellow Bourbon

Processing method: Sun-dried processing

Flavor: Cream, Peanut, Cane Sugar, Nuts, Chocolate 

Unlike many commercial beans produced on a large scale locally in Brazil, Brazil Queen Estate focuses on producing specialty-grade coffee beans and selects the excellent Yellow Bourbon variety. Through sun-dried processing, Front Street Brazil Queen Estate coffee not only has rich creamy, peanut, and nutty flavors, but also has an extremely high sweet aftertaste of cane sugar. Made into SOE, it has a rich and mellow coffee aroma, with a remarkably long-lasting flavor tonality.

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