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Traditionally, coffee shops mainly served espresso blends. As the coffee-drinking atmosphere continues to heat up, many coffee shops have begun offering SOE coffee, and some shops even specialize in SOE coffee as their signature product. In this article, Front Street will talk about SOE coffee～

What is SOE coffee?

SOE stands for Single Origin Espresso, which means espresso made from coffee beans from a single origin, in contrast to blended coffee.

The so-called House Blend Espresso is a coffee bean blend created by the roaster selecting coffee beans from different origins with different flavors and roasting them together (or roasting them separately and then blending them in proportion), producing an espresso with rich, layered, and balanced flavor and mouthfeel. SOE coffee, on the other hand, uses coffee beans from a single origin, with the aim of highlighting the unique taste of that origin, such as the jasmine floral aroma and citrus notes of Front Street Yirgacheffe coffee, the tomato-like acidity of Front Street Kenya 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 emphasize this much. As coffee consumer demand continued to increase, coffee from major origins was prone to uneven quality, with unstable flavor and quality. To avoid the impact of such low-quality coffee, some merchants began blending coffee beans from different origins to make the coffee taste more consistent.

In recent years, as the specialty coffee atmosphere has become stronger, coffee people have begun to emphasize traceability of coffee beans, hoping to drink espresso made from coffee beans from well-known specialty coffee origins, and thus SOE has become popular again.

Can SOE coffee beans be made with pour-over?

In recent years, as the emphasis on coffee specialization has continued to grow, high-quality single-origin coffee has also been singled out and brought into the mainstream of espresso, becoming a new trend. However, before SOE became popular, single-origin coffee beans in coffee shops were all served in pour-over form, so higher-quality SOE coffee beans can certainly be brewed as pour-over. Front Street believes that as long as the parameters are suitable, pour-over coffee made from SOE coffee beans can present the unique flavor and rich layering of the origin.

Flavor characteristics of SOE single-origin espresso

Unlike traditional espresso blends, which are mostly rich, full-bodied, and balanced, in most cases when merchants launch SOE coffee they choose coffee beans that can present the unique flavor of that origin, and emphasize the origin flavor by adjusting the roast level. In other words, Yirgacheffe should taste like Yirgacheffe, and Mandheling should taste like Mandheling.

If the single-origin coffee is mainly floral and fruity, a lighter roast level will be used, and the SOE flavor will show the bright sweet-and-sour flavors of various fruits. For example, the sun-dried Huakui coffee beans on Front Street's bean list have the sweet-and-sour taste of strawberry and passion fruit.

When single-origin coffee beans with chocolate and nut notes are chosen, a slightly darker roast level will be used, and the resulting espresso carries a strong roasted hazelnut aroma, such as Front Street's Brazil Queen Estate coffee beans, which present the sweet fragrance of creamy peanut and dark chocolate.

There is also Front Street Colombia Sidra coffee with winey and fruity flavors, which can be ordered directly through the Front Street Taobao store or the Front Street Tmall flagship store. This coffee comes from Finca La Divisa in the Huila region, grown at an altitude of 1,700 meters, and uses double anaerobic natural processing. It has very rich grape, passion fruit, and citrus flavors, and when made into SOE Sidra Americano, it has a refreshing and clear grape juice character, cool and pleasant.

Is SOE coffee better tasting than blended coffee?

As Front Street mentioned above, SOE is meant to emphasize origin flavor, so the roast level will not be too dark, which also increases the difficulty of extracting various flavors. When making espresso, high-temperature pressurized extraction is used, and the coffee grounds are ground finer. If extraction is improper, harsh flavors are likely to appear. In contrast, high-quality blended coffee beans are made by combining top-quality coffee from different origins and using a suitable roast level, producing espresso that is aromatic and balanced in mouthfeel. So SOE coffee is not necessarily better tasting than blended coffee.

Front Street hopes that the espresso beans it produces can present richer aroma and balanced mouthfeel, so the espresso blends it launches are all based on this blending approach: balancing acidity, bitterness, sweetness, aroma, and body into another coffee with a unique flavor. At present, there are four blend products on the shop's daily bean list, namely Front Street Sunflower Warm Sun Blend, Front Street Specialty Blend, Front Street Dark Cocoa Blend, and Front Street Commercial Blend.

Among them, the daily espresso served at Front Street's Dongshankou store is the Sunflower Warm Sun Blend. Front Street wanted to launch a coffee bean that has both fermented winey aroma and fruity sweet-and-sour notes, blending Yirgacheffe sun-dried Red Cherry and Honduras Sherry in a 7:3 ratio. The rich aroma of this blended coffee bean has also won the affection of many friends.

Tips for making SOE coffee

Whether SOE tastes good is related to many factors, including the quality of the SOE coffee beans, whether the roast level is suitable, whether the coffee beans are fresh, and the range of extraction parameters, among others.

After roasting, coffee beans go through a degassing and resting process from 4 to 7 days (darker-roasted blended coffee needs about 10 days), and then enter a stable peak flavor period. After the peak of coffee aroma has passed, the coffee flavor accelerates its loss over time, so freshness is crucial to coffee flavor extraction. Front Street's roasting philosophy is "freshly roasted good coffee," and shipped coffee beans are ensured to be freshly roasted within 5 days, in the hope that customers who place orders can enjoy their coffee within the full peak flavor period.

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