How Should You Pull a Light-Medium SOE Espresso?
This SOE espresso test used Costa Rica Fire Phoenix Estate Sapphire beans from the Central Valley at 1,600 meters, sun-dried Caturra and Catuai. The dose was 16 grams, the yield 32 grams, and the shot ran 35 seconds, longer than usual, because the roast level leans toward pour-over and needs extra time to release fermented aromas.
The cup showed blackberry, citrus, fermented wine-like notes, candied fruit, medium-high acidity and sweetness, and a long aftertaste. Paired with milk at about 1:4.6 in a 180ml cup, floral aroma came forward with very high sweetness. Beans also need a longer resting period, since residual carbon dioxide from too-fresh beans disturbs water flow.
This article is the first in a series of SOE espresso experiments launched by Front Street Coffee, using Costa Rica's Fire Phoenix Estate Sapphire coffee beans to make espresso. These beans come from the Central Valley at an altitude of 1600 meters, are sun-dried, and consist of the Caturra and Catuai varieties. The article documents the extraction parameters and flavor performance in detail, and extends to pairing tests with milk coffee. Because the beans' roast level was originally more suited to pour-over, using them for SOE requires a longer resting period and an extended extraction time of 35 seconds to fully release the fermented aromas and avoid under-extraction. If you are interested in single-origin espresso, you might refer to the parameters in this article and explore more possibilities with these beans.
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I happen to have some free time recently, so I am preparing to launch a new project—specifically documenting the process of trying different beans for espresso. As the opening piece of this series, today's test is Costa Rica's Fire Phoenix Estate Sapphire, using it to make a cup of SOE espresso.
Coffee Bean Information
Region: Costa Rica, Central Valley Estate: Fire Phoenix Estate Altitude: 1600m Processing Method: Sun-dried Variety: Caturra, Catuai
SOE Espresso Extraction Parameters
Coffee Powder Dose: 16g Espresso Yield: 32g Extraction Time: 35 seconds
SOE Espresso Flavor Description: Blackberry, citrus, fermented wine-like notes, candied fruit, medium-high acidity, medium-high sweetness, slightly low bitterness, long aftertaste
SOE Milk Coffee Parameters
Coffee Cup Capacity: 180ml Espresso Amount: 32g Milk Ratio: 1:4.6
SOE Milk Coffee Flavor Description: Obvious floral aroma, slight fermented wine-like notes in the aftertaste, very high sweetness, reminiscent of milk tea.
Summary
The roast level of this Costa Rica Fire Phoenix Estate Sapphire actually leans more toward the range suitable for pour-over coffee, so using it for espresso presents several challenges. The first point is that you cannot use beans that are too fresh; the resting period needs to be longer than usual. If the resting time is insufficient, the residual carbon dioxide in the beans will interfere with the water flow, hinder the extraction of flavor compounds, and ultimately lead to under-extraction.
The second point is that in order to fully bring out the fermented aromas in this coffee and make the overall expression more complete, the entire extraction process needs to be extended, ultimately reaching as long as 35 seconds.
If your conditions allow, you might try it yourself, and I believe you can discover even more different possibilities from these beans.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
