What Does SOE Coffee Bean Stand For? How Big Is the Difference Between SOE Espresso and Single-Origin Pour-Over Coffee?

More and more specialty coffee shops are popularizing a type of SOE espresso, and many customers who visit FrontStreet Coffee also ask if we have SOE coffee. FrontStreet Coffee's stores currently provide espresso made from a blend of FrontStreet Coffee's sun-dried Red Cherry and FrontStreet Coffee's Honduras Sherry coffee beans, and we don't offer SOE espresso for now. So why distinguish between blended espresso and SOE espresso when they're both espresso? In this article, FrontStreet Coffee will talk about SOE espresso.

What is SOE?

SOE stands for Single Origin Espresso, which in Chinese means single-origin espresso. Although it represents single-origin espresso, it doesn't necessarily equal specialty coffee. If you select single-origin coffee beans with easily recognizable flavors as SOE, you can create espresso with unique and typical flavors.

For example, the citrus flavors of FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe and the berry flavors of FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya, plus the high pressure of espresso machines amplifies the coffee's flavors, so the flavor expression is more prominent compared to pour-over. However, although SOE has outstanding expression, because it comes from a single origin, its drawbacks are also relatively easily magnified. Factors like roasting and grind coarseness all affect the flavor, which is why FrontStreet Coffee's stores don't offer SOE. FrontStreet Coffee wants every customer who enters to enjoy an espresso drink with stable and special flavors.

Speaking of the rise of this trend, Chen Zhihuang, founder of Fika Fika Cafe and winner of the 2013 Nordic Roasting Championship, believes that coffee's development today has striking similarities to whiskey; everyone started by only knowing brands and drinking blended whiskey, until in the past decade, single malt whiskies from different regions began to gain great popularity, and SOE follows the same concept.

Is SOE the same as using pour-over single-origin beans for espresso?

Conceptually, making espresso from pour-over single-origin coffee beans is indeed SOE "single-origin espresso," but in practice, it's not as simple as imagined.

Compared to blends, espresso made from single-origin coffee beans makes it easier to taste clear flavors or regional characteristics. Blended coffee beans, because they mix several different coffee beans, have the greatest advantages of balance and stability, but the combination of too many beans makes it difficult to identify the regional flavors of the coffee beans.

So compared to traditional blended espresso, SOE should be an espresso that emphasizes flavor more. This characteristic affects the selection of SOE coffee beans, which should ideally be chosen for their high and strong flavor recognition. If you choose coffee beans with slightly weaker flavor intensity for SOE, the resulting espresso will be weak and insipid. Imagine this type of SOE that neither has distinctive characteristics nor loses the balance and stability of blended beans—wouldn't that be counterproductive?

Secondly, the roasting degree should not be too deep or too light. A deeper roast will greatly diminish the regional flavors, while a lighter roast will cause the coffee machine to amplify the acidity from light roasting under high pressure, easily making the espresso sharply sour and difficult to drink. A lighter roast also makes the coffee beans harder and prone to under-extraction. Both diminishing regional flavors and sharp acidity causing imbalance violate the original intention of highlighting single-origin flavors, so the roasting curve for the same beans for SOE should be different from the roasting curve for pour-over coffee.

What coffee beans are suitable for SOE?

Fresh and sweet flavor profile:

FrontStreet Coffee recommends using FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Sun-dried Red Cherry. This coffee comes from the Aletaland estate in Yirgacheffe, at an altitude of 1700-2200 meters, using full red fruit sun-drying processing, with very rich fruit sweetness and floral aromas.

Grind setting: Fiama 900N #1.7

Dose: 20g

Extraction yield: 40ml

Extraction time: 27 seconds

Flavor description: Citrus, berries, fermented aroma, viscous, medium bitterness, medium-high acidity, bright and lively acidity.

Rich wine-like flavor profile:

FrontStreet Coffee recommends using FrontStreet Coffee's Honduras Sherry Barrel. This coffee comes from the Moca estate in Honduras, at an altitude of 1500-1700 meters, using refined washed sherry barrel fermentation processing, with very rich wine fermentation aroma and dark chocolate cream flavors.

Grind setting: Fiama 900N #1.8

Dose: 20g

Extraction yield: 40ml

Extraction time: 29 seconds

Flavor description: Whiskey aroma, soft and high fruit acidity, smooth mouthfeel, creamy viscosity, cocoa.

What should you pay attention to when making SOE?

FrontStreet Coffee has found that many people think SOE is simply applying single-origin beans to espresso machine extraction to create a single-origin espresso series. It's not until they bring home various floral and fruity flavored beans and try them with their coffee machine that they discover something is wrong. First, they experience the wild spraying scene, then they're shocked by the extremely sour espresso and dare not take a second sip, and then they begin to wonder if their equipment is too poor or if there were mistakes in their operation.

In fact, the reason you can't make the same SOE at home as in the shop is likely not due to your equipment and technique, but that the roast level of these coffee beans is simply not suitable for making espresso. From the experience of FrontStreet Coffee's baristas, choosing coffee beans suitable for SOE extraction not only makes it easy to produce delicious espresso, but also makes making Americanos or lattes by adding water or milk twice as effective. FrontStreet Coffee's bean menu has two single-origin coffees with SOE versions—one is FrontStreet Coffee's Horse Queen with strawberry aroma, and the other is FrontStreet Coffee's Kong Jia with classic Yirgacheffe flavors. We just need to select espresso roast when placing orders.

FrontStreet Coffee's store coffee machine is a commercial single-group "Lelit Bianca," which can adjust extraction by changing pressure, with a maximum pressure of 11bar. Home coffee machines only need to reach 9bar pressure to satisfy extraction and milk frothing functions, paired with an espresso grinder.

SOE Coffee Extraction Parameters Sharing

Coffee beans: FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Sun-dried Kong Jia

Coffee dose: 20g

Coffee liquid yield: 40g

Dose-to-yield ratio: 1:2

Extraction time: 26-33 seconds

Grind setting: Galileo 2.0

FrontStreet Coffee uses the capacity of a double basket, with a dose of approximately 18-20 grams, and FrontStreet Coffee uses 20 grams of coffee when making drinks.

Usually the ratio of coffee grounds to coffee liquid is between 1:1.5-1:2.5. FrontStreet Coffee's extraction ratio is 1:2, meaning 20 grams of coffee grounds extracts 40 grams of coffee liquid. Time is related to the flow rate of the coffee grounds. Generally, single extraction times are controlled within 20-35 seconds, because coffee usually tastes thin within 20 seconds, while over 35 seconds can easily lead to over-extraction and bitter flavors. FrontStreet Coffee's espresso mostly falls within the 28-30 second range.

FrontStreet Coffee first wipes the basket dry, turns on the grinder, grinds a double dose of coffee grounds, places it on an electronic scale to add or subtract until reaching 20 grams. Then use a tool to distribute the grounds evenly, tamp the coffee puck firmly to ensure more stable coffee extraction. Then turn on the extraction switch to release water, wetting the group head while washing away any stuck coffee grounds, gently lock the portafilter into the group head, and start the extraction. When the electronic scale shows 40 grams of coffee liquid extracted, and the time is approximately 28-33 seconds, you can turn off the extraction switch, and a SOE espresso is complete. We can add an appropriate amount of ice water or 80-degree hot water according to our preference to make a Yirgacheffe SOE Americano.

When making SOE hot latte, FrontStreet Coffee uses a 1:6 ratio, adding 40 grams of espresso liquid to a pre-warmed coffee cup, then using the espresso machine's steam to froth 240g of milk. The milk temperature is best controlled between 50-65°C to form dense and moderately thick microfoam, then evenly blend it with the coffee liquid. This Yirgacheffe SOE latte tastes like eating a lemon-flavored cookie—rich and smooth, and you feel warm all over after drinking it.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on WeChat: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473