Introduction to Flavor Characteristics of SOE Single Origin Coffee Beans: Differences and Taste of Brazilian SOE Coffee Beans vs. Pour-Over Coffee Beans

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SOE ≠ Specialty Coffee

SOE ≠ Delicious

SOE ≠ High Quality

SOE ≠ Better than Traditional Espresso

With the promotion of specialty coffee culture, more and more coffee consumers have come to recognize that quality coffee beans can showcase the unique flavor characteristics of their growing regions. Therefore, many coffee shops, whether for pour-over coffee or espresso, use single-origin coffee beans to further highlight this point.

As a result, many people think that products made with single-origin coffee beans are specialty coffee, with better quality and guaranteed deliciousness. This is actually not the case! As agricultural products, coffee flavors are affected by terroir and climate each year, so coffee flavors will vary.

Even within the same growing region, coffee flavor performance can show instability, and different extraction methods will further change the coffee's flavor expression.

Therefore, when a single-origin coffee bean is made into pour-over coffee, due to the large extraction ratio, the overall coffee taste might be relatively balanced with a just-right feeling. However, under pressurized high-temperature extraction in a coffee machine, due to the smaller extraction ratio and increased coffee concentration, the coffee can easily express negative/deficient aspects.

FrontStreet Coffee uses Yellow Bourbon coffee beans from Queen's Farm in Mogiana, Brazil, grown at an altitude of 1400-1950m, for a comparison experiment between pour-over and espresso extraction.

Yellow Bourbon coffee grown in high-altitude areas will have excellent flavor performance, typically featuring nuts and chocolate, with balanced and smooth acidity, weak and clean bitterness, and an overall bright and refreshing character.

To allow this coffee bean to express a mellow flavor, FrontStreet Coffee used a medium-dark roast. After cupping comparison, FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Queen's Farm coffee beans show rich chocolate aroma and nutty flavors as well as sucrose-like sweetness, with bright and mellow flavors and a smooth, delicate texture.

Pour-over Coffee Parameters

Kono filter cup, 88°C water temperature, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, 15g coffee weight, grind size: white sugar granules (70% pass-through rate on #20 standard sieve).

Using a three-stage pouring technique: First stage, inject 30g of water for blooming, blooming time is 30 seconds. Second stage, inject water to about 125g, then wait for the coffee liquid to drop. When it drops to halfway, inject the final stage of water to 225g. End the extraction after all coffee has dripped through. The total extraction time is generally around 2 minutes and 10 seconds.

Pour-over Brazil Queen's Farm Coffee Bean Flavor Performance

Fresh sweetness of sugarcane juice, black tea, soft and pleasant fruit sweetness, distinct nutty flavors, balanced and smooth acidity, weak and clean bitterness, containing rich chocolate aroma and nutty flavors.

Espresso Extraction Parameters

Espresso machine, 94°C water temperature, 10bar extraction pressure, 20g coffee weight, very fine grind, total extraction time 25 seconds.

Brazil Queen's Farm SOE Flavor Performance

Rich roasted peanut aroma, with a slight astringency from peanut skin, overall mouthfeel not solid enough, lower body thickness, tasting slightly thin.

From this comparison experiment, we can see that not all single-origin coffee beans can produce delicious espresso, and their stability is not as strong as blended coffee beans.

However, the nutty and caramel flavor characteristics of Brazil's coffee beans make them very suitable as the base flavor for espresso blends. Therefore, among the espresso blend beans currently sold by FrontStreet Coffee, 3 varieties use Red Bourbon coffee beans from Brazil's Cerrado region as the main character, enriching the coffee's flavors to different degrees by blending coffee beans from different regions.

FrontStreet Coffee - Specialty Blend Coffee Beans

An espresso coffee bean focused on nutty aroma. Composed of Colombian washed coffee beans (30%) + Brazilian semi-dry processed coffee beans (70%), featuring nutty, dark chocolate, and caramel flavors.

FrontStreet Coffee - Commercial Blend Coffee Beans

An espresso coffee bean focused on body thickness. Composed of Robusta washed coffee beans (10%) + Colombian washed coffee beans (30%) + Brazilian semi-dry processed coffee (60%), featuring nutty, cocoa, and caramel flavors, with high body thickness.

FrontStreet Coffee - Basic Blend Coffee Beans

An espresso coffee bean with slight acidity and mellow body. Composed of Yunnan washed small bean coffee (30%) + Brazilian semi-dry processed coffee beans (70%), featuring soft fruit acidity, caramel, and nutty flavors.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473