What Does SOE Espresso Mean? Flavor Profile and Taste Description of Yirgacheffe SOE Single-Origin Coffee

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Regular coffee enthusiasts who drink coffee often know that the beans used for pour-over coffee in the current specialty coffee market are all single-origin coffee beans, while espresso coffee uses blended beans from multiple regions. This is also due to the characteristics of espresso machines. So can single-origin specialty coffee beans be used to make espresso? FrontStreet Coffee wants to tell everyone that this is certainly possible, but this form of coffee has been given another name—SOE coffee. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will explain what SOE coffee is.

What is SOE coffee?

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

This is also influenced by the characteristics of espresso machines mentioned above by FrontStreet Coffee, because espresso machines have a characteristic that amplifies the flavors of coffee beans under high pressure operation. Therefore, compared to pour-over coffee, although SOE coffee also uses single-origin coffee beans, the flavors will be more prominent, which also means that any flaws in the coffee flavors will also be amplified.

For example, the flavor characteristics of FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee beans are citrus and lemon acidity. The SOE coffee made from Yirgacheffe beans will also amplify the citrus and lemon acidity. If it's Indonesian Mandheling coffee beans, it will amplify its herbal flavors and defective flavors.

In addition, factors such as the roasting degree and grind size of SOE will affect the flavor expression. Therefore, it can be said that SOE coffee production is very inconsistent. This is also why FrontStreet Coffee doesn't provide SOE coffee for coffee enthusiasts to taste, because FrontStreet Coffee's original intention in opening a coffee shop was to let coffee enthusiasts who like FrontStreet Coffee drink specialty coffee beans with stable flavors, rather than suddenly tasting something different from what they had before.

Moreover, the flavors of coffee beans will undergo subtle changes with the annual climate changes in producing regions. For example, the flavors of Sidamo Buku coffee beans will change every year, but this is limited to subtle changes. With SOE, if not careful, the flavor changes can be very exaggerated and difficult to control.

Common ways to present SOE coffee

Of course, SOE coffee is not as bad as imagined. In many coffee shops that specialize in providing SOE coffee, they not only offer SOE coffee but also milk-based coffee using SOE as the base, and the flavors are equally wonderful. Milk can also play a neutralizing role, just like adding different proportions of milk to Italian blended coffee beans can make mocha coffee or latte coffee.

What's the difference between SOE coffee beans and single-origin beans?

If we use FrontStreet Coffee's previous discussion as a benchmark, making pour-over single-origin coffee beans into espresso is indeed SOE "Single Origin Espresso," but in actual operation, 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. Because blended coffee beans mix several different coffee beans, their greatest advantage is balance and stability, but the combination of too many beans makes it difficult to identify the regional flavors of the coffee beans.

Therefore, compared to traditional blended espresso, SOE should be a type of espresso that emphasizes flavors more. This characteristic also affects the selection of SOE coffee beans—coffee beans with high and strong flavor recognition should be chosen. If coffee beans with slightly weaker flavor intensity are selected to make SOE, the resulting espresso will be weak and insipid. Imagine this type of SOE that has neither special characteristics nor loses the balance and stability of blended beans—wouldn't that be a case of losing more than gaining?

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

So single-origin coffee beans can be used to make SOE coffee, but the roasting degree of the coffee beans must also change accordingly, and this is where the difference lies. So are there any coffee beans suitable for making single-origin SOE coffee? FrontStreet Coffee will now recommend several coffee beans suitable for making SOE coffee.

Coffee beans suitable for SOE

First, FrontStreet Coffee believes that because SOE single-origin coffee uses single-origin coffee beans, there's no such thing as complementarity—it can only highlight the regional flavors. If your espresso machine's parameters and time control are good, plus you select suitable coffee beans, then you can perfectly express the flavors of the coffee beans. Conversely, if you fail to control these aspects well, the SOE single-origin coffee produced will definitely be a failure that no one will love to drink.

So, don't underestimate a cup of single-origin coffee. Making a cup of SOE coffee is not that simple. Even though FrontStreet Coffee doesn't produce SOE coffee, FrontStreet Coffee has explored this path countless times. First, determine the blend of beans, determine what kind of SOE coffee flavor you want to present—whether it's the lemon citrus acidity of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe or the sweetness of Costa Rica honey-processed Baha. This requires FrontStreet Coffee's baristas to explore step by step, and then consider whether the most desired texture meets expectations. Before the formula is determined, FrontStreet Coffee needs to go through multiple tests and adjustments. Therefore, the journey of each cup of SOE coffee produced is not simple, so the selling price may be much higher than pour-over coffee, which is reasonable.

At the same time, FrontStreet Coffee found that many coffee shops like to use Yirgacheffe for SOE, and the extracted floral aroma will be very obvious, and the taste will be more acidic, very suitable for coffee lovers who like acidic textures. In fact, FrontStreet Coffee has also tried using Ethiopian Red Cherry to make SOE coffee, using 20 grams of coffee powder, 40 milliliters of coffee liquid, and an extraction time of about 27 seconds. The resulting SOE coffee had a very good texture, moderate consistency, with uplifting acidity, somewhat like citrus and berries, plus a faint fermented wine aroma.

Next, FrontStreet Coffee will introduce these two SOE single-origin coffee beans separately.

FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Sun-dried Red Cherry Coffee Beans

Country: Ethiopia
Region: Yirgacheffe
Altitude: 2300m
Variety: Local native varieties
Processing: Natural processing
Flavors: Berries, lemon, strawberry, fermented wine aroma

Grind size: Feima 900N #1.7
Dose: 20g
Extraction: 40ml
Extraction time: 27 seconds
Flavor description: Citrus, berries, fermented aroma, viscous, medium bitterness, medium-high acidity, bright and lively acidity.

FrontStreet Coffee Honduras Sherry Coffee Beans

Region: Marcala
Altitude: 1500-1700 meters
Variety: Catuai, Catimor, Pacas
Processing: Refined washed whiskey sherry barrel fermentation
Flavor description: Vanilla, cream, with whiskey, berries, almonds, dark chocolate, maple syrup.

Grind size: Feima 900N #1.8
Dose: 20g
Extraction: 40ml
Extraction time: 29 seconds
Flavor description: Whiskey aroma, soft, relatively high fruit acidity, smooth texture, creamy viscosity, cocoa.

The above is the content about SOE coffee compiled by FrontStreet Coffee, hoping to help coffee enthusiasts who want to understand related knowledge, so that they can choose SOE coffee that suits their taste when visiting coffee shops in the future.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473