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What's the Difference Between SOE Coffee and Blend Coffee? How to Make SOE Coffee with an Espresso Machine

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style). FrontStreet Coffee - SOE Coffee Introduction: In the coffee field, when mentioning SOE, it refers to Single Origin Espresso. Expanding this English abbreviation, it becomes Single Origin Espresso

What is SOE?

Today, coffee shops are springing up everywhere, and the variety of espresso-based drinks can be overwhelming. To enhance competitiveness, some coffee shops even offer several SOE options for customers to choose from, with detailed descriptions of their flavor characteristics. At this point, some might wonder: what exactly is SOE? And how does it differ from "regular beans"?

S = Single O = Original E = Espresso

SOE refers to espresso made from single-origin coffee beans, where "origin" can be a producing country, region, cooperative, estate, or farm. Coffee harvested in the same batch all belongs to single-origin coffee. For example, the dozens of coffees from different origins on the small blackboard on the left side of FrontStreet Coffee's counter are all single-origin, which FrontStreet Coffee typically serves as pour-over. Single-origin coffee is proposed based on the concept of specialty coffee, with the purpose of emphasizing regional flavors, so single-origin coffee is a type of specialty coffee. Generally, it's often served as pour-over in coffee shops. In recent years, the concept of single-origin coffee has become popular, and more single-origin beans are being applied to espresso extraction.

Friends who often drink Americanos and lattes should know that coffee is extracted from an espresso machine, and baristas can typically prepare it in two or three minutes, much faster than pour-over. Due to the rapid extraction of espresso under fine grinding, high water temperature, and high pressure, the concentrated liquid gathers multiple flavors, and various flavor compounds impact our taste buds exponentially. Therefore, it's usually consumed with added water, ice, milk, and other auxiliary ingredients.

In contrast to SOE, there's FrontStreet Coffee's espresso blend, which combines coffee beans from two or more origins, typically using medium to dark roasts, presenting a balanced, rich flavor profile. Both SOE and blends are terms in the category of espresso coffee. Coffee shops that offer SOE simply replace the coffee beans with single-origin ones, such as FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe from Ethiopia or FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Queen. To distinguish from traditional blend beans, the market often uses slightly lighter roasted coffee to highlight acidity and fruit flavors, with additional emphasis when ordering, encouraging everyone to try switching to SOE.

Is SOE necessarily better than blends?

When we choose to switch our coffee base to SOE, we often need to pay an additional fee, which leads many to subconsciously think that "SOE must be better than blend beans." However, this is not necessarily the case. SOE only indicates that the coffee beans come from a single origin, so it doesn't mean the quality is better, nor does it guarantee that the taste will be better than blends.

Until now, the vast majority of coffee shops still feature espresso blends as their main products. The reason blend beans have become the market mainstream is not only to reduce raw material costs but also to provide stable extraction for daily production and ensure consistent flavor for espresso-based drinks. Simply put, coffee shops choose blends for a consistent standard of production.

Single-origin beans used for pour-over need to present unique regional flavors and the inherent aroma of the coffee beans themselves. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe has fresh, bright citrus and lemon acidity, while FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee should have sweet chocolate and caramel aromas. Similarly, SOE should also express the characteristic flavor profile of its origin. If roasted too dark, the flavor and aroma can be masked by the heavy substances from roasting; if roasted too light, it can easily lead to under-extraction, resulting in sharp acidity and thin taste. Therefore, whether a cup of SOE coffee tastes good greatly tests the "interpretation" of SOE by both the roaster and the barista.

Why is SOE often more expensive than blends?

When ordering a blend coffee, baristas don't describe it much, but if switched to single-origin beans, they'll emphasize it's "SOE," mainly to distinguish it from blended coffee beans. Traditionally, single-origin coffee beans are typically used for drip coffee, such as pour-over. Pressurized espresso usually uses blend beans as raw material, where producers combine coffee beans from different origins, using dark roasts to highlight rich, mellow, bitter-based flavors, basically定格 in the tones of caramel, dark chocolate, nuts, and cocoa.

Single-origin SOE uses lighter roasts, presenting a light mouthfeel distinct from traditional bitter flavors, such as Ethiopian beans with citrus and floral notes. The higher recognizability makes it easier for consumers to remember SOE characteristics, but in terms of cost, higher quality single-origin beans are naturally more expensive, so the additional fee is justified.

How to make SOE coffee?

Now that we know SOE falls under the category of espresso, we need to learn about the characteristics of espresso coffee.

Due to the extraction of espresso under fine grinding, high water temperature, and high pressure, the concentrated coffee gathers multiple flavors, and various flavor compounds impact our taste buds exponentially. Therefore, if we use single-origin coffee beans that are roasted too light or too dark for extraction, the taste might be too strong, masking the aroma in the coffee. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's light-roasted washed Yirgacheffe, when prepared as pour-over, offers fresh and pleasant citrus lemon acidity and white floral notes, but when made into espresso, it instead shows irritating acidity and astringency.

Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee suggests choosing some medium-roasted coffee beans with flavors that are easier to present. This not only enriches the taste of coffee in our cups but also helps with extraction stability. For example, these few options on FrontStreet Coffee's bean list: FrontStreet Coffee's sun-dried Red Cherry coffee beans with refreshing sweet and sour tropical fruit flavors, FrontStreet Coffee's Papua Bird of Paradise coffee beans with hazelnut and sugarcane sweetness, FrontStreet Coffee's Costa Rica Mozart coffee beans with rich fermented fruit aroma, and FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon coffee beans with chocolate, cream, and peanut notes.

Here, FrontStreet Coffee chooses FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Queen Estate coffee beans to explain how to make SOE coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee uses a double basket portafilter with a capacity of approximately 18-20 grams of coffee grounds. FrontStreet Coffee uses 20 grams of coffee grounds for production. FrontStreet Coffee's extraction ratio is 1:2, meaning 20 grams of coffee grounds to extract 40 grams of coffee liquid. Time is related to the flow rate of the coffee grounds. Generally, a single extraction duration is controlled between 20-35 seconds, because coffee extracted within 20 seconds tends to taste thin, while over 35 seconds easily leads to over-extraction and burnt bitterness. FrontStreet Coffee's espresso mostly falls within the 28-30 second range.

Before extraction, first wipe the portafilter dry, turn on the grinder, grind enough coffee for a double shot, place it on an electronic scale to adjust until reaching 20 grams. Then use a distributor to level the coffee grounds, and press vertically down with a tamper to compact the coffee puck, ensuring more stable coffee extraction.

Then turn on the extraction switch and let water flow for 1-2 seconds to wet the brew head while also washing away any stuck coffee grounds. Place an electronic scale under the cup to collect the Espresso and zero out the weight, placing it under the brew head together during extraction.

Gently lock the portafilter onto the brew head and start the extraction switch. Observe the changes in the extraction liquid. When the electronic scale shows that 40 grams of coffee liquid has been extracted and the time is around 30 seconds, turn off the extraction switch. Brewing parameters will vary subtly based on daily air humidity and coffee bean condition, so adjustments to coffee grounds amount, grind setting, and coffee liquid extraction amount may be needed.

The extracted SOE can be consumed directly, paired with a glass of water to cleanse the palate, allowing you to taste the rich crema and the mellow taste of the underlying coffee liquid. If you can't accept the strong bitterness, you can also add water according to your preference to make a refreshing SOE Americano, or add a certain proportion of milk to soften the taste, creating a delicious SOE latte.