Is SOE Coffee Bean Good for Making Dirty Coffee? Introduction to Single Origin Dirty Coffee Extraction Techniques

SOE and Dirty are two of the biggest trends in coffee right now. In recent years, many coffee shops have rolled out SOE and Dirty made with single-origin beans, and here at FrontStreet Coffee plenty of customers walk in and ask, "Can you make a Dirty with SOE?" That got FrontStreet Coffee curious about what kind of spark SOE and Dirty strike together that draws in so many coffee lovers.

The Hot and Cold Sensation of Dirty

What makes Dirty special is its distinct layering. Once the coffee is made, there's no need to stir it even or reach for a straw. Drink it straight from the surface in big gulps, ideally finishing it in three or four sips.

The first sip, rich and warm espresso with only a little milk, delivers a strong coffee flavor. The second sip brings unsaturated milk mixed with coffee, letting you taste rich milk chocolate. The third is chilled milk with a faint coffee aroma.

With no ice cubes to dilute it, Dirty has a very full-bodied texture. From bitter to sweet, from hot to cold, it is a wonderfully rich, multi-layered experience.

Why Use SOE for Dirty?

As most people know, SOE is a coffee product that lets you taste the unique terroir of its growing region. Making Dirty with SOE means you get Dirty's signature layering while also enjoying a more pointed coffee aroma. You can pick your favorite flavor profile for the espresso, since different beans express different flavors. There are light to medium roasts such as Yirgacheffe, rich in floral and fruity notes, and deep roasts such as Mandheling, which emphasize dark chocolate and spice.

SOE Dirty Experiments

So which SOE suits Dirty best? And if you are stubborn enough to insist on a particular bean, how should you adjust? FrontStreet Coffee would like to share a few experiments with SOE Dirty for your reference. (For these tests, FrontStreet Coffee used extraction parameters of 20g of grounds, 38g of liquid, and an extraction time of 27s to 33s.)

Experiment 1: Medium-Dark Roast Yirgacheffe Konga SOE (Natural)

The SOE Dirty pulled from Konga opens with a soft citrus and lemon acidity in the first sip and a creamy sweet aftertaste. The second sip shows how the chilled milk further stimulates the palate's perception of sour aromas, with coffee and milk not fully mixed, like drinking orange-flavored milk. (This Yirgacheffe SOE is roasted lighter than the Warm Sun blend used in the shop every day. After the adjustment, the espresso has relatively thinner crema and a lighter color.)

Experiment 2: Dark Roast Brazil Queen's Farm (Natural)

Made into an SOE Dirty, this dark roast from Brazil's Queen's Farm fills the whole mouth with rich butter cookie flavor on entry. The rich, smooth hot coffee also carries a slight sweetness from the cold milk at the end. The second sip brings more diluted almond-flavored coffee and sweet cold milk; overall, the flavor lands somewhere near nutty chocolate milk.

Experiment 3: Medium Roast Mirasu Strawberry Candy (Raisin Honey Process)

After making two SOE Dirties with traditional processing, FrontStreet Coffee had a sudden idea: what would happen if beans with incredibly rich special-processing flavors met SOE Dirty? So FrontStreet Coffee brought out Mirasu Strawberry Candy for the next attempt.

True to its name, the finished SOE Dirty carries a rich strawberry aroma. It tastes like sweet-and-sour strawberry milk, though the aftertaste and lingering aroma after swallowing aren't as long-lasting as you'd imagine, disappearing in an instant. After the second sip, the coffee flavor fades much more, leaving mostly the fresh sweetness of milk, so it tastes like milk with just a hint of coffee.

Perhaps FrontStreet Coffee never found quite the right extraction method, leaving the SOE flavors short of full. Under special processing, Strawberry Candy has a more crumbly bean texture than traditionally processed beans, making it more sensitive to small changes in grind size. Finding suitable extraction parameters is relatively difficult, and dialing in a workable SOE can take dozens of adjustments or more. The process is painful and lengthy. We hope every persistent coffee lover eventually dials in an SOE Dirty that satisfies them.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Since Dirty lives or dies by the espresso underneath, choosing a single origin with a clear, appealing flavor is half the work. FrontStreet's washed Yirgacheffe makes an excellent SOE base: it is known for white jasmine florals, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a tea-like body, and at a friendly price it has become the first specialty bean for many new drinkers. Pulled as espresso for a Dirty, its florals and citrus cut cleanly through the cold milk.

If you want a touch more sweetness and structure, FrontStreet's Gutingding cooperative coffee is another strong single-origin choice. Its traditional washed processing brings out jasmine florals and a bright citrus and lemon acidity, so the espresso stays clean and layered as it meets the milk. For a fruitier, sun-dried expression, FrontStreet's Yirgacheffe Red Cherry adds citrus acidity, a berry-juice body, honey sweetness, and a creamy smoothness that works beautifully in a Dirty.