Single Origin Coffee Selection Guide: What Varieties Are Available? The Difference Between Specialty Coffee and Single Origin Coffee

Understanding Single Origin Coffee

Single origin coffee, a term that has frequently appeared in coffee circles in recent years, can be simply understood as coffee beans from a single origin. Their labels often carry relatively detailed source information, such as growing region, altitude, processing method, variety, etc., allowing tasters to better perceive and understand the flavor and texture characteristics of this coffee.

What we call specialty coffee refers to high-quality coffee from regions with unique microclimates and geographical conditions, cultivated to develop positive aromas and "regional flavors." As more consumers learn about coffee bean origin information and are willing to pay higher prices for high-quality coffee beans, producers naturally devote more energy to the source of specialty coffee, leading to the emergence of single origin coffee beans that emphasize single origins.

The Rise of SOE (Single Origin Espresso)

Initially, single origin coffee beans were typically extracted as black coffee using methods like pour-over, siphon, or French press. Later, more and more single origin beans began to be used in espresso coffee, and with various competitions and promotions by chain brands, a concept called "SOE" began to gain popularity. SOE is the acronym for Single Origin Espresso, translated as espresso made from single origin coffee beans, contrasting with espresso blends. The introduction of SOE accompanied the popularization of specialty coffee and single origin coffee concepts brought by the third wave of coffee.

Traditionally, single origin coffee beans were typically used for drip coffee, such as pour-over coffee. Pressurized espresso would use blended beans as raw material. Producers would combine coffee beans from different origins and use dark roasting to highlight rich, mellow, and bitter-dominated flavors, with flavors basically fixed in tones of caramel, dark chocolate, nuts, and cocoa.

Understanding SOE Quality and Preparation

As everyone's pursuit of coffee becomes higher, single origin coffee beans are not only presented in pour-over form; people have begun to extract single origin beans with unique flavors in various ways to obtain clearer single origin coffee characteristics. Some coffee shops charge extra for SOE coffee beans, leading many friends to believe that SOE is more premium than blends and has better flavor. It's not difficult to see from the above text that SOE only indicates that the coffee beans come from a single origin, so it doesn't represent better coffee quality, nor does it necessarily taste better than blends.

Single origin beans used for pour-over need to present the unique regional flavors of the origin and the aroma of the coffee beans themselves—just like Yirgacheffe should have fresh, bright citrus and lemon acidity, while Blue Mountain coffee should have sweet chocolate and caramel aromas. Similarly, SOE must also express the flavor characteristics that the origin should have. If the roast is too dark, the flavor and aroma can be masked by the heavy substances from roasting; if the roast is too light, it can easily lead to under-extraction, resulting in sharp acidity and thin flavors. Therefore, whether a cup of SOE coffee tastes good greatly tests the "interpretation" of SOE by the roaster and barista.

Home SOE Preparation Tips

If we are making SOE at home, FrontStreet Coffee recommends using single origin beans with medium or medium-dark roast for extraction, which can avoid strong, stimulating tastes caused by roasting factors. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Queen Estate coffee beans, using medium-dark roast, produce SOE that presents chocolate, roasted hazelnut, cream, and sugarcane-like sweet aftertaste.

Regardless of how a coffee bean is extracted, FrontStreet Coffee believes that freshness is very critical. If you use coffee beans roasted more than a month ago, some aroma may have been lost, and unpleasant woody flavors may have developed. FrontStreet Coffee hopes that every customer who places an order can taste the coffee's aroma during the optimal tasting period, so they ensure only shipping beans roasted within 5 days of freshness. If everyone wants to make SOE coffee with better flavor, FrontStreet Coffee recommends choosing freshly roasted single origin coffee beans.

Extraction Parameters for Light Roast SOE

When we use lighter roast coffee beans to extract SOE, due to the shorter roasting time of the coffee beans, the internal texture is still relatively hard, making flavors more difficult to extract. Therefore, extraction parameters need to be adjusted to increase extraction rate, such as extending extraction time, increasing water temperature, adjusting grind size finer, or increasing dose.

The fineness of espresso grinding is much higher than that of pour-over drip grinding, so adjustments cannot be too drastic, as this can easily lead to excessive variables and more unstable extraction. FrontStreet Coffee's daily store production is based on accumulated experience, so parameter adjustments are based on daily experience. If we have lower output at home, it's relatively difficult to grasp. FrontStreet Coffee suggests recording and summarizing the relationship between extraction parameters and flavor performance, which is more conducive to our quick adjustments and saves unnecessary waste.

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