What does soe mean? What is the difference between soe and blended coffee beans?

Professional coffee knowledge exchange more coffee bean information please follow the coffee workshop (Wechat official account cafe_style)

For more boutique coffee beans, please add private Qianjie coffee on Wechat. WeChat account: qjcoffeex

There have always been many friends who choose American coffee or latte because they are convenient and do not need to choose coffee beans. But I don't know why the wind of SOE has suddenly blown away in the past two years, and many friends said, "now you have to choose coffee beans when you go to the store to order an American style." So asked the front street coffee, SOE and ordinary espresso what is the difference, why most of them have to add a few more yuan.

What is SOE?

S.O.E (Single Origin Espresso) espresso refers to the use of beans from a single production area (Single Origin) to make espresso (Espresso), which is somewhat different from our previous understanding of espresso.

In the past, espresso usually used beans from deep roasting and different producing areas, so that every cup of espresso had a stable flavor, but it tended to be strong. On the other hand, S.O.E 's espresso will determine the depth of roasting according to the characteristics of the beans, and use coffee beans produced in a single producing area, so drinking concentrated coffee is no longer the balance of bitterness and mellow taste we think.

Will SOE taste better than regular espresso?

Not necessarily. Both have their own advantages and disadvantages. The third wave of coffee has several characteristics: paying attention to the freshness of coffee beans, shallow roasting of beans, the use of coffee beans from a single producing area (transparent information in the producing area), more emphasis on the flavor description of coffee beans, and so on. Making espresso with coffee beans, which are lighter roasted than mixed beans, does give the coffee a richer flavor, unlike blended coffee, which is only monotonous and adjustable.

But not all light-roasted coffee beans are suitable for making SOE. As a crop, the taste of coffee beans will be defined by the change of climate and soil in the region from year to year. In addition, the flavor and tonality of each producing area is different, which can show lemon-like acidity and the aftertaste of honey green tea, which may become acerbic under pressurized extraction, the overall taste is thin, and the alcohol thickness is not high.

On the other hand, there will be a combination of coffee beans from different places, because the coffee beans from the same producing area are used alone, and the good and bad taste of the coffee will be magnified under the very fine grinding and the pressurized extraction of the coffee machine. So I thought that through the coffee beans from different places have their own unique flavor, in a way to learn from each other, so that the performance of the coffee after extraction is more uniform.

Qianjie Coffee believes that the advantage of SOE is that people who drink milk coffee can also feel the rich flavor of the coffee, while the disadvantage is that the coffee beans can not stabilize the stability of espresso for a long time, and the cost will be relatively high because the coffee beans change every day.

The advantage of blending coffee beans is that even if the flavor of coffee beans in the new season changes, the espresso can continue to maintain a stable taste through proportion adjustment, and the disadvantage can only be stabilized through deep roasting, leaving off the rich flavor, but the cost will be relatively small.

How to extract SOE?

The production of SOE tests the barista's extraction ability, and it is necessary to consider the roasting degree of coffee beans and slowly adjust different extraction parameters to show the best extraction results, so there is no actual data that can be used for reference. Qianjie Coffee noticed in the past experimental extraction that the extraction time and speed of single coffee beans are often faster than that of blended coffee beans.

So when you want to adjust the extraction parameters of SOE, you must taste every serving of espresso beans. If you think it is too thin, it may be rough grinding / less powder / large extraction, if it is too thick / bitter, then it may be fine grinding / more powder / less extraction.

SOE coffee bean recommendation

Although the street coffee shop does not provide the choice of SOE, but daily will try a variety of individual SOE production. After numerous experiments, Qianjie Coffee recommends three kinds of individual coffee beans to make SOE:

"Qianjie Coffee-Ethiopian Yega Snow Red Cherry beans", an espresso extracted from lightly roasted coffee beans, has a light yellow color and a sweet smell of berries. taste will not be too irritating taste buds, sweet and sour berries and caramel.

"Front Street Coffee-Costa Rican Mozart Coffee beans", moderately roasted, the extracted espresso oil is delicate and light yellow, smells like raisins, has a strong sweet and sour taste and a fermented fruit flavor.

"Front Street Coffee-Honduran Shirley Coffee beans", moderately roasted, the extracted espresso oil is creamy, golden yellow, smells of whisky and tastes of vanilla cream and nut caramel.