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The difference between single coffee and SOE Why are soe coffee beans more expensive? Soe acid or not

Published: 2025-12-25 Author:

Last Updated: 2025/12/25, When you go to a cafe and want to order an American or dairy coffee, you often face two options: one is the default Italian mix, and the other is SOE that requires additional money. At this time, some people may wonder, Why is this "SOE" competing more expensive? Where is it expensive? SOE coffee, how the hell is it?

When you go to a cafe and want to order an American or dairy coffee, you often face two options: one is the default Italian mix, and the other is SOE that requires additional money. At this time, some people may wonder, Why is this "SOE" competing more expensive? Where is it expensive?

SOE coffee, what's so big?

First of all, both SOE and blending belong to the category of espresso. SOE (single origin espresso) refers to espresso made using coffee beans from a single region, which is different from House Blend Espresso.

In the era when "sour coffee" was not yet popular, almost all the raw materials used by major coffee shops to make concentrates were coffee beans made from two or more production areas. At that time, merchants would not specifically emphasize which place they came from, nor would they pay too much attention to what formula (ratio) they used. At the same time, according to the mainstream taste of the time, coffee beans were usually roasted to a deeper degree, which not only ensured stable extraction, but also allowed Italian concentrate to easily carry beautiful coffee oil and mellow body.

In the 1980s, with the release of the concept of "boutique coffee", high-quality single-product beans that emphasized the flavor of the region jumped into the sky and became a "superstar" on the coffee stage, attracting the attention of roasters and baristas, and trying to discover more refined flavors.

According to Qianjie's understanding, single-piece coffee that emphasizes the flavor of the place of origin was initially extracted only in normal pressure forms such as hand flushing, siphon, and French press pot. However, at the 2007 World Barista Competition, contestant James Hoffmann made a single-piece coffee. The beans were made into espresso and won the crown. Immediately, SOE gradually became popular with the international competition stage and the wave of fine coffee.

Nowadays, in addition to more and more coffee shops adding SOE to the menu, we can also find "SOE" on major shopping platforms. Most of these coffee beans have very detailed flavor descriptions, including floral fragrance, fruit, tea feel, fermented wine taste, etc., with detailed information on the origin. It can be seen that SOE has become one of the indispensable products in the coffee market. Coupled with the assistance of major chain brands, single-product bean espresso has become deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

Why do I need to pay more for SOE? Where is it expensive?

There is no doubt about the definition of SOE, E = Espresso, but the explanation of Single Origin is somewhat ambiguous. In theory, coffee beans harvested in the same batch from a producing country, region, cooperative, manor or farm belong to a single origin coffee. For example, on the blackboard on the left side of the Front Street Bar, there are dozens of single-product coffee beans from different origins, all of which can be used as SOE coffee beans.

But unlike blending, in order to make SOE different from traditional "bitter coffee," merchants will give priority to single-item beans with higher popularity and more prominent flavor, especially coffee with light to medium baking degree. Because in this way, personalized flavors can be highlighted through concentration, such as Qianjie Yejia Shefei citrus acid, Qianjie Huakui berry tune, Qianjie honey processing rose summer sweetness, Qianjie Kenyan tomato aroma...

All in all, the more recognizable the coffee, the easier it will be for people to remember the characteristics of the SOE. From a cost point of view, the price of higher-quality single beans will be more expensive than that of a general combination, so naturally there will be extra money.

Why doesn't Qianjie produce SOE coffee?

Many friends think that SOE is nothing more than directly moving single-item beans to make espresso. There are so many single-item beans on Qianjie, why doesn't SOE coffee be provided?

In fact, it is not easy for baristas to ensure that the SOE is delicious while producing it stably. Unlike hand-brewed, Italian concentrate is a pressurized extraction, so it is easier to multiply the characteristics of coffee beans. SOE coffee is mostly lightly roasted. The texture of the beans is hard and requires a finer grind and longer extraction. Time, so if you are not careful, you will lead to over-extraction or insufficient extraction, and the coffee will be either bitter or sour.

I encountered this situation on Qianjie. I drank a very good Sidamo SOE Australian white in a coffee shop. After a while, I ordered the same coffee again, but it was not as delicious as the one I had before. After asking, I learned that the batch of beans had not been changed and the baking curve had not been changed. That means that the main reason was the extraction of Italian concentrated, which changed the final SOE Australian white.

In Qianjie's view, the stability of the product is very important, which is reflected in the adjustment parameters before opening the store every day and the stable extraction that day. If all the items on the Qianjie bean list are applied to SOE, not to mention whether the equipment can keep up, it will be a very cumbersome matter to find the corresponding parameters for concentration (grinding degree, powder-to-liquid ratio). Finally, we also need to customize SOE American, SOE Latte, SOE Dirty... for different flavors of coffee... It gives me a headache just thinking about it.