Which coffee beans are suitable for making SOE? Why are lightly baked beans and deeply baked beans not suitable for espresso?

When Qianjie introduces the flavor of coffee beans to guests, it will learn a lot of related knowledge. From a coffee bean to the coffee we taste, we need to go through picking, drying, shelling, screening, roasting, and finally extraction. Every step will more or less affect the flavor performance of the coffee. Baking degree is one of the issues that many people are most concerned about. This article on Qianjie will briefly talk about the impact of roasting degree on coffee flavor.

The principle of roasting coffee beans

A coffee bean is composed of a large number of material components. After roasting at high temperatures, a series of chemical reactions will occur to form various flavor compounds. The proportion of flavor compounds directly affects the taste of the finished coffee. Among the factors that determine the taste of a cup of coffee, raw beans account for 60%, roasting accounts for 30%, and extraction accounts for 10%, so the importance of roasting is self-evident.

Maynard reaction and caramelization reaction mainly occur during the entire baking process. Maynard's reaction is the key to affecting the flavor and color of coffee beans. Sugars and amino acids react at high temperatures to form hundreds of flavor compounds, which are collected into the unique flavor of coffee beans. The caramelization reaction is the dehydration, degradation and browning of carbohydrates at high temperatures, which darken the color of coffee beans and release aromatic and acidic compounds.

The formation of aroma and color transformation of coffee beans are inseparable from the Mayna reaction and caramelization reaction. During the roasting process, there are three factors that determine the final flavor of coffee that must be properly controlled: sourness, sweetness and bitterness. Generally, the longer the total roasting time, the less sour taste will be left behind. On the contrary, the bitterness becomes stronger with time, so the deeper the coffee is roasted, the more bitter it will be.

How the degree of roasting affects coffee flavor

Traditionally, bakers have generally adopted mainstream deep roasting, which can highlight the mellow, burnt coffee taste and make it difficult to drink defective taste. With the introduction of the concept of fine coffee, everyone began to emphasize the unique flavor of the production area and advocated coffee with clean taste and obvious sweet and sour flavors. Therefore, lightly baked single beans have gradually become popular. The deepening of the baking degree promotes the caramelization of more substances, so a lighter baking degree will be used to retain more fruit acid and floral fragrance.

The roasting degrees of coffee beans commonly used on the market can be simply divided into three categories: light roasting, medium roasting and deep roasting.

Light baking: Rich fruit tonality, with sour and sour aroma of flowers and fruits, and strong acidity can be felt. The flavor descriptions are mostly floral, citrus, berry, peach, honey melon, tea, berry... such as Qianjie Guodin Cooperative coffee beans.

Moderately baked: Nutty tonality, but also fermented taste, mainly with the aroma of nuts, baked bread, cocoa, malt, preserved fruit, and fermented wine, such as Qianjie Paradise Bird coffee beans.

Deep baking: With a bit of bitterness of chocolate and caramel, low sourness, strong roasted nut flavor, spicy spices, wood and charcoal flavor, representing that the coffee beans are Qianjie PWN Golden Mantelin.

Perhaps many friends will think that coffee acid means light roasting and coffee bitter means deep roasting. In fact, from the perspective of coffee practitioners, it is not that simple. The choice of roasting degree requires understanding the flavor of the coffee producing area and demonstrating the unique taste of your own roasting in order to become a competitive product in the market. As a sales merchant, Qianjie bakers not only need to find the corresponding baking curve for each coffee bean, but also need to ensure that the quality of production is stable. Therefore, if you want to roast coffee well, you need to be familiar with the characteristics and baking principles of beans, and you need to constantly accumulate experience in order to more perfectly present the complex aroma of coffee beans.

What roasting degree of coffee beans is suitable for SOE

SOE stands for "Single Origin Espresso Single Origin Espresso", an Italian espresso made from a single coffee. The opposite is Italian espresso.

When we use blended coffee beans to make espresso, we mix coffee beans from different producing areas. As the degree of roasting deepens, the flavor and taste tend to be balanced and round, which is also more conducive to the stability of the extraction. For example, the recently quietly launched Qianjie Autumn Chestnut blend uses a new combination of Honduras and Papua New Guinea. Moderate roasting allows the espresso coffee to not only highlight the cocoa and spice flavors, as well as the sweet aroma of roasted nuts, but also retain a touch of soft acidity, and the overall tone is soft and delicate.

In order to present the flavor characteristics of the region (such as African flowers and fruits), the roaster will choose a lighter roasting degree to retain more acid and floral fragrance. These high-quality flavors expressed in the handbrew are extracted by the Italian machine. On the contrary, it amplifies various flavors and easily makes the espresso extremely exciting.

The roasting of all single-item coffees needs to take into account the unique regional flavor of the origin and the aroma of the coffee beans themselves. Just like Kenyan coffee needs to have a conspicuous berry acid, Blue Mountain coffee has sweet chocolate and caramel aroma, and Panama Rose Summer needs to make people drink the fragrance of orange and honey. Similarly, SOE also needs to express the highly recognizable flavor characteristics of the place of origin. The difference is that when these high-quality flavors expressed in hand brewed are replaced by Italian machine extraction, they will amplify various flavors and make espresso extremely exciting. Either the flavor is concealed or the aroma cannot be displayed, and the SOE becomes meaningless.

In order to show a unique style of SOE, in addition to testing the skills of the bakers, the extraction process also needs to accurately grasp various parameters. The lighter the roast coffee beans, the harder the texture is. When the extraction force is not enough, the espresso coffee will appear dull and tasteless, and when excessive extraction becomes strong and stimulating. If you want to find the right extraction rate, you need to adjust various extraction parameters, such as extraction time, water temperature, grinding degree, powder amount, extract weight, etc. Now you understand why SOE is not that simple.

Light roasting and deep roasting can easily present an unpleasant stimulating taste on espresso extract. Qianjie suggests that you can choose some moderately roasted coffee beans with easier flavors to present, which will not only enrich our cups. The taste of the coffee is also more conducive to the stability of the extraction. Here Qianjie recommends three flavor types for your reference:

1. Refresh-flavored coffee beans: Front Street Flower Kui SOE, Front Street Grana Rose Summer SOE, Front Street Red Cherry SOE;

At present, these beans are used to make espresso coffee on the street. The surface is less fat, but it will be delicate enough. The color is slightly light yellow and smells like berries. The sweet and sour citrus flavors are mixed with caramel flavors, and the aftertaste is clean. The hot milk after being added will give the taste of honey and nuts.

2. Strong fermented flavor coffee beans: Qianjie Xizhao, Qianjie Blackberries

Most of this kind of coffee uses honey treatment, anaerobic sun exposure, anaerobic water washing and other processes when raw beans, so that the coffee can further deepen its fruity aroma during fermentation. When flushed by hand, it will appear similar to raisins, fruit wine, honeydew melon, mango, and honey. The high-sweet flavor, extracted into SOE, shows a strong tropical fruit and a fermented taste.

3. Balanced and mellow coffee beans: Qianjie Queen Estate, Qianjie Paradise Bird

Because this type of coffee beans are moderately roasted, they not only highlight the caramel-like aroma, but also retain a certain sourness. The overall trend is to be a balanced expression of sweet, sour, bitter and sweet. When flushed by hand, it will have the sweetness of toast and nuts, the aftertaste of spices, and have a good mellow taste; when made into SOE, it will have the aroma of baked hazelnut and chocolate, and the sweetness of melon and sugarcane. When making lattes or Australian white, it is easy to highlight the smoothness of cream.

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FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou China, selling freshly roasted beans from its own farm in Yunnan as well as dozens of carefully selected single-origin beans from around the world for both pour-over and espresso. The products deliver consistently excellent quality and great value, with shipping within 24 hours. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers, and the beans are now available online at the Tmall 。

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473