I had a lovely chat with the trainer from New Harvest Coffee today, and we had a small variance of opinion on this topic. From my understanding the bloom was to just let gasses off before the water can start to extract the coffee itself. This makes perfect sense when brewing a drip method, as you dont want the water to pass through without exctracting the coffee itself.
If this is the only reason to bloom, which is what I thought, then there shouldn't be any need to bloom for any full immersion brewing such as French press or clever, or other full immersion brewing. The coffee will off-gas, and start to extract when it is done off-gassing as it is still sitting in the water. Unless of course there is more to the bloom than just preventing the water from doing its thing in the ground coffee.
The woman I was speaking with spoke of different favors being enhanced depending on the bloom time - longer bloom bringing out fruity/lemony notes, shorter bloom bringing out earthy/spicy notes.
I have seen many recipes for clever and French press, and I have seen mixed results in what people say - some blooming some not. So is it necessary to bloom in a full immersion method of brewing? Thoughts?
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