Last Updated on February 3, 2023 by Pinpoint 250
Would you like to successfully bloom coffee? In this post, you’ll find the difference between a cup with a good bloom and one with a so-so bloom.
Blooming is the common practice of pre-wetting pour-overs with a tiny quantity of “brew water.” (*see glossary at the bottom of this post)
The term comes from how the coffee looks to expand, similar to a flower blooming.
The “bloom” is the stage of the coffee brewing process in which the coffee’s gases are released when the water strikes the grinds and causes the coffee grounds to expand and elevate.
The CO2 within the ground coffee is expelled and replaced with water, kicking off the brewing/extraction process.
Which Is the best moment for the bean’s gases to be released?
If you don’t see the bloom when you prepare your coffee, it’s most likely because the *”de-gassing” has already happened, and the taste chemicals inside the beans have degraded.
As a result, the tastes will be less pronounced in your cup.
In most cases, this occurs for two reasons:
Your coffee needs to be updated or stale. The oxidation had already occurred because the package was not sealed properly.
But it’s important to remember that how coffee is roast affects how much it blooms, so the bloom isn’t a perfect way to tell if coffee is fresh.
Most of the time, darker roasts will bloom more than lighter roasts because the longer roasting process makes more CO2.
No matter what, coffee roasters put the coffee in a valve bag to keep the bean’s flavor compounds from getting oxidized and losing their quality while still letting the degassing process continue.
It’s for the same reason we recommend using freshly ground coffee.
To get the most intense aroma, you should reduce the time between grinding and brewing—the less time, the better.
Place The grinder near or on your brewing area. And the process should include grinding and leveling the coffee bed as the last steps before pouring.
Because, after grinding, the coffee grounds start oxidizing considerably quicker than whole beans.
The Bloom Is a Fascinating Chemical Event
Watching the blooming is a fascinating chemical event and an essential brewing element.
The amount of time allowed for the coffee to bloom significantly impacts the fragrances and flavors of the cup you brew.
The brewing process is the most acidic. So if your coffee is too bitter or sour; it is because the bloom period, was longer than it should have been.
Viewing that bloom reminds us of the sweet, delightful, and heavenly drink we start our day with.
That tells us the coffee is fresh and that some of the bean’s most intriguing properties are being extracted.
Blooming is more noticeable in coffee roasts that are fresher and darker. And have less time to de-gas or have more roasting gas in them.
Most baristas add some water to the grinds. Two to three times the weight of their dosage for the bloom.
If you use less than double the quantity of water; you will need help to wet all the grinds. And avoid having a few dry clumps within the coffee bed.
If you use more than three times the weight of the ground material, the extraction procedures will go considerably quicker.
Extraction
Extraction is a byproduct of *”diffusion” and flow; thus, more water means more of both.
As the water starts to cover and soak the coffee grounds, roasting gases begin to bubble, making it look like the grounds are getting bigger.
Blooming is not necessary to make excellent coffee. However, it helps that all grinds are wet with a bit of water.
A significant amount of extraction happens instantly at the surface of the grinds while brewing coffee.
This is called *surface extraction. During the blooming period, internal extraction of the grinds isn’t likely to get very far, but surface extraction starts as soon as the hot water hits the coffee.
As a result, it is critical to bloom your coffee consistently.
The number of stirs with your spoon or spatula should be regulated when folding in ground particles.
We propose stirring the coffee from various directions, starting with the north, south, east, and west.
Then northeast, southwest, northwest, and finally southeast.
Fewer stirs are good if the goal is to soak all the grinds evenly.
If you finish brewing your coffee without seeing bubbles form and pop at the end, you have successfully bloomed your coffee. This means that a dry area of coffee grinds was drenched with water.
These grinds have been extracted less than the rest of the coffee bed, making brewing less effective. They will be able to catch up once all of the brewing water has gone through the coffee bed.
The Second Pour Following Bloom
Leveling is a notion that applies to both the dry grinds and the coffee bed during “tthe brew cycle.”
You have to do brewing in a way that keeps the coffee bed level throughout the process.
After your coffee blooms, the following water will have the same effect as *”breaking the crust” in a cupping bowl.
When using pour-over, you will see significant movement in the grinds as the bubbles in the bloom begin to burst when the second pour is poured into the bloom.
You should pour at an unusually rapid flow rate to burst all the bubbles during this period.
This method generates a lot of agitation, penetrating deep into the coffee bed.
This may be an efficient method of accessing the area near the tip of the filter cone, which is notoriously tricky to de-gas.
But forceful pouring must be done the same way every time, just like everything else about pour-over.
*”Cuppers” often pour all of the water into the coffee when cupping. This makes a crust of floating coffee grounds and air bubbles at the top of the cupping bowl.
After about 4 minutes, the cupper slides a spoon into the grinds, breaking most of the larger bubbles and letting the rest of the roasting gas escape. This makes the grinds sink because they no longer have any gas.
To limit your flow rate during the second pour, we recommend setting a weight objective to reach after a particular period. Consider making a 1-cup brew with 15 g of coffee and 50 g of bloom water. If the blooming process took 30 seconds, you might expect to reach 250 g by the 50-second point with your second pour. You would then add 10 ml every second until you got your goal weight.
Glossary
Breaking the crust The cupping method’s agitation ensures that all the grinds are submerged beneath the surface of the brewing water and grinds slurry.
The brew cycle is the time it takes for water to pass through the coffee bed.
Brew water The quantity of water required to remove coffee grounds.
De-gas The outgassing of roasting gases from inside the cells of the roasted coffee beans. This process rapidly accelerates after the coffee cell structure is broken open through grinding.
Internal extraction The dissolving of soluble material from the insides of the coffee grinds as distinct from the exposed surface.
Surface extraction is extraction that occurs on the grinds’ outer surface.
Diffusion is the movement of molecules from an area of high concentration to a place of low concentration—the equal spreading out of a substance.
Cuppers Professional coffee tasters
