What is Coffee Bloom?

This is an important, easy, and not so widely known technique you can use for your home coffee brewing.

It only takes an additional 30 seconds and makes a difference in how your coffee tastes, giving it a smoother and clearer essence.

The bloom works for any coffee brewing method where the coffee is steeped in water using a filter, including automatic drip machines, pour over, French press, AeroPress, and others.

I highly recommend doing it for all of these.

Here is how to do the bloom and what it does for your coffee.

How To Bloom Your Coffee

When you brew your coffee, instead of pouring all the water over the coffee grounds, pour just enough water so that it’s barely covering your grounds.

In fact, not all the coffee grounds need to be covered with water.

Just let them lightly soak like this, waiting 30 seconds.

Don’t stir them or anything, just let them sit. You should see bubbles coming from the semi-wet coffee grounds. That’s the sign it’s blooming.

After 30 seconds pour the rest of your hot water over the grounds just like you would normally to make your coffee.

That’s all there is to it! It’s just one small extra step that makes a taste difference almost anyone will notice.

For automatic drip coffee makers, it’s just a little more tricky. If you have a water heater or kettle, just heat the water using that and bloom your coffee just before you push the start button.

If you don’t have a kettle, you could also heat about 4 oz of water in the microwave, and use that to bloom your coffee before the machine brews it.

But, you should bloom the coffee right before you start the coffee maker, keeping in mind that it will take a bit for the coffee maker to heat the water and start brewing.

You want to bloom coffee for about 30 seconds generally, but if it blooms for longer when you use an automatic drip maker, that’s perfectly fine. But it shouldn’t be longer than 90 seconds.

Degassing The Coffee

What the bloom does is it takes carbon dioxide out of the coffee quickly, rather than letting it get steeped in with your coffee.

There is a fast release of gas – carbon dioxide – that occurs the moment hot water comes into contact with coffee.

But the thing about blooming the coffee is that it is most effective the sooner after the coffee has been roasted.

In other words, the more fresh the coffee is from the roaster, the more effective it will be.

This doesn’t mean that if your coffee is a few weeks old, or older, that you shouldn’t do it. It’s a good idea to always do this with your coffee. Unless you’re drinking coffee that’s like, a year old.

In that case, please… just don’t even make the coffee!

A Smoother Taste

I really noticed a difference in how the coffee tastes after I started practicing blooming.

It does produce a smoother, clearer cup of coffee. The carbon dioxide makes for more of a sour taste in coffee. So when you let it bloom, it takes some of that edge off as the gasses leave.

You’ll maybe notice that your coffee is more “drinkable”, or easier on the palate.

I don’t always believe everything I hear about coffee, but after practicing blooming it really made a difference in my coffee, so I always do it now.

It’s not only a simple technique, but it gives you an edge in your coffee brewing and in your knowledge of coffee.

The flavor notes of your coffee will shine through more when you let it bloom.

Is Your Coffee In Bloom?

I’m not sure why exactly it’s called the bloom.

It may be because bubbles and gasses are released. It may be just a fancy, better sounding name for degassing.

Although sometimes with pour over, if you have a good quality coffee, the coffee will actually rise a little similar to how dough rises! It’s really cool to see.

But either way, the flavor of your coffee comes more alive when you bloom it.

So now we know, blooming isn’t just for flowers.

It makes your coffee flavor just as beautiful.

If this isn’t something you do when you make coffee with the methods mentioned above, give it a try and I’m almost sure you’ll notice a difference with it that will make you want to keep practicing this amazing, simple technique!

On the other hand, here’s an article from an Instagram friend of mine named KP who talks about his scientific testing of coffee bloom and if it chemically makes a difference… it’s an interesting read for sure!

You can take it with a grain of salt either way, but if you haven’t tried it, give it a go and see what you think!

So here’s the question, if you tried blooming or already do it, do you notice a difference?

I hope this article was helpful to you. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them below, and I’ll be happy to hear from you. Coffee cheers!