In my own attempt to bloom coffee in an Aeropress, the result is, strangely, that it takes much longer to extract the coffee to 'full strength' if I bloom it, compared to not blooming it. If I bloom the coffee, then fill up with water and stir, the result is under-extracted unless I brew for longer. If I just fill up the water immediately and then stir, it takes much less long to brew to the same 'strength'. This is the opposite of what should be happening. But I am using light-to-medium roasted coffee, and this article notes that bloom and roast are interconnected, so perhaps this is normal? All I know is, coffee brewing seems to be much more an art than a science, regardless of how much you try to focus on the science. Dial it in to what tastes good to you, and that's all that matters.
Perhaps you're letting your water cool? If the water in the kettle cools, and the water in the grounds cools while you let it bloom, then when you combine them they'll have a lower strike temperature then if you were to introduce the water all at once.
Could this be a result of low-strength brew draining through during the bloom, which then has to be compensated for with a stronger brew for the rest of the cup? Or is the bloom being done upside down?
Any type of immersion brew benefits from immediate agitation in my experience, aeropress and french press (which gets aggressively swirled under my hot water tank while it's filling.) You can aggressively stir aeropress as well, you just need to manage it dripping from the bottom using more filters, finer grind, invert method, etc.
You still have to screw a lid on it, how is it any easier than simply screwing on a different lid? Or perhaps you meant “cheaper” instead of “easier”. :-)
I mean 90% of coffee brewing is meaningless rituals. Could you taste the difference between a burr grinder and a blade grinder in the resulting brew? Nope, but endless pages of debate exist on this, grain size distribution, quality of burrs. It has a strong resemblance to the audiophile community.
Of course you can detect the difference between a blade and a burr grinder: how much sludge is at the bottom of your cup?
That said, is it really meaningless if it gives you personal satisfaction and peace? Is it any different than any other routine or ritual, like going to church on Sunday?
I mean this is pretty easy to test without making unsubstantiated claims. I’ve done this. We have a range of grinders from $700 to $5000 and did an informal blind tasting. No one had tasted coffee from all grinders.
Guesses were revealed simultaneously. 100 percent hit rate.
Come on over and we can do just this in my half assed home espresso machine.
There will be a difference.
The process, roast and general quality of coffee matter.
Can one make magical claims about all of this. They sure do and charge an arm and a leg for it. But you can get a quality product an a consistent cup at a reasonable price if you shop around.
