Dispose of bloom water??

#1: Post by **Tomtg** » April 5th, 2015, 9:10 pm

I just saw a video on youtube from Demitasse coffee and they advised discarding the bloom water (with a Kalita Wave as their model dripper).

Does anyone else discard the bloom water before doing the rest of the brewing? I had never heard of that before.

Any thoughts?

#2: Post by **wsfarrell** » April 5th, 2015, 9:44 pm

If this is the same video I'm thinking of, the barista mentioned "carbonic acid" as a reason to discard the bloom water. Yikes! Reminds me of the dihydrogen monoxide hoax. I tried tasting my bloom water a couple times afterwards and it tasted wonderful.

#3: Post by **TomC** » April 5th, 2015, 9:46 pm

Outside of trying it yourself and deciding if it improves the cup subjectively, I'd be inclined to take it with a grain of salt.

I think some people confuse complexity with mastery. Or, that piling up more of the first means greater proof of the later. The very first phase of the bloom is mostly outgassing/pre-wetting and I imagine the extraction would be quite low, but does it really mean a hell of beans in the end? Try it for yourself and decide. I did it a few times and couldn't tell much a difference, so I think it might be a bit of posturing if you ask me.

#4: Post by **TomC** » April 5th, 2015, 9:48 pm

But I'll add that it's also a bit challenging to decide at what point you'd consider your "bloom water" over and actual extracted beverage beginning. The extraction happens very quickly and tossing out coffee is just wasteful and stupid.

#5: Post by **day** » April 5th, 2015, 10:02 pm

I considered this myself recently, before looking it up I tasted the bloom water...nothing particularly striking about it. I think part of the reason is that the water htat makes it through makes it through very quickly...thats the whole reason in doing the bloom in the first place right? Therefore, by virtue o the process itself, it seems that the water finding its way in the cup during a reasonable bloom period would be inconsequential, of little to no flavor, and slightly water down the overall cup if affecting flavor at all. Not really worth it to me, as its not pure water and is very little of it, im too focused on time, temp management and weight... but maybe one day

#6: Post by **Bob_McBob** » April 5th, 2015, 10:40 pm

Pour out first drips of coffee brew?

another_jim wrote:It used to be standard technique in 1950s and 1960s espresso with highly fermented naturals or super rubbery robustas. I've tried it with very ferocious tasting good coffees for espresso; but there are better techniques for taming these (lower dose, finer grind). As far as I know, it was never used for pour overs.

I'm guessing they are improvising with a coffee that is creating difficulties for them. The current fashion of underroasted coffees, often tainted by very cutting and bitter tasting chlorogenic acids, may be the cause. These acids extract quickly, just like the fermented and rubbery funk in cheap coffees; so getting rid of the first flush, like when brewing green tea, may work to improve the cup.

April 5th, 2015, 11:15 pm

Thanks all!

I might try it sometime. I figured it might be just a personal taste thing since I had not heard it before.

April 5th, 2015, 11:17 pm

day wrote:I considered this myself recently, before looking it up I tasted the bloom water...nothing particularly striking about it. I think part of the reason is that the water htat makes it through makes it through very quickly...thats the whole reason in doing the bloom in the first place right? Therefore, by virtue o the process itself, it seems that the water finding its way in the cup during a reasonable bloom period would be inconsequential, of little to no flavor, and slightly water down the overall cup if affecting flavor at all. Not really worth it to me, as its not pure water and is very little of it, im too focused on time, temp management and weight... but maybe one day

Yeah that is how I feel. I am too focused on just figuring out what type of beans I lean towards. Country, roaster etc.

#9: Post by **frank828** » April 5th, 2015, 11:28 pm

fyi, i dont think they(santa monica shop where kalita's are being used) are doing this in service anymore.

we have though played with discarding of the initial bloom water in different brewing methods. personally, i dont do it(along with the downtown location where clevers and siphons are primarily utilized).

#10: Post by **Eastsideloco** » April 6th, 2015, 12:37 pm

I'm also dubious.

Generally speaking, you're not supposed to have a meaningful amount of water exiting the bed of grounds during the bloom. Most guidelines seem to recommend blooming with twice the mass of water as ground coffee, or a 2:1 ratio. So if you have 20-gram dose, you'd bloom with 40 grams of water. If you apply that water with some degree of attention, the bed of grounds will retain virtually all of the water. In fact, I've always understood that to be the goal of a well-executed bloom.

There are definitely occasions when I intentionally use a higher ratio of bloom water. But if you adhere to the conventional bloom water-to-coffee ratio (2:1), you shouldn't really have any liquid in the cup of which to dispose. Maybe a few drops, but nothing significant.