jang wrote:Allegro (the coffee producer) told me that organically produced coffee will start blooming after a number of days.
Can't tell you more than that, sorry.
Jan

Yeah, whoever told you that doesn't know what they are talking about. Blooming is simply what happens when you wet the coffee grounds and they release CO2. The bloom is largest closer to the date the beans were roasted, not further.

THX, will get back with them to clarify.
Best
Jan

Yeah, blooming happens during the brewing process, and is actually technically a good thing.

Really its not a pro or a con, its just something that happens.. however, it can be an indicator of fresh or stale coffee.

Doing pourover its very easy to see the bloom. You first wet the grounds in the center of the cone with roughly 30grams of water, and how much the cofee and water mixture expands, can be a sign of freshness. You'll see it in the french press as a thicker, expanded head of coffee grounds on top of the water, as opposed to the grounds not expanding and not lightening in color. All brew methods allow you to see the bloom happening.

When coffee gets stale, somewhere around the 10-15 day mark, depending on a number of factors, you will see the coffee bloom less and less, compared to day 2 or 3, when it blooms like crazy. Ive had family and friends call and complain to me that my coffee made their coffee maker explode all over the counter, which can happen if you use an automatic brewer and fresh roasted coffee, and are used to using months and months old Brand X coffee from the shelf.


http://ineedcoffee.com/wp-content/uploa ... ose-up.jpg
The older the coffee gets, the less pronounced this is. If you were to say, use starbucks or dunkin donuts coffee, the grounds and water mixture will barely turn a lighter color, let alone show any resemblance of expanding anything.

"All brew methods allow you to see the bloom happening."

It's tricky to tell with a moka pot. Or a percolator.

Hi guys:
My latest update from the coffee-aging front -
The riddle of short life of my Allegro/ Whole Foods ("WFM") beans seems to be solved:
It must have to do with WFM air roasting the beans. Apparently air roasted beans have the tendency to get brittle quicker than those being carefully and slow roasted on a roasting table.
How do I know?
I changed to a local roaster who not only has a careful method of roasting ( see above) but has an excellent espresso mix.

On a side note:
Don't make the mistake to ever contact Allegro,the bean producer, about anything that has to do with their coffees.
Their customer orientation is worth as much as the promises of a Socialist Greek government to get their household in order.

Cheers
Jan