Skimming off the coffee "bloom" when using a French press.....

[grndslm]

Saw this awesome guide and posted it on the forum... but I'd like to ask how many others do this (#6), and if they know WHY this is done ---

http://www.coffeeforums.com/forum/coffee-table/10368-ultimate-guide-coffee.html

My favorite way to make coffee: (based on world-class Barista technique)

1. Get a fresh batch of your favorite coffee in its whole bean form, i.e. not ground yet
2. Grind it yourself using a high-quality conical burr grinder
3. Combine 70g of grounds of your coffee per liter of filtered water into a quality French Press
4. After combining the water and coffee, use a chopstick to briefly whisk them together. Nothing extreme, a few good swipes. Just make sure full uniform contact is made.
5. Brew for four (4) minutes with no lid on the press. You'll notice a "bloom" forming.
6. At the four minute mark, skim the bloom off with a spoon, trying to get as much as possible, but not stressing it too much
7. Put the lid on and pour.

Do these floating pieces of coffee have excessive amounts of nitrogen that you don't want sitting at the bottom of the press for too long??Why shouldn't I just force them to stay down, or plunge them or whatever??

 

[Mr Shave]

On the Intelli French Press brew guide
they say
"10 seconds before your brew is finished, break the crust and skim off the remaining floating grounds and bloom
with the spoon. This will allow an easier ‘press’ and will
yield a cleaner cup"

http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/sites/default/files/brew_guides/french_press.pdf
and might as well link
Brew Methods ? Home

If serving immediately and doing a 12 oz french press I don't notice a difference. When doing a 46 oz press I find it much easier to push screen down.

 

[grndslm]

Ahh... I've watched this video now and see that the "bloom" refers to the foam...

Advanced Press Pot Techniques for Coffee - YouTube

Here's one comment that seems full of good info...

MicroSSG 3 years ago

With freshly roasted coffee, you will want to only use enough water initially to saturate the grounds. The purpose for this is that freshly roasted coffee needs to off gas. You don't want to taste the nitrogen in your cup. Once the bloom has completed and prior to the crust solidifying, add the remainder of the water, light stirring as needed while filling. Let stand to finish extracting. BTW, you can tell how fresh the beans are by the size of the bloom.

BeanGuru

Soo... I guess the ultimate purpose is to remove the foam, which is probably nitrogen that won't add the best flavor.

Removing the floating beans will likely just make pluging easier, and it might actually make the cup cleaner by not getting an excessive amount around the edges that let smaller grinds thru.

I guess if you're gonna remove the bloom, you might as well remove the floating beans as well. At first, I thought they were the same. But now I see.

Level 1 Coffee Master ACHIEVED!!

 

[grndslm]

I'm also assuming from the BeanGuru's comment....

That MORE bloom means fresher coffee, right???

My beans are probly not the freshest in that case.

 

[Bill Laine]

Regarding step 4: Wouldn't "stir" have sufficed?

 

[CoffeeJunky]

I just followed the step and made my cup of coffee.... its good but I didn't see my difference in taste. I have used little less coffee(I like my coffee little mild) 1 liter or water.
I did follow the step precisely. My beans(I roast my own beans) gave out tons of bloom. I normally do not remove bloom but wait enough time and lightly stir my coffee on my French Press.

Just finish my last sip.... hmmmmm.... Need another...

Cheers..