<p>Blooming is the outgassing of CO2 (carbon dioxide) from the ground coffee in response to hot water being added.  The more recently the coffee has been roasted, the more bloom you can expect.  It doesn't make a huge difference ultimately if this is done quickly or slowly when you brew your coffee.  What I have noticed myself is that it's sometimes diffcult to predict how much foam is going to be produced when the water is poured over the grounds.  More than once I have misjudged the amount of bloom and made a foamy brown mess on my countertop.  If you just add enough water to wet the grounds first, you accomplish two things.  </p>

<p>First, all the coffee is wetted at nearly the same time which better controls how the flavors are extracted, since different flavor profiles extract at different rates.  Sometimes adding all the water at once creates lumps of dry coffee mixed in with the bloom and wetted coffee and it takes a bit of stirring to get all that wetted.  </p>

<p>Secondly, adding a small amount of water controls how quickly the bloom will occur. You'll get most of the bloom done well within the pot and you'll avoid the huge foam ball at the top of your brew that might overflow the pot (or AeroPress in my case), but really this is more of a technique thing than a chemistry thing.  </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-15T19:42:22.983Z
So for French Presses, the difference is closer to negligible? Considering the steeping time is much higher in French Press (according to most recipes), the little gap in time from an earlier bloom to a later bloom likely doesn't matter nearly as much as for AeroPress. Additionally, the bloom is less likely to overflow using a French Press properly, since you don't want the steel filter to sit in the coffee before plunging as it would separate the grounds and the water prematurely. (Or so I've been told.)
Poik
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-15T22:17:57.467Z
@Poik yes, that's correct.  Pour over methods would have the same considerations as the AeroPress because of the relatively smaller volume but for the French Press neither of my two points really are a significant consideration.
PJNoes
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-15T19:08:46.567Z
2015-04-15T19:08:46.567Z
PJNoes
<p>There is already a question on <a href="https://coffee.stackexchange.com/questions/337/what-is-coffee-bloom">What is coffee bloom</a> here, and one about <a href="https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/21482/when-making-french-press-coffee-what-is-the-purpose-of-blooming-the-grounds">why "blooming" the grounds is necessary</a> over on seasoned advice. A currently unanswered question here is <a href="https://coffee.stackexchange.com/questions/1683/does-the-bloom-matter-in-french-press">is blooming actually necessary in French Press</a>, which an answer to that may help answer this one.</p>

<p>A fair amount of instructions I've seen that refer to this step instruct you to stir after adding just enough water to get all the grounds wet. However, there are accounts of people getting the same effect just stirring after all the water is added (in non-drip styles of coffee).</p>

<p>Is there a significant difference between blooming with some water and blooming with all? I like being able to rinse off the stirrer with the rest of the water, but I'm curious nevertheless.</p>

<brewing-process><coffee-bloom>
When accounting for bloom, why is the common instruction to stir with very little water?
Poik
# When accounting for bloom, why is the common instruction to stir with very little water?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-04-13)

There is already a question on [What is coffee bloom](https://coffee.stackexchange.com/questions/337/what-is-coffee-bloom) here, and one about [why "blooming" the grounds is necessary](https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/21482/when-making-french-press-coffee-what-is-the-purpose-of-blooming-the-grounds) over on seasoned advice. A currently unanswered question here is [is blooming actually necessary in French Press](https://coffee.stackexchange.com/questions/1683/does-the-bloom-matter-in-french-press), which an answer to that may help answer this one.

A fair amount of instructions I've seen that refer to this step instruct you to stir after adding just enough water to get all the grounds wet. However, there are accounts of people getting the same effect just stirring after all the water is added (in non-drip styles of coffee).

Is there a significant difference between blooming with some water and blooming with all? I like being able to rinse off the stirrer with the rest of the water, but I'm curious nevertheless.

**Tags:** brewing-process, coffee-bloom


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-04-15. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

Blooming is the outgassing of CO2 (carbon dioxide) from the ground coffee in response to hot water being added. The more recently the coffee has been roasted, the more bloom you can expect. It doesn't make a huge difference ultimately if this is done quickly or slowly when you brew your coffee. What I have noticed myself is that it's sometimes diffcult to predict how much foam is going to be produced when the water is poured over the grounds. More than once I have misjudged the amount of bloom and made a foamy brown mess on my countertop. If you just add enough water to wet the grounds first, you accomplish two things.

First, all the coffee is wetted at nearly the same time which better controls how the flavors are extracted, since different flavor profiles extract at different rates. Sometimes adding all the water at once creates lumps of dry coffee mixed in with the bloom and wetted coffee and it takes a bit of stirring to get all that wetted.

Secondly, adding a small amount of water controls how quickly the bloom will occur. You'll get most of the bloom done well within the pot and you'll avoid the huge foam ball at the top of your brew that might overflow the pot (or AeroPress in my case), but really this is more of a technique thing than a chemistry thing.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: So for French Presses, the difference is closer to negligible? Considering the steeping time is much higher in French Press (according to most recipes), the little gap in time from an earlier bloom to a later bloom likely doesn't matter nearly as much as for AeroPress. Additionally, the bloom is less likely to overflow using a French Press properly, since you don't want the steel filter to sit in the coffee before plunging as it would separate the grounds and the water prematurely. (Or so I've been told.)  
> **username_1**: @username_0 yes, that's correct.  Pour over methods would have the same considerations as the AeroPress because of the relatively smaller volume but for the French Press neither of my two points really are a significant consideration.  

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