I like big blooms and I cannot lie

[Sam Schroeder]

So I have a couple of assumptions I want to straighten out. I was hoping people on this forum could help. This is partially a brewing question, but the train of thought eventually leads to resting coffees and ultimately espresso.



The fresher a coffee is the bigger the bloom. I believe this has to do with the release of co2 as the coffee rests. So my first assumption is, more gasses = larger bloom, less gasses = smaller bloom.


I have, over time, come to suspect that natural coffees have a larger bloom than washed coffees, and honeyed/pulped nat/semi-washed coffees fill the middle of the bloom size spectrum. Assumption two, natural coffee = larger bloom, washed coffee = smaller bloom.


Which brings us to assumption three, natural coffee = more gasses, washed coffee = less gasses.


Which in turn leads me to some things I have noticed...

We cup all of our production roasts same day as roast because it is logistically works. (we either cup all production roasts same day or we don't cup all production roasts).

Sometimes I notice that our natural coffees/pulped natural coffees are disappointing on the cupping table, and later turn out to be quite astounding. This happens in a dramatic way that seems to not happen to our washed coffees. Is this a result of more gasses in the coffee?

Also when it comes to resting coffee for espresso is there a different time frame for resting naturals than washed coffees?

I have many more questions when in comes to preparing espresso with natural vs washed coffees but first I'd like to tackle my assumptions. Any help is appreciated. If you can confirm or deny any of my assumptions that would be awesome. If you don't know definitively, but have noticed similar trends that would help as well.

[nick]

Which brings us to assumption three, natural coffee = more gasses, washed coffee = less gasses.

Bad assumption.

Well, not necessarily "bad," but the other possibility that you should consider that would yield the same visible results is: natural coffee = more readily expelled gases, washed coffee = less readily expelled gases. Bean density surely must be a relevant factor in this, as well as the effect of processing on the cell walls of the coffee bean.

[Sam Schroeder]

Nick,

Thanks for the response. Bad assumption, fair enough, it isn't safe to assume that natural coffees actually contain more gasses, that's fine. But first you agree that natural coffees bloom more than washed coffees? And that this has to do with gasses being expelled during the brewing process. So guess the question becomes do we rest coffee for espresso, (and cuppings for that matter) to decrease the over all gasses in the bean or the amount of readily expelled gasses in the bean? And if it is the latter would it be wise to rest a natural s.o. espresso longer than and washed one?