Casually browsing through YouTube during lunch time and I come across an interesting video by Tales Coffee. To summarize - Vincent, head roaster, ecstatic probably full of energy and caffeine, set out to brew coffee on a V60 with a cold water bloom.

Similarly, Dragoslav from ROR Coffee Roastery brewed on a Melitta pour over in the same manner except presoaking the grounds in cold water first. Yes, there was no bloom on this. You can read about this and my visit to ROR Coffee Roastery earlier this year.

Vincent claims that when you brew with really high water temperature, you extract more bitterness from the coffee also resulting in a dry aftertaste. The idea is simple, cold water for the bloom will protect your grind, followed by hot water to result in a much sweeter cup.

Vincent’s recipe

Coffee: 20g
Water: 300g, 75g cold and 225g hot
Temperature: Room temperature water for the bloom and 95 Degrees C for the hot water
Grind: Medium
Ratio: 1:15
Total Brew Time: 2:30

• Pour 75g of water for the bloom. Vincent proceeded to do a quick stir, but i swirled instead. Bloom for 20 seconds.

• Pour the rest of the 225 pour. I did a slow pour and swirled instead of stirring.

The coffee I’m using is the Blake: Black Blend from Hasbean. Shout out to Maja from Space Cup for letting me try some. This is an espresso blend but she wanted me to brew on the V60 just to have an idea.

My thoughts on this coffee using the regular V60 method: it was bitter when hot but you have that malic Apple sweetness as it cooled down with some darker nutty notes. I understand this coffee is primarily meant for espresso but in order to experiment on medium to darker roasts, I had to choose this.

Cold water extraction on coffee reaps different results. The color of the resulting brew using the cold bloom was a little lighter, almost reddish Orange. Reminded me of the time when Dragaslav brewed the Brazil as well. The resulting brew itself was at a drinkable temperature right off the bat.

Initial impressions of the taste: dark cherry sweetness with very little acidity and lacking complexity. No bitterness, no dry aftertaste, and very light body as if I had used a higher ratio of coffee:water. Fun video to watch and even more fun to try it out at home. Test it out for yourself and let me know in the comments what you think of this technique.