I have been using A Bodum for years and read many different articles as to the stirring of the “bloom”. Some state to stir vigorously while others state to not stir at all. I’ve tried both and found that a gentle stir works but I’m not getting a consistent quality brew.
Roger
No need to bloom per se, but give the full pot a quick NSEW stir at fill/the start of steep, to make sure everything is wet.
To me, the key factor of brewing a great pot of French Press (or any other kinds of immersion methods)is keep all the coffee under the water.
To achieve this, I always press a little bit down after I pour all the water in and get the filter settled.
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Thanks Simon. Need all the help I can get. I’ll try that method!
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I think this is more a matter of personal preference. That said, with French press I do a 30-second bloom without stirring, and then following this I add the remainder and give a stir to even the slurry. I let it sit undisturbed for the remaining time.
Thanks Adam. I’m going to try all the methods suggested so far. Yours sounds interesting because it works with my theory that the bloom shouldn’t be disturbed too much. On question: You allow a 30 second bloom and then add. The “initial” water that you add is half or less for the 30 second bloom?
thanks again
roger
If all the coffee is wet at the start of steep, there shouldn’t be any need to press the coffee down into the slurry. If you like the result when doing this, then great, but you can reduce silt in the cup by avoiding doing this. At the start of the steep a lot of the coffee is floating, when you press down with the plunger, you have already likely forcing particles through the mesh. The silt in the cup doesn’t solely come from the dregs in the pot, some of it comes from the surface layer too.
Of course, we may not aim for, or like the same thing from a French press brew (I tend to dislike anything more than a little fine dust in the last sips), so just offering an alternative.
Thanks for that Mark. I’ll give it a go. A question if I may: I’m getting mail from you guys because I asked a question on Barista Hustle. However, I can’t log into Barista Hustle after many attempts of renewing pw etc. I’ve even been accepted but when I attempt to log in. “There is no account for this email”? I’m waiting for a response form the controllers again, without success. I’m obviously in the system if I’m getting replies to my question. Any ideas on this?
roger
P.S. I’m a computer moron but can handle a few things.
It’s less on the bloom. For all my brew methods, I usually add about double the weight (or volume in the case of water) of the grounds. On brews I do a 17:1 ratio, so if I’m doing a 300mL [whatever], I grind up 17g of coffee. I double this number (17) and bloom using the result (34 g➡️mL) as my volume of water. This, by the way, is typically enough to cover the bed.
And now for something, completely different.
James Hoffman’s Ultimate French Press Technique, this actually works and quite well though not suitable for cafe setting.
Definitely, on pouring from the French Press Pot don’t “empty” it 
As always, with unfiltered coffee the clock is ticking so needs to be consumed sooner rather than later.
On immersions, I don’t bother blooming
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Hi Mark,
I agree!
But when I brew a fresh dark roast coffee(already degas for a week), even though I have stirred the grounds strongly at the beginning, the grounds were still degassing and getting out of the water.
And also, the strong stirring(strong enough to spin the whole slurry) rearranged the structure of the coffee bed, I can see lots of the fines have gone to the lower layer of the bed. This also help to reduce silt.
Say if we have to do the “press down” because of the freshness and darkness of coffee, then we better do it after a strong stir(like what you said in the first reply)?
I wouldn’t press the bed down with the plunger at any time, as grounds that should stay below the plunger, will then be above it. If the grounds are all wet at the start, then they should all sink quickly if you need to break the crust with a gentle stir, then leave a little while before skimming & installing the plunger & decanting.
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“Degassing” is probably another lesson for me. I don’t degass at all and have made some remarkable brews. Anybody experiment with fresh roast as compared to degassed?