When it comes to pour-over brewers there are hundreds of them! And I will not shy away from the fact that I own quite a few, and use them all on a regular basis.
Every brewer has a place and a purpose, and yet there comes a time when a brewer peaks my curiosity and proposes features that seem almost too good to be true. Such was the case with the ESPRO bloom brewer.
*full disclosure* this brewer was gifted to me from ESPRO. My pursuit with this review is offer my impressions after owning this brewer for the last while and to help you make an informed decision yourself if you feel the ESPRO bloom is right for you.
Right out of the box I noticed that this was not like many of the other pour-over brewers I have used. Firstly this is a metal pour-over brewer where most in this space are plastic or porcelain. Turn this flat-bottom brewer over and you’ll be quick to see the 1502 (but whose counting) precision cut holes in a spiral pattern. This system of micro-sized holes claims to give a quicker yet even flow-through during the brewing process.
The biggest claim that ESPRO makes is that their brewer will achieve incredible results in a 2-minute brew time. I was skeptical of this claim and yet after attempting a few different brew recipes I experienced some amazing results even with brew-times a slight bit under 2 minutes. I am still trying to wrap my mind around this, but I do like what I have experienced so far. In my brews I have seen great clarity and liveliness along with incredible flavour in the final brew that really did justice to the coffees I was using. After using this brewer almost each and every dayI found my average brew-time to be closer to 2:15. But as with any drip brewer adjusting for grind coarseness/fineness will help you to narrow down to that sweet spot.
Is this a perfect brewer? NO. There is no such thing as a perfect brewer, and the only small downside of this brewer you could say are its filters. ESPRO even claims you can use the brewer without filters but I have not done that yet. These filters can be difficult to separate from each other. If someone can manufacturer a device that could separate these without crushing them, I will invest. Having used a Kalita Wave with a very similar filter design I feel like I had a leg up in keeping these filters from caving in during the pre-wetting phase before I brewed my coffee. Starting from the bottom and slowly working your way up in concentric circles oftentimes was enough to keep the filters true-to-shape.
As has been remarked in other reviews as well this brewer will set you back $50+ CAD so while its certainly not cheap, the fact that it is metal will mean if you happen to knock it off your cup or carafe it wont shatter. If you like the sounds of this brewer you can easily pick one up in Canada through Eight Ounce Coffee. If you live in the USA, purchase direct form the ESPRO site.
A huge thanks to Kyle and the team from ESPRO for sending this over. But thanks to you for reading this review. Do you own an ESPRO bloom? What do you think? Feel free to leave a comment below.
If you own an ESPRO bloom or you end up picking one up here are a couple of recipes & reviews from some trusted friends in the coffee space that I think you should check out.
RECIPE – Vancouver Coffee Snob
350ml Water (97 degrees).
22g Coffee
Grind finer than you think will be needed. 7-8 on an Encore.
Pour 50g water onto the grinds and lightly swirl
After 30 seconds, pour as much water as will fit. It’ll be around 270g.
Keep the water level topped up until you hit 350g.
The whole thing should drain by the two-minute mark.
- Read a great review of the BLOOM brewer above!
25g: 400ml (Ode 1.2 setting)
210F Third Wave Water
Rinse filter thoroughly
0:00 bloom 50g in 0:10
0:35 circle pour 3x return to centre
1:00 (120g) circle 2x return to centre
1:30 (225g) circle 2x return to centre
2:10 (380g) pour around filter until 400g
2:30 done dripping
________________________________
Thanks so much for reading this! I hope it helps you brew some great coffee!
-Tyler
commonly coffee 