Espro

B1 Bloom Stainless Steel 18-Oz. Pour Over Coffee Brewer

Before I start: I am an Espro fan. I LOVE the company, their support, and their product design. In general. I've had the Bloom since it was first crowd-funded: It goes in and out of service in my brewing tool rotation, so it has about 30 cups. I like the single cup design - where I do not need to worry about a carafe - and the flavor from an unfiltered Bloom brew. So why only a few brews in well over a year? Mostly it is the fault of the filters. In broad strokes I've yet to find a paper filter I like unless it is boiled first; however, the Bloom really needs the pleated paper to allow proper water flow through the grounds. (The Bloom can make a pour-over without a filter, but see my *paragraph below) My nose detects a pleasant perfume-like scent when pouring hot water over a first-use filter which has a noticeable unwanted impact on the flavor of the coffee (for me). However, one reduces or loses the pleats when flushing the filter with boiling water. (The attached photo shows what happens to the filter if flushed in the cone with hot water before the brew.) Added to that, reusing a filter is ... problematic ... if you believe, as I do, that the pleats are important; therefore you are adding 34¢ to the cost of each cup of coffee when using the filter. *Why not simply enjoy a flavorful but muddy unfiltered Bloom brew? The only two scientific studies I have found on the health impacts from unfiltered coffee have strong indications of increased cholesterol in subjects drinking unfiltered coffee. This is not to say coffee has cholesterol but, rather, to say particles or oils in coffee affect the body's handling of cholesterol. Other notes: Espro claims the metal design retains heat but I feel I am losing heat because of the radiator effect from the metal. (Lessened if using a filter) I would be more sympathetic to Espro's argument if the conical area of the filter were ceramic and only the perforated area metal. Summarizing: Great company but the Bloom needs tweaking. Am I making too much of only one aspect? Perhaps, but this is my impression and why the Bloom only gets a limited recommendation from me.

Would appreciate more thorough instructions. Get the basics, but what do the double and single dots signify? What should the pour over volume/rate be? Not getting a rich tasting pour with this.

Love pour over coffee and our new Bloom is amazing—lightweight, easy to clean, easy to pack when traveling and most importantly it makes an outstanding cup of coffee. We have been using filters and haven’t used without one yet. Shipping was fast and I know this will last (and not break like our old plastic and ceramic models from Starbucks)

Durable, and functional product, would definitely recommend!

3 star for its brew. 5 star for its function and design. It brews coffee well and fast but doesn't live up to its sales pitch of a minute brew. I have been brewing daily for 3-4 weeks now with it and I tend to get under extracted brews at the 2 minute range. In order to get a well balanced extraction you have to go finer and that increases brew time. Ends up close to 3 minutes. As a third wave coffeeshop owner I was hoping to buy more of these to increase speed but with the outcome it seems to be a delicate trade off.

I have been using espro bloom for around two weeks with two different coffees. One that usually has a flow rate higher than my preference on my conical brewer and usually requires some adjustment to my recipe, and the other one slower. Both coffee are consistently good on the Bloom after tuning the parameters, and it is very easy to make good coffee with it. It is a very consistent brewer. I also find the design helps quite a bit with extraction from coffee grounds that would otherwise be under-extracted in other flat-based brewers given the same adjustments of parameters, and that allows fun experimentation with different brewing recipes. One nitpick is that the filter papers needs some care extra care to handle, but now that I get used to the daily routine, I am loving it. And the option to go filter-paper-less is great too, since finally I can try the rao spin on a flat base brewer in which water can't escape at the sides. It is clearly a product that caries the designers' thoughts and love, and one can sort of understand what directions they are thinking about coffee brewing by looking at the details of the design. Overall, a very capable and versatile, but more importantly, thoughtful brewer.

I am really enjoying the cup I am getting brewing out of the espro!! Super clean and sweet in less that 2:30 minutes... took a few tries to dial in.. but seriously my favorite brewer hands down! Medium fine grind. Saw a video scott Rao did on his IG. Legit, don’t sleep!!

Brews perfect coffee, simple, easy clean up, quality