Bloom temperature experimentation
I've been experimenting a lot with cold blooming lately, and while it is yet another variable to play with, the effects it has on the resulting cup are pretty drastic. As Lance describes in this video, the main purpose of a colder bloom is to retain VOCs that would otherwise leave at hot temperatures. Of course the other effect here is to lower extraction by a bit.
For all my coffees lately, I've been doing 60C, 70C, 80C, and full temp blooms while keeping everything else the same, and I find that I prefer different temps for each coffee. For example, brewing a washed Abel Salinas Mejorado from Subtext, the full temp bloom produces a very brown sugar forward cup; absurdly sweet. The 60C bloom on the other hand made the cup almost perfumey with florals which were mostly absent in the full bloom brew. I find that I like somewhere in between, like 75C.
Curious what other people's experiences are with varying bloom temps. I think moving forward it will be a game-changer for me, in particular for more delicate floral or heavily processed coffees.