Cold Brewer

This is a really great coffee maker, I just add coffee and water and then set it to forget it. The next morning I have coffee. I chose this because of the simplicity. I am not a coffee drinker, I drink coffee for the energy not for the enjoyment. I see that some people say that the coffee is weak tasting despite adding a ton of grounds and waiting for more than the recommended time. This may happen when not all the coffee grounds are saturated, I use a chopstick to stir the grounds around to make sure that every ground is touched by the water. If you just add the water in quickly, some grounds in the center or bottom will become packed and never touch water at all. Some people are getting a sludge at the bottom of their coffee. The recommendation is to use coarse ground. At that point if you're still getting sludge I recommend to add the grounds to the mesh strainer and then shake it over the sink. That way you are forcing the grounds that are fine enough to pass through the strainer to pass through before you even start the brewing process. I can't speak for the taste, whether it's weak, strong, acidic or bitter, i have no idea. I think that all coffee tastes bad, I add a ton of milk to the point where I don't notice the coffee. I don't know why people are saying that it's easy to clean. Because I spend a quite a few minutes running water on the outside of the strainer to get the remaining coffee grounds out. That might be due to me using pre ground coffee and they're smaller, so easier to get stuck inside the strainer? But honestly that's not even a deal breaker. The design is so sleek and simple and I hate burning hot coffee that I just can't imagine having any other coffee maker. I just tried it with actual beans that I ground myself instead of the dunkin donuts preground coffee. The taste is immaculate. Well not really, I still don't enjoy coffee all that much. But the less acidic taste is definitely apparent, went down smoothly. Definitely buy your own beans to grind or at least buy some higher quality preground coffee, not dunkin donuts.

This is the best cold brew coffee maker. It is incredibly well designed. Many great features that make it stand out from others. The silicone rim on the bottom is a nice touch- no dinging it on the counter top or sliding around. There are two lids- one for brewing and one for storing. The cylinder for the grounds is all metal- zero plastic. The rim/seals are all silicone for a tight, durable, leak-free fit. It’s the perfect size for the fridge and the glass is top quality. It pours well without dripping. Easy to clean with a brush. I liked it so much, I bought a second for a friend. She also raved about how great it was.

Very rarely do I indulge myself, but in this case I did and I am so glad that I did! I love the iced coffee from outside vendors, but have never been able to make it at home. I thought about buying an “at home” maker, but just never wanted to spend the money. Happened onto this one on Amazon Prime Day and figured for the excellent price on it, I would try it! It is so easy to use - very easy to clean, and makes excellent coffee! I did cut back a little on the coffee that it recommended… It recommended 8 tablespoons for the 32 ounce markings on the pot. I do not like my coffee strong, at all, so after the first pot, I cut back to 7 tablespoons. I add some of the flavored liquid coffee creamers to each cup as I serve it and the taste not only equals pricey iced coffees that I have bought in various coffee shops - it exceeds it! AND is much more economical!! I normally brew mine at room temperature, but then store it in the refrigerator. They say it will keep several days in the refrigerator, but I enjoy mine so much it never lasts more than a couple of days! I love it, and would buy it again!

First of all, this brewer does make amazing cold brew, it is intuitive to use, and surprisingly easy to clean. However, I’ve now gone through the entire brewing process 3 times and without fail there is an astonishing amount of coffee grounds that have seeped out of the filter into the coffee. I’ve set up a system involving a strainer and coffee filters (have to use about 7-8 filters for each carafe of coffee, and takes about 25 minutes to pour ½-1 cup of coffee into a filter and wait for each pour to filter through). The photos show the remaining grounds from the last cup or cup and a half from the brewer. It doesn’t seem like too many others are having this same issue, so I may need to trouble shoot with different brands of coffee grounds to see if this issue improves, but the grounds I’m currently using are sold as course grounds so I’m not sure if that’s even the cause. All in all, having to filter the coffee after brewing is kind of a tedious process, but the results are worth it and I’m definitely saving money by making my own cold brew.

I started to feel ripped off spending $4+ every morning for a basic cold brew that was mostly ice at the cafe I frequent, so I bought this a few months ago to see if I could get a brew just as good at home and it did not disappoint! I feel like it paid for itself in a week and was 110% worth the investment! I use coarse grounds specifically meant for cold brew and a little bit of ground does leak through the filter but I don't find it bothersome at all. The particles are so fine that I usually drink them all up. It's not like sipping on sand or anything. I brew about two pots a week and use a little more than half a cup of grounds each time (about 9-10 tbsp) It's been two months and I haven't used a whole pound of coffee grounds yet, so I estimate $12.99 gets me roughly 50+ cups of coffee! The pot is an investment, but if I get tired of cold brew I figure I can brew tea or fruit infused water or whatever trendy brew comes around next. I brew in the fridge for 48 hours before removing the filter, though usually I steal a cup after 24 hours and just refill the water and put it back in the fridge. I also fill it alllll the way to the top, not just to the 32 ounce line. It doesn't make a concentrate, but it does make a strong brew that I drink black, just poured over ice. I find it extremely easy to clean, except the filter. I don't bother putting any of it in the dishwasher, just give it a quick hand wash and then brew again. I would have liked the filter to have holes to the bottom because it would make it easier to clean but overall I do really love that there's virtually no waste, no paper filters, no k-cups, nothing, so I try to focus on that while I'm smacking the filter over the sink, trying to get the bottom layer of grounds out! All in all, I'd buy this again in a heartbeat.

I love this little cold brew coffee maker. Easy to use.

Pros: The product is very well made, albeit with one design flaw (see cons below). It's very simple to use and clean. The filter works well and there was no sediment to remove with a second round of filtering. Cons: First a bit of background info. You should weigh your coffee. Don't use volume measurements like tablespoons of whole beans or ground beans. It only take a minute to do this. Yes, it can work but if you want consistency across bean types buy a cheap scale and weigh it. Water is 1000 grams per liter so it's easy to figure the ratio of water (in grams) to coffee in grams. There are a variety of water to coffee ratios to make cold brew. I've seen recipes using 1:1, 4:1, 7:1 (one of the more common ones), up to the range of 10-12.5 : 1. The small ratio of 1:1 makes a VERY strong potion that needs to be diluted. Roughly speaking ratios of 1:1 to 7:1 or 8:1 require some diluting. After that it's a matter of taste. The higher ratios of 10:1 to 12:5 are definitely ready to drink without adding extra liquid. If you plan on serving the coffee over ice and adding some milk you probably want to move down to the 7:1 to 10:1 range. Again taste will dictate how strong you want the coffee so take this with a grain of salt. I've experimenting with each of the 10 batches I have made over the past 4 weeks and I've gone down from 12.5:1 down to 9:1. Given my guidelines above for how much coffee to use I found that when I starting lowering the water to coffee ratio that for the given amount of water the coffee was too high in the canister and a portion of the coffee in the tube was not immersed in the water. Yes, the grounds got wet when I poured coffee in but after that it would seem like they were not really part of the brew process. When I attempted to use a 9:1 ratio with 1 liter of water and 110 grams of coffee the coffee barely fit in the tube and the water level was approximately 2 inches below the highest level of coffee in the tube. Of course I didn't expect this and should have tried to see how much coffee would fit in a dry canister but I started with a wet canister so it was too later to fix itsa. I added 100ml more water but there was still coffee not immersed. I could have tried making only 3/4 of a liter but I think the same issue will occur as far as water reaching all the coffee, but it would solve the issue of the coffee overflowing in the filter canister. In the first brews I started with a higher ratio of 12:1 and noticed that a little bit of coffee was not full under water. As I began increasing the strength (lowering the ratio) I observed that more and more coffee was not under water and when I jumped from from a ratio of 11:1 to 9:1 it was significant enough to realize that this is not getting the full benefit of the cold brew method. I can think of one solution, which would be to make a max of 3/4 of a liter AND find some solid object that doesn't float to put inside the glass container that does not add any flavor but will displace the liquid to be at or above the level of coffee in the canister. The other limitation is that for the ground size I used (very coarse, coarsest grind on the Bartaza virtuoso) the 110grams of ground coffee for a 9:1 ratio with 1 liter of water barely fits in the canister. Therefore I would have to make maybe 3/4 of a liter maximum at a time instead of a full liter. If I wanted stronger coffee then further adjustments would be needed because the tube simply isn't big enough to hold enough coffee unless you keep reducing the total amount of coffee you want. Or I could use a slightly less coarse grind to reduce the coffee volume but I thought a coarse grind was supposed to be used for cold brew and this adds a new variable that I'm not ready to experiment with yet. So I'm going to find something solid to put in the bottom of the glass container that will push the water level higher as my first attempt at finding a way to make the largest batch of stronger coffee that fits in the coffee maker. If that doesn't work I'll revert to trying a french press and then doing a second round of filtering. My recommendation is that this product is fine for making to 1 liter of weaker brews but if you want to make stronger brews perhaps you should find a different product. I gave it high ratings for cleaning and ease of use but 3 star ratings for flavor since it's great for weak brews but not as good (without some fix) for strong brews.

I highly recommend this stylish glass cold brewer. Read its description on the Amazon page...it is all true. I like glass utensils, especially borosilicate glass. One review of borosilicate glass stated, "Its durability has made it the glass of choice for high-end restaurants, laboratories and wineries." - from the article "What Is Borosilicate Glass and Why Is It Better Than Regular Glass? ". And, being kind of a science nerd, I like the white beaker-style capacity markings on the side. Plus, with the non-slip silicon base it sits down softly without clinking or fear of breaking it. It also serves as an insulator in case you want to sit it on a heat conducting surface like stainless steel or quartz/marble countertops. The stainless steel filter basket is extremely fine and looks like it could easily be dented, so I always handle it with care although it would work the same if it did get a dent. I like that it has two caps, one that is used when cold-brewing (it fits into the filter, which fits into the container) and another that fits into the container when the filter has been removed. The latter has appropriate openings for allowing pouring with the lid in place. Cold brewing really brings out the qualities of the coffee being used, so you will want to select a good grade of coffee. The included instructions give a coffee-to-water ratio rule of thumb, but the strength and quality f the brew depends on more than the ratio such as the coffee chosen, the grind, and the length of the brewing period, so some experimentation will be necessary to get it the way you like it. I find the styling quite appealing. The glass handle looks a bit thin in the online photos, but is is wider than you can tell in the photos, so is quite sufficient. The other option I was considering was a cylinder with a black plastic cap (sold under a plethora of names...not a good sign), but when I found out it was made ofTtritan (plastic) I began looking for glass. I considered the 64-oz glass Ball jar with plastic cap and handle, but I wanted something a little more stylish. No, a lot more stylish than a mason jar. Finally, it is not a huge container, so it fits nicely in the refrigerator. The highest indication is 4 cups, but there is room to eke out another cup if you must. I am the only coffee drinker in the house, so the size is perfect for me.