Really, Cold Brew Coffee Makers? Alright, let's take a look at cold brew coffee makers and whether or not you need one.
Cold brew has been around for a long, long time and the reason is simple. It's good coffee and has a ton of caffeine in it. In fact, it helped inspire us to start this coffee company. Brojo Coffee is made using a similar, but slightly tweaked, ice drip coffee brewing process.
There are two primary differences between the way cold brew is made and the way your standard hot coffee is made. The first thing is right there in the name, cold. Using cold water keeps most of the naturally occurring fatty acids found in coffee beans out of your cup of joe. This makes cold brew seem sweeter than hot coffee and thus easier to drink.
The second factor is time. Cold brew is generally made using a 12 to 18 hour soak. This long, cold bath gives the ground beans plenty of time to release all of their precious caffeine. This is responsible for cold brew's trademark buzz. These two things, coupled with the fact that hot coffee is pretty much garbage, have made cold brewed coffee the coolest kid on the block.
This rise in popularity of cold brew has also come with a rise in companies looking to capitalize on it. Errbody in the club is selling some kind of stevia filled nitro brew for $5 a bottle, can or bota bag. Now, this is chill because you can't put a price on convenience and if you got the cash, then why not make it rain at Whole Foods? The sad reality for most of us though, is that we can't go all rack city and drop fat stacks of green backs every week on coffee. So, you try to figure out how to make that ish at home. A quick search on Amazon - #PrimeDog - reveals an endless sea of coffee makers, cold brew and otherwise, ranging from like $20 to espresso machines that come with financing options.
This brings me to the whole point of this post. Cold brew makers are silly. It's just a way to try and sell you something. I promise, the absolute best cold brew maker money can buy is already in your house.
Here's the big secret, to make great cold brew you just need something that can hold water. A bowl, fish tank, Tupperware or the tank of an old toilet, it doesn't matter. I personally use an old mason jar and some cheese cloth to filter out the grounds once it's ready. But the point is, it doesn't matter.
There is simply no logical reason to drop the cash on a cold brew maker. They are not faster, more efficient or more effective at making cold brew than anything else that can hold water. Your money is better spent on lotto tickets or a fancy dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. The point is, burning your money for warmth is an arguably more sound investment than a cold brew maker.
This kind of stuff really burns my beans. Like, we really have to try and up-sell and oversell everything? At Brojo, we believe that coffee is best served as part of a community experience. That belief is the reason why we sell our coffee for about a $1 per cup. It is also the reason why we would rather teach you how to make an ice drip coffee maker than try and sell you one of ours. So we will. We are currently working on a post and video showing you how to make your very own ice drip coffee machine.
Stay chill and keep grinding!