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Permalink Reply by Jason Haeger on May 28, 2008 at 2:13pm

Stumbled across this little gem the other day.

Texas Coffee People: Coffee Snob cold brewer

Pretty nice looking, I think. Volume is good for home, but if you have customers who like cold brew coffee, it might be worth retailing these, or the Toddy brewers.

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Permalink Reply by Brady on May 28, 2008 at 6:13pm

Yeah, I've never understood that whole leftover drip thing. Aside from the "its basically free" thing. Seriously - here's coffee that you wouldn't serve hot 'cause it tastes bad, but through the magical powers of cooling it gets suddenly delicious again? I've iced not-too-old coffee with good results, but most of my iced coffee guys prefer our iced americano.

Regarding the whole toddy thing - why not just use a plastic pitcher poured through a melitta? Its just a filtered infusion, right? Why buy another thing that you'll have to store?

My 2 cents
Brady
(proud follower of the Alton Brown "no uni-taskers" theory)

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Permalink Reply by Michael B. on May 28, 2008 at 7:21pm

Brady, you are correct...it is pretty amazing that the best way to make iced coffee (besides iced Americano) is so simple. There is, however, a very thick filter "disk" that comes with the filtron that supposedly does a lot more filtering than just a paper filter...this may just be clever marketing, but it does make some sense.

PS-The leftover drip as iced coffee thing was just a rookie mistake...that's what happens when a cubicle warrior buys a coffee shop! Luckily I survived the steep learning curve and will be having my 2 year anniversary in 3 days!

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Permalink Reply by Jason Haeger on May 28, 2008 at 8:08pm

While I agree on the whole with the "no unitaskers" mindset, coffee is where I make my exception.

I have a rig that I bought/built specifically for only one task. Roasting.

I have another machine that I bought specifically for only one task. Grinding coffee.

I have another machine that I bought specifically for another task. Making espresso (and frothing milk)

I also have a contraption that I use for only one thing. Brewing coffee (vac-pot.. two of them, actually.. and a moka pot, and a melitta cone holder, and a French Press, which is actually the most "multi-tasking" unitasker I own.)

I also own four tools, each of them only share one purpose, and never at the same time. Tampers.

And while, yes, there are simpler ways of doing cold brewing, not many are as beautiful on the eyes, or as prone to striking up a discussion about coffee. (my Hario TCA-2 being the exception)

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Permalink Reply by Brady on May 29, 2008 at 6:44am

Well, you have some very good examples there Jason (grins sheepishly).

I guess I forgot to add the caveat to that "no unitaskers" rule... no unitaskers UNLESS a multi-tasker simply won't do the job adequately OR unless you do an awful lot of said task. This exempts the roaster, espresso machine (multitasker), grinders, tamper. French presses and Melittas are multitaskers anyway. Vac pots don't need no reason...

I think the main point is still valid though - before purchasing a dedicated piece of equipment, one should evaluate whether something more flexible would do just as good of a job.

That cold drip rig is a thing of beauty.

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Permalink Reply by Jason Haeger on May 29, 2008 at 12:54pm

That cold drip rig is a thing of beauty.

And I think that's the sole reason for its existence. Of course you don't need it to get to the same result. ;)

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Permalink Reply by Kristen on May 29, 2008 at 7:39pm

agreed :)
for iced coffee, cold brew > hot brew.

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