Not Perfect, But is Anything in this World Anymore?
There is an issue with Cold Brew nowadays. Namely - there is a quickly closing gap in between the taste & value of homemade versus store bought. See back in the long long ago, the only place you could get cold brew was that hipster coffee shop near downtown (the one with the good music and the tip jar with the funny sign). Other than that, you had no choice but to make it yourself, and because of its lack of prevalence, you basically wound up making some super janky Toddy Style system with a Home Depot bucket and some cheesecloth because you didn't know what you were doing. Now, all of that is different. Cold brew has entered the general population and has surged in popularity (with good reason!) There does lie a problem though. People assume, just like traditionally brewed coffee, that its much much cheaper to make it at home. While this is true to an extent, its not nearly the cost benefit that you would see from making a pot at home versus a $3.50 macchiato from the green and white mermaid lady. The other issue is that hot coffee at home is dead simple; add water, add a filter, add grounds, push a button. Cold brew is simple, but not that simple. This leads to the biggest issue with cold brew - making it at home is kinda a hassle, no matter what fancy infusion system you've got, and the big boys at the supermarket selling gallons of clear, filtered, smooth cold brew right next to the cream cheese and orange juice do a pretty good job of it. Lets do some math. This cold brew system costs $30, which is pretty negligible assuming you use it for more than a few weeks. The real cost comes in the form of grounds. This system takes 6oz of ground coffee, and 24 oz of water at a time to make "5 to 7 servings". I have NEVER once drawn seven full servings out of it. Maybe if you're sensitive to caffeine or the size of a house cat you'll get the full seven, but I almost always get five, sometimes four if I'm being greedy. I buy mid-tier plebeian level coffee in 12 oz bags for $6.50. That means each brew with this system uses $3.25 worth of ground coffee, and generates five servings - meaning each serving is 65 cents a piece (not counting cream and sugar or whatever other shenanigans you add to your drink). Thats not bad. 65 cents is cheap and over the course of a year having two cups a day would mean you only spend $474.50 in grounds. You can spend that much at Starbucks in about 130 days on just one drink alone, or about 1.5 college mid terms worth (1.1 if you're a STEM Major) Now if you just say "eh" to it all, and buy pre-made cold brew, a reputable brand sells 32 oz of concentrate for $8.99 (lets say $9). Both the OXO and this pre-made brand recommend diluting 1 part concentrate to 2 parts milk or water, so their strength is about equal. If 24oz from the OXO is 5 servings, 32oz is 6.6 servings. Meaning the pre-made is $1.30 per serving. If you had the exact same amount of coffee from the pre-made, you would spend $949 over the course of the year. Now a difference of $470 or so over the course of a year sounds significant, and to many it is, but consider you'll spend $30 the first year on the OXO as well. Is $440 over an entire year worth it to you? Maybe. Is the amount of time wrangling grounds, waiting for steeping, filtering, and then enjoying worth that amount of time? It really depends on you, but it is something to consider. My review of the OXO is this: if you have a very SPECIFIC coffee in mind that you want to turn into cold brew, get it. Buying pre-made means you're at the mercy of whatever beans that company chooses, whereas when you make it yourself you get total control. That total control does come at a cost though. Grinding your own beans, waiting for infusion, and filtering all takes a certain amount of time. In my case, the built in metal mesh filter does not do a perfect job of removing sediment, and I often find myself running the concentrate through a paper filter afterwards in order to get it all. Every pre-made concentrate will be basically 100% sediment free. As well, using the wrong grounds, or grinding the coffee too fine will make the draining process slow to a crawl, as the filter gets completely clogged. Making sure your grounds are nice and chunky will help this, but if you buy pre-ground get ready to get sludgy. Do I love this product? Yes. Would I buy it again if it broke? No. Its got a good Aesthetic (TM) and that's about it. The big Toddy filters that places like Starbucks and whatnot use are ugly as sin, but work wonders. The traditional cold brew infusion bottles and jars (the ones with the mesh filters that sit in a big bottle of water) do alllllright, but are big and leave sediment all over the place. This is somewhere in between the two, and doesn't have the full pros of either, but doesn't sacrifice everything for design. I want you to be happy. I want you to drink great coffee that energizes and invigorates you. If having a neat little bottle with a cork top in your fridge makes you happy, go for it. If you just have to make cold brew yourself - I would recommend a Toddy system. If you just enjoy the taste of cold brew, buy it pre-made from one of those big corporate overlord brands. Read more