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Cold brew coffee is all the rage. It's said to be less acidic, smoother and can contain less caffeine than hot coffee. Cold brew is a very different thing from iced coffee. Cold brew is a particular method of extraction, that uses only cold water. Iced coffee by contrast uses hot water, but runs the hot beverage over ice, so you’ll add less water, to account for the ice.
With cold brew, you use cold filtered water, coarsely ground coffee and a much longer steep time to prepare. With Iced Coffee, you can make a cold coffee faster, since hot water speeds the extraction, while ice then cools it off.
While it's possible to do it with something as simple as a French press, there are a bunch of new gadgets that allow you to make dedicated cold brew or iced coffee easily and conveniently at home.
I had the chance to sample four gadgets:
V60 Glass Ice Coffee Maker
Hario Cold Brew Coffee Jug
Hario Mizudashi
Toddy
We'll look at what each one does, how it works, and what the coffee is like on the other side.
Hario cold brew coffee & tea jug
This is a newly designed glass cold brewer from Hario. I like it because it’s very simple.
All you need do is add some medium-ground coffee to the plastic mesh filter, fill with cold water, and leave it in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.
This is definitely the easiest cold brewer I've tried, but I find you may want to make the coffee a bit stronger than you would otherwise by adding more grounds.
With the sleek, tall carafe and the brushed metal, it's a great looking coffee device that first timers will find easy to use. It’s also excellent for cold steeped tea.
Hario Mizudashi cold brew coffee & tea
Hario has another cold brewer we'll look at; the Hario Mizudashi.
In Japanese, Mizudashi means "water soup". Not the most elegant name for this sleek looking cold brew! It works the same as the cold brew jug with slightly different aesthetics.cold brew coffee, iced coffee iced tea brewer coffee gadget review
Add medium-ground coffee to the metal mesh filter, fill with cold water, and leave it in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.
Both of these jugs, as I said, are also dynamite for making cold brew tea, which is my new obsession.
The Toddy cold brew system
The biggest surprise for me with this gadget is that it's been around for over 50 years. The Toddy brand cold brew system is a dedicated method for making not just cold brew, but cold brew concentrate.
It works by extracting all the natural and delicious flavours of coffee— or tea— and leaving behind the bitter acids and oils attached to their warm brew counterparts.cold brew toddy coffee
The Toddy uses a lot of coffee — about a pound. While that may seem like a lot, keep in mind you're making a lot of cold brew CONCENTRATE, so it should go a long way. It keeps for about 2 weeks in the fridge, sealed in an airtight container, so there’s no rush.
The Toddy is really easy to use and makes a nice bold concentrate. Cleanup is surprisingly easy; the fibre filter disc rinses out well and it's reusable, and you can wash out the brewing container for next time.
I found virtually no grounds or sediment in this coffee.
Hario V60 glass ice coffee maker and pour-over brewer
This cold brew kit will look familiar to many coffee lovers. With a glass carafe and filter brewer, it can brew both hot coffee and cold. Here we’re making Japanese style iced coffee, not cold brew.
What sets it apart for cold or iced coffee brewing is an ice chamber that drops into the centre of the pot. Here you’ll also need a paper filter.
To make iced coffee, fill the chamber with ice, add your coffee grounds then pour hot water over top. As it brews, it's cooling the coffee. After, you can add more ice to serve.
I like the convenience of being able to use if for traditional hot coffee, or iced, and the sleek glass and clear plastic looks chic on the counter.
To brew pour-over hot coffee, just remove the ice chamber.
Using this method, with the paper filter, you'll get a pristine brew, so if you don't love grounds or sediment in your coffee, this is the iced coffee method for you.
If you want more info on any of these cold brew or iced coffee gadgets, head over to EightOunceCoffee.ca
And you can suggest gadgets or give me review requests and ideas any time, on Twitter or Instagram @ErinLYYC or on Facebook. [RYVvSlChwFE] |