Everyone’s drinking cold brew. A few companies, like Stumptown Coffee, have even started bottling it to sell at coffee shops and grocery stores. Popularity is on the rise because the cold brew method prevents certain acidic, bitterness-inducing compounds from appearing, creating a smooth and syrupy finish well-suited for iced coffee. That, and the equipment used to achieve that delicious nectar looks totally badass.
Photo by cafeculture.com
This is the Yama cold water drip tower. It makes delicious cold brew coffee, but more importantly, it looks like a steampunk meth lab (think Heisenberg in goggles and a top hat). It also costs $295 and takes up a lot of counter space. No, we’re not expecting you to use this at home.
A little searching online got us to Cafe Prima’s DIY Cold brew tower using the Aeropress and just a standard water bottle. We decided to give it a test run.
As you can see by the slow, methodical dripping, this D.I.Y. method is essentially an unholy combination of an Aeropress and Chinese water torture. The brew took a total of 1.5 hours for 330 mL of water to pass through and we ended up with 280 mL of brewed coffee. If you’re interested in why we used 185 degree water for pre-infusion, check out this really interesting article about combination hot and cold brewing.
Sometime in the near future, we’re going to attempt to create a more advanced model that more closely resembles the Yama Brewing tower. Expect more glass, controllable valves, and gnarly wood.
Sputnik Coffee 