If you’re a cold brew coffee fan and want to make your own at home, the bad news is making a batch of this smooth tasting joe can take anywhere from 12 to 24 hours. Because of this, most folks just end up heading down to the local coffee shop or grocery store and spend anywhere from $4-7 to satiate their cravings.
But I have some good news for those who want to make their own cold brew and don’t want to wait 24 hours to pour the first cup: Over the past few months, both Cuisinart and Dash started shipping cold brew coffee makers that can put a cup of cold brew in your hands in less than 30 minutes. Each uses a slightly different technology to accelerate the brewing process, but both are drastically different than traditional slow steep makers such as the Toddy.
Let’s first look at Cuisinart’s entry into the quick cold brew market.
Cuisinart DCB-10
The Cuisinart DCB-10 Cold Brew Coffee machine, which debuted last fall, uses what the company describes as ‘rapid-spin technology’ to extract the flavor from the coffee grounds. While the Cuisinart folks didn’t reveal any specific details about the technology, it sounded a little like centrifugal brewing method used in the Spinn coffee system to me.
The DCB-10 can make a pot of mild, ready-to-drink (many traditional cold brew makers like the Toddy only make concentrate) cold brew in 25 minutes, or you can keep dial up the time to 35 minutes for medium or 45 minutes for a bold brew.
The Cuisinart DCB-10 will set you back $99, quite a bit more than traditional drip cold brew makers, but again you are paying for convenience. Early reviews of the DCB-10 on Amazon seem to be fairly positive.
You can see Cuisinart’s head of marketing Mary Rodgers walk through the DCB-10 in the video below:
Dash Cold Brew Coffee Maker
The Dash Cold Brew Coffee Maker, which claims to make a batch of cold brew in only 5 minutes, was first teased a year ago at the 2017 Housewares show. The company went on to launch a successful Indiegogo and eventually shipped the product before the holidays and can now be found on Target.com.
Unlike the Cuisinart, the Dash cold brew machine uses a technique the company describes as “patent pending cold boil technology” with a pump to “create rapid circulation and create the same results you would get from the extraction of boiling without any added heat.” Also unlike the Cuisinart, you can brew either concentrated or ready-to-drink with the Dash machine.
Early reviews of the Dash Cold Brew system are mixed, with some customers complaining about what one Indiegogo backer described as an “exploding coffee machine” where the top of the brewing chamber comes off during the brew cycle and sprays coffee around the room.
Storebound CEO Evan Dash told me via email that the company is working on “some big improvements” they will be rolling out in the next month or so. Let’s hope one of those improvements is removing the ‘exploding coffee’ problem some users seem to have with the machine.
You can see an explanation of the Dash machine below:
It’s not surprising that as more consumers look for ways to brew cold brew coffee at home, companies look to step up with new products to make the process more convenient. I imagine that we’ll see more solutions in the coming year that accelerates the brewing process.
Now if someone could just figure out how to ferment kombucha quickly to satiate my craving for the fizzy probiotic-laden drink, that’s something I’d be on board with.
