It’s not a hot affair, but the I’m in love with the Instant Cold Brewer

Brewing coffee is a dark art, there are so many variables from beginning to end and taste is pretty subjective. It is a rabbit hole of beans and equipment that probably is best described as diminishing returns on investment to extract that little extra in the profile. This applies both to your hot coffee and cold brew.

A key part of brewing is to maintain consistency as much as possible. The process from beans to drink has so many variables that it is understandable an enthusiast could invest in a lot of equipment and rituals to chase the perfect cuppa.

A good cold brew is a lovely refreshing hit on a hot day, but the traditional methods require bulky equipment, lots of ice, and somewhere in the region of 24 hours to achieve.

Remember what I said about consistency? This is where the Instant Cold Brewer comes in. Just how long did it take me from unpacking to tasting my first batch?

 

First Impressions

I am more used to seeing almost laboratory like equipment for cold brew. The tall wooden stands, various glass containers at different stages to hold the water, ice, grinds, pipettes, tubes and the valve for the float control so it drips in an excruciatingly slow rate in order to achieve the optimal brew time. A show piece so to speak.

The Instant Cold Brewer is just a power base, a glass jug with plastic handle and rim, a brew basket and a lid. That’s it. Well they do also provide a scoop.

The power base has a recess part to sit the glass jug in, kind of like a quarry. The depression has a higher “rail” at the back which helps to keep the glass jug in the correct position and avoid it being knocked out of place by accident. My cat Tapioca has already gone sniffing around it so this is a much appreciated feature.

The glass jug has markings on the side to measure the amount of liquid.

The brew basket sits in the jug snuggly. It comes apart with a screw bottom so it’s easy to dump the grinds out at the end of the process and clean up.

A hint of how the Cold Brewer works can be seen here. There is a small plastic agitator inside that lid at the bottom of the brew basket which forms the FlashExtract component.

In Use

Everything except the power base that you sit the jug on is dishwasher safe (top rack only). I gave all of these a good clean before embarking on my first cold brew journey.

The instructions calls for 67 grams of mid to coarse grinded coffee beans for a full capacity of 950ml.

A few years ago I invested in a Niche Zero grinder. These babies have only gone up in price in the intervening years and are still one of the best home grinders on the market. Arguably it’s the best single shot grinder available but I’m sure some pitchfork carrying coffee snobs will come knocking on my door to argue about it. No this is not a sponsored comment, I paid retail for my unit.

I set the Niche Zero to 32, in the region of portafilter, for experiment. Given the hopper is only big enough for a single shot, I grinded my 67 grams in three batches and popped them into the brew basket. My current beans are Inglewood Columbia Manta Cundinamarca, roasted on 7 August 2024.

 

It is best to put in the correct amount of water into the jug before you pop the brew basket in, because … Archimedes and the principle of buoyancy. The basket will displace the water and while not the end of the world, introduces a new variable to the process.

Operating the power base is simple. There are only four buttons and a simple two digit display in the middle. There are the plus and minus signs to set the time, up to a maximum of 30 minutes. The other two buttons are simply start and stop. Holding down the plus or minus buttons will change the time in five minute intervals to the nearest multiple of five.

For my first batch I set the timer for 20 minutes as recommended, and simply hit the start button. Immediately you hear a little whirling sound as the grinds are being agitated briefly. The water will start looking murky as the coffee begins to brew. This agitation will repeat regularly in between periods of brewing.

 

After the timer runs out, a little musical trill will play to let you know it is done.

At this point I pulled the brewing basket out of the liquid and set it aside to stop the process. I was so ready for a taste test.

I used room temperature water for the batch, and gave it a taste immediately after the brewing process of 20 minutes was finished. We didn’t have any particular expectations for the coffee, but the taste test surprised us.

My better half is a barista with decades of experience, and even she was impressed with our first experimental batch. I will note that the body is a little on the thin side which is not unexpected with the rapid brewing technique. I also need to increase the grind size as the resultant product is a little on the cloudy side.

Going by the recommendations in the manual, it worked pretty well. There was no sour notes which can happen for a variety of reasons including too short a brewing time resulting in under extraction. There was also no notes of bitterness which is the opposite – over extraction.

 

Because I started the process late at night, I chuck the whole pot into the fridge overnight with the brew basket removed. From 11pm til 3pm the next day, it was just cooling its heels until I poured a serve into my Ember Travel Mug to take with me whilst I do my daddy duties. There was just a hint of acidicity but otherwise it was a delicious cold brew.

If you plan your coffee for the next morning, there is the option to leverage the Instant FlashExtract technology and combine it overnight brewing. In this situation you start the same with the grinds and water. In the manual Instant only has recommendations for four servings using this method (vis-a-vis two servings). You only leave it on the power base for five minutes, then stick the jug along with the brewing basket into the fridge for between 12 to 16 hours.

I gave this method a try and also tweaked my grinder to a little coarser at 34, since I was getting quite a lot of sediment the first batch at 32. With the longer brewing time in the fridge, the results were a little more body and nuances to the flavour profile, but not mind blowingly so. I think I am generally pretty content with the shorter brew time method.

You are not limited to just coffee, you can also cold brew tea in the same way. Instant warns not to use tea bags or loose teas containing large leaves, stems or dried fruits for this. The reason is that it can jam the agitator and prevent the mechanism from working.

The instructions calls for 1/2 scoop of loose teas for 475ml of water, or 1 scoop for the full jug. Both with a 20 minutes brew time. Noting that some tea varietals such as green tea and chamomile are likely to take longer to brew.

Regardless, you will need to experiment with the process to find a methodology that suits your taste profile.

 

Gripes

The glass jug has markings for amount of water. It would have been a nice touch to include markings for the amount of grinds and tea leaves so that all the information is available at a glance to jolt the memory without having to resort back to the manual.

The plastic and the glass of the jug is fused together. There is a bit of a recess channel on the inside of the plastic top that could make it a little hard to clean if not maintained regularly. A bottle brush is essential (in any kitchen really).

Not really a complain but a FYI, the lid on the jug is not a full seal.

 

Conclusions

So just how long did it take me from unpacking to tasting my first batch? About 23 minutes.

With summer approaching in the southern hemisphere, the Instant Cold Brewer can make a batch of refreshing drinks in little time and very little effort. With a little fore planning, you could whip up a few batches enough for a decent party serving.

The Instant Cold Brewer has a RRP of $129 but seems to be available for $109 in many places including on Amazon.

Father’s Day being just around the corner, this would make a nice gift for a coffee loving dad.

DRN would like to thank Instant for providing the review unit. I am going to look forward to enjoying some cold brews when summer truly hits. One of the kids have already put dibs on it to make cold brew tea.