Filtron Cold Water Coffee Concentrate Brewer

Works great but you don’t need most of the parts! Buy just a few parts and save money! This system makes it easy to make really tasty cold brew coffee. But you don’t need most of the parts. it will work better, and cost you much less, if you buy just a few of the parts. All you need is the coffee bowl, the wool filter pads, the rubber stopper. All the rest of the parts are unnecessary. If you buy just these three parts at filtron it will cost you less than the whole system and as a bonus you will get additional filters, and rubber stoppers included when you buy the parts, so you won't have to buy replacement parts later. Here’s the story: All you need to do to make cold brew coffee is mix coffee grinds with cold water and let it sit for as short as overnight or as long as a week. Ideally let it is uncovered in a refrigerator. You want it to be uncovered so the bitter gasses evaporate leaving a much sweeter coffee. This Filtron system has two nice advantages. It has a filter on the bottom of the coffee bowl (where the grinds mixed with water sit), and a rugger stopper on the bottom. This means once the coffee has been sitting in the refrigerator and is ready to be filtered out all you have to do is put the coffee bowl on an open wide mouth jar and pull out the rubber stop, and let gravity do the rest. While the coffee is draining out through the filter into the jar below, you can aid the process if you want by stirring the mixture from time to time to make the liquid easier to go thru the filter. All the extra pieces of this apparatus, are unnecessary. The water bowl that lets water drip slowly into the coffee grinds to mix with the coffee is unnecessary because it is faster and easier just to mix the grinds and water with a spoon. The white round plastic piece with holes is also unnecessary, and the filter paper serves no purpose except to add expense.. The large plastic flask that you put under the coffee bowl when you pull out the stopper does work fine to fill with coffee once you pull out the rubber stopper -- but any large wide mouth jar will work equally well. As a result if you buy just the coffee bowl, filters, and rubber stoppers, and use your own wide mouth jar, you can get a system that is less expensive to buy, easier to work with, faster and easier to use, less expensive just buy buying the coffee bowl, rubber stoppers and filters. And you get several stoppers and filters as part of the package. You can order the parts directly from Filtron. Direct or on Amazon. Note: the coffee will keep indefinitely frozen, and for several months refrigerated.. It tastes best when mixed about 1 oz concentrated coffee to 11 ounces milk, . I had previously made cold brew by letting grinds and water sit in a large pitcher, and then pouring them through a regular coffee filter in a brew basket from a coffee machine. This is much easier, and does a better job of getting almost all of the liquid out of the grinds, since they drip through the filter under the force of gravity. The company has informed me and I have verified from use that the coffee bowl you mix coffee and water in can be washed in the dishwasher. The Only thing that that is not ideal is that to let the coffee drip out in to the t once it has been sitting overnight with the grinds, it is necessary to reach under the container and pull out the rubber plug. This is a bit difficult to do since the black container with the coffee is heavy, and it is hard to pull out the rubber stopper without getting a little coffee on your hands. I manage to do this while holding the coffee container with the coffee against my chest over the sink above the jug while pulling out the stopper, It's doable and you can get used to it, but its far from elegant. That said the coffee is great, much better that heated coffee. It is very very concentrated, but makes a great latte with one part coffee to 8 to 11 parts milk. You can buy filter paper but it is not necessary, as the cloth filter that comes with it does a fine job by itself. You can clean the cloth filter by boiling it in water in a microwave.for a few minutes. All in all an excellent system.

First, let me say that this product makes excellent coffee. I usually regret drinking regularly-brewed coffee because of the acid, but I've been drinking this cold-brewed coffee for two weeks now and have had NO ill after effects. The only reason I'm not giving it 5 stars is because it's basically just a couple of pieces of plastic, and so I'd consider it fairly overpriced for what you get. What you get is: a plastic carafe with snap-on lid, a container to put ground coffee in, a filter pad, and another container to put water in. Water empties through a small hole into the container with the ground coffee in it, and you let it sit over night. In the mornning, pop the cork out of the coffee container (on the bottom), and let the syrup drain into the carafe (through an included filter pad). That's it. You could, if you were motivated enough, make one of these out of those x-large soda cups from 7-11. But, the coffee is excellent. I've been using it to make iced coffee, and it's wonderful. One part syrup, 2-3 parts milk, a shot of chocolate syrup - and you've just saved yourself $5 from Starbucks. It's that good. It's easy to use, easy to clean, you only have to use it once every week or so (depending on how much coffee you drink), and the coffee is excellent. And it has low acid, to boot. (Disclaimer: I like mellower roasts of coffee. I've never been a fan of very strong, dark roasts - and that may factor into my appreciation of cold-brewed coffee. Smooth is how I'd describe it.)

I really like this cold brew process. It makes smooth tasting coffee, that really is much lower in acid content. I haven't measured how much lower it is, compared to traditionally brewed coffee, but the difference is easily discernible. This is the only cold brew unit I have ever used, so my review is limited in experience. This Filtron unit does make great coffee. I allow mine to brew/soak for approximately 32 hrs. If I make it in the evening, it will be ready on the second morning after. I also use paper filters, in addition to the cotton filter pad. I bought the paper filters thru Amazon. They are slightly larger (deeper) than the ones that come with the Filtron unit, and far cheaper. You get a box of 250, but for the price, you cannot beat it. And the size is perfect. Link here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004NEWA2A/ref=cm_cr_rev_prod_title These filters are taller and fit much better than the accompanying filters. If you fold the excess filter over the edges, the top section of the filter unit will actually hold the filters in place. This prevents the filter from collapsing into the brewing coffee. I do not use the plastic grounds guard, as it is really not useful at all, especially when you use the larger paper filters. Another tip I found useful, is stirring the grounds after 8 hours or so. This fully mixes the grounds and water, and adds to the brewing extraction process. You may do this once or twice during the brew process. I also tried leaving the cotton filter pad out, and using two paper filters instead, but the coffee actually tasted bitter. So I went back to using the cotton filter pad and one paper filter. Using paper filter makes the clean up process significantly easier when you are done brewing. You simply grab the paper filter holding all the grounds in one hand, and put it in the compost bucket. (or the trash can if that is your situation). Without using a paper filter, it can be quite messy. As other users have stated, I often refill the water chamber with water, and allow the grounds to re-soak for 24 hours. I only fill it half way the second time, then blend it with the original batch. This increases the output of a full pound of coffee, but the first brew does taste better on its' own. I have also tried using distilled water from the store. It made good coffee, but our under counter water filter produces good water, and makes great cold brew coffee. The final point worth noting, is the the quality of the coffee. My local coffee shop roasts their own beans, and also make cold brew coffee in-house. When I go in and order a full pound of coffee, they grind it for me according to the suitable cold brew grind. Quick and easy. Be sure you are getting a full pound of coffee, and not a 12oz. bag most outlets sell. I found all the things I employed, made the coffee turn out much better. I hope this helps some of you in your journey of making cold brew coffee. Thanks for reading. J.