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Prepare a cold brew in just 25 minutes with the Cuisinart Cold Brew Coffee Maker. A real deal or another marketing bluff?
A standard cold brew is prepared by adding water into the grounds, and by letting them sit for 12 to 24 hours. However, you can now prepare the same thing using the same ingredients in just 25 minutes. Is such short-duration brewing effective as the traditional cold brew makers? Should you consider buying it or not?
Cuisinart Cold Brew Coffee Maker Review
All the coffee lovers would agree that cold brew is the smoothest and the finest form of coffee. Hands down. Like, if you haven’t tried it, you probably should. It’s less acidic, less bitter than the standard coffee drinks.
A cold brew is prepared with steeping coffee grounds in room temperature water for a long time period, usually 12 to 24 hours.
Some cold brew machine prepares it in just 8 hours. It depends on the machine totally, they can take less or more time.
Why is cold brew coffee less bitter than the normal coffee?
While you heat the coffee in water, it makes the chemical compounds (including the bitter, acidic flavors) dissolve more quickly inside your coffee which ultimately makes the coffee strong, bitter in taste.
Whereas, the cold brew is prepared with no heat. The same chemical compounds will take more time with dissolving, and thus the prepared drink will be less bitter!
It’s all the magic of the brewing time and the temperature provided.
Unfortunately, the traditional cold brew machines got one serious limitation. They take around 12-24 hours for steeping the coffee grounds and getting you the final product.
This is where Cuisinart cold brew coffee maker makes the entry and gives you a quick cold brew solution! The brand promises to offer you a cold brew in just 25 minutes, which is 67% less acidic than the traditional coffee cup.
Is Automatic Cold Brew Any Good?
I love getting things automatic, as it saves energy and time.
But it may not necessarily give you the same quality result. Take it in the coffee makers perspective, if you are investing and working on a drink for the whole day – does it’s output quality ever match with a machine that produces the result in 25 minutes?
I like to keep things simple and straight, cause you ought to know that.
Cuisinart cold brew coffee maker is fairly simple to use. They help you in producing cold brew coffee in a short span of time so that you don’t have to go through the long steeping period. Cool, really cool. No doubt in that.
However, if you a serious coffee lover who wants to make the perfect or a real cold brew – go traditional with the long waiting time, is the answer.
Traditional vs Automatic Cold Brew Coffee Maker
The design of this automatic brewing machine is similar to that of the automatic drip coffee makers. On the top side, you will find a water tank and a reusable filter.
- Firstly, you got to fill up the filter with the ground coffee of your choice, and then place it inside the reservoir.
- After you are done with this work, fill up the reservoir with room temperature or cool water (not cold, normal temp. water).
This much is the only work you got to do, rest of the brewing job is carried out by the machine itself.
Press the ‘Brew’ button provided on the Cuisinart cold brew coffee maker, and it will begin the spinning of the filter on-off at 10 seconds interval.
Now you will note the water spinning and produce the cold brew for you within 25 minutes, which can be further carried on for 35 or 45 minutes duration. You can also set the brew strength to mild, medium, or bold with the help of the button controls provided.
Once the brewing work completes, you can pull down the release lever for filling up the glass carafe. You get 35 ounces of cold brew coffee which is ready-to-serve. No need to add anything like water, milk or cream into the coffee. This actually means the coffee is already in its diluted state, so you don’t need to make any changes.
So, is the result worth it or not, like the traditional coffee brewers?
I would say it depends. You are not producing the coffee concentrate here, it’s a ready to drink product. Hence, the consistency varies a lot.
For bringing out a clear conclusion, I tested out all the three brewing settings for the same filtered water and ground coffee beans. What I found is, even the ‘bold’ setting kept my coffee pale and weak in the strength. You are sure to get the best cold brew extraction done, but definitely can’t compare it with the traditional units, since both of them work and operate in a different manner.
However, Cuisinart offers a decent cold brew in a short time period, which makes it interesting.
Cuisinart Cold Brew Coffee Maker Review (At a Glance)
If you are tired with the standard cold brew making and want to make the process real quick – Cuisinart brings you a surprise! They have introduced a new concept of automating the process of making cold brew, that gets you a chilling, delicious cup of cold brew in just 25 minutes.
Just like the traditional cold brew machines, the Cuisinart soaks the coffee grounds in cool water without treating them in heat (that used to make the coffee taste bitter and acidic).
The unique spin technology mixes the coffee grounds in the water in a way to get the best flavor extraction within a short duration. What you get, is a smooth and sweet flavored coffee in the result.
You also get to choose three flavored strength for a customized brewing experience, which also makes this Cuisinart automatic cold brew coffee maker special. Store the coffee inside the 7-cup glass carafe and use it for the next 2 weeks! All the components here are removable, and even dishwasher-friendly. This makes the cleaning quick and tension-free.
Components of Cuisinart Coffee Maker & their Uses
Knowing what you are dealing with, is important. Knowing the machine components and their purpose, will not only improve the way you work but also boost the overall efficiency.
Before that, we have to unpack the cold brew machine.
Following are the steps for unpacking the Cuisinart Coffee Maker –
- The Cuisinart cold brew coffee maker will be in a box; place it on a flat, sturdy surface.
- Take off the literature thing out.
- Now, turn the coffee maker upside down in a way that the back of the coffee maker sits down.
- Slowly, slide the coffee maker out from the box.
- After removing the coffee maker out, keep the box out of your way.
- Take out the left and the right inserts.
- Lift the glass carafe by the handle, and separate it from the base.
- Remove the polybag from the coffeemaker.
Now, we shall check out the components on the automatic Cuisinart Cold Brewer –
- COFFEEMAKER LID
The top of the Cuisinart cold brew coffee maker which secures the water tank and the filter basket. You can lift it or remove the lid and keep it aside.
- COFFEE FILTER BASKET
Placed inside the water tank, you have to take the filter basket out for filling or cleaning it. It also features two more lids, pop-off lid and the twist-off lid.
- REMOVABLE WATER TANK
Easy to fill and detach water tank. This is where all the spin and extraction of coffee grounds takes place. Note one thing – check the attachments, they are securely placed or not before pouring the water in. Has water level markings on it.
- REMOVABLE WATER TANK FILTER
This filters the water and keeps it clean and sediment-free.
- COFFEE RELEASE LEVER
This Cuisinart cold brew coffee maker lever dispenses out the coffee. It can be set in two different positions – lock position and the release position. The lever sets in the lock position at the start of the brewing cycle; the blue indicator light will be off here. Whereas the release position dispenses out the coffee after the brewing cycle completes, and the blue indicator light turns on at this point.
- BLUE COFFEE RELEASE INDICATOR LIGHT
The blue indicator light gets lit up when the coffee lever is in the Release position. The light goes off when the lever returns back to the previous lock position.
- CONTROL PANEL
Control panel comprises for 4 sections, and we have already discussed 2 of them. They are Coffee Release Lever and the Blue Indicator light.
The other 2 sections are – the brew button and the coffee strength options.
Using the Brew button, you can start or end a brew cycle. In the strength choices, the Cuisinart automatic cold brew coffee maker allows you to choose from Mild, Medium or Bold Coffee. The white indicator light highlights the selected brew option, and by default, the machine comes with the Medium option.
- 7-CUP GLASS CARAFE
This is the glass carafe, 7-cup which stores the resulting coffee for you. It boasts an ergonomic handle and comes with markings for 3 to 7 cups. After brewing the coffee from Cuisinart cold brew coffee maker, you can store the coffee inside the refrigerator and use it accordingly.
There are again two sub-components of the carafe – the carafe lid and carafe filter. You can remove the filter easily from the lid portion during the cleaning session.
- READY TONE ALERT
This is the alert tone used by the machine for the completion of the brewing cycle. It makes 3 beep sounds, which indicates that the brew cycle is complete and your coffee is all set to be released to the carafe. 5 beep sounds show that the entire coffee extract has been released out, and now the coffee is ready to be served.
- 60-SECOND RESET
With the help of this, the unit offers you one-minute protection in case the breaker trips, power goes off, or the unit is unplugged. Another purpose of this reset thing, it retains all the programmed information.
- MEASURING SCOOP
Using the measuring scoop, you can get an idea of how much coffee grounds are required on the Cuisinart cold brew coffee maker. For example, for making a 3 cup coffee – add about 5½ level scoops. One scoop of coffee equals to one tablespoon, so keep this idea in mind before adding the grounds.
- BPA-FREE
This is not a component though, but a quality thing that Cuisinart provides to you. All the parts that come in contact with the water or coffee are entirely free of BPA. This keeps your coffee healthy and safe for drinking too.
These are the very important or the key things that define the Cuisinart cold brew machine. Just make sure that all the parts are kept safe or inside the box while you are not using it. This will help during the shipping when you ever need to transfer the machine in future.
How Does It Work?
Cold brew is the perfect balance of 4 essential elements. They are – Water, Temperature, Coffee, and Proportion.
Water, in fact, coffee is 98% of the water. So, if the water coming out from your tap doesn’t taste good, then the coffee won’t taste great either.
Temperature, here coffee is not exposed to high temperatures instead the grounds are soaked in cool water.
Coffee, even though the drink is 98% of the water – the flavors are extracted from the coffee beans. Broken bean loses the flavors quickly, so to retain the quality of the coffee – buy fresh coffee beans just for the 2 weeks use.
Proportion, of course, we never like coffee which is too strong or too weak, isn’t it? You can follow the recipe and the proportions as provided in the booklet. Later you can adjust the taste, and prepare it in your style.
Once you take all the fours points in consideration, you are sure to make the best cold brew out from the cold brew machine. Following are the steps on how the Cuisinart machine works out:
- Add the coffee grounds. (Lift the coffee maker lid, and fill up the filter basket by using the measuring scoop provided with the unit. Make sure that the filter basket is properly attached back, else the coffee maker lid won’t be set properly.)
- Time to fill the water tank. (Slowly, pour the required amount of cool water and keep a check on the water level through the indicators provided.)
- Place the carafe in the designated place, and turn on the Cuisinart cold brew coffee maker. (At this moment, you can plug the coffee maker into the unit. If the coffee maker remains untouched for more than 30 minutes, it automatically goes into the sleep mode. Press any button to wake up the machine.)
- Now, you got to select the preferred brewing strength. (You can choose from Mild, Medium or Strong. By default, the medium option will be set on which you can change as per your need. There’s an LED light surrounding each brew option, and the selected option gets lit up.)
- Hit the brew button, and you are almost near to your cold brew! (The filter basket starts spinning at this point, and it takes some pause during the brewing period.)
- Once the brewing process ends, you will hear 3 beep sounds. (It’s the signal that the coffee is ready to be released to the carafe.)
- Slide the release lever to the right for releasing the coffee to the glass carafe. (This may take an approx. 2 minutes, and once all the coffee is released out you will get a 5 beep sounds.)
Pretty easy huh?
Well, it would be better if you can try it out once all by yourself, before making the purchase.
My Overall Experience and Verdict on Cuisinart Cold Brew Coffee Maker
If you are looking for an authentic cold brew, then this may NOT be the right choice. You will still like the Cuisinart Cold Brew in case you are looking for a less-acidic and quick-brewing cold brew shot. The brand focusses on these two points and gets you exactly what it claims.
Have you tried the Cuisinart cold brew anytime? What was your experience? Send in your replies in the comment section below.
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