I’m looking for an iced-coffee maker, but it has to be one that actually dispenses cold coffee, not one that dispenses hot coffee into a pitcher full of ice.
This is not a link for an iced coffee maker (do they exist), but an interesting article on how to make good iced coffee.
Have you considered instant coffee and cold water?
Not for even one second.
I don’t think you’re going to find anything for cold/iced coffee that doesn’t take several hours (overnight) to make.
The primary reason coffee is hot in the first place is the hot water really speeds up the brewing process. It extracts the “coffee-ness” (it’s a scientific term) from the grounds in seconds. Cold water takes much, much longer.
While there are dedicated iced coffee devices, I believe they all require soaking/brewing the grounds in the water for several hours. It’s just the chemistry.
What I’m looking for (I guess) is a machine that brews hot coffee then runs it through a cooling unit of some sort before dispensing.
There are no iced coffee makers with self-contained cooling units?
At work we just rubberband the grounds into a coffee filter and let it sit in cold water for 12-15 hours. Works like a charm.
Cold Brewed coffee will be different then hot brewed (And cooled) coffee. At least that’s my understanding, I don’t drink it myself.
I was hoping someone would mention one too, but I also kinda realize that you’re asking for a lot. The coffee is near boiling, but instead of being stored somewhere, in a glass carafe where its own mass keeps it warm, you want it to pass over coils, that can take all that heat away, and dump it … where? You need a much greater volume of air, or running water, or a micro-frige’s cooling coils. With pumps and the like, the machine is going to get hot. I’d bet someone makes a soda-machine sized device for making lots of iced coffee, but I don’t see a counter-top model.
When we started making iced coffee at work we talked to a lot of people. The coffee shops used the cold brewed method that I mentioned above. We talked to a McDonalds manager that said they make a much stronger batch or regular hot coffee (double?) and when it’s done brewing they dump it over ice to cool it (and then I assume put the whole thing in a fridge to cool it the rest of the way). To the best of my knowledge there’s no self contained unit. The closest you’re going to get is a Toddy, even some coffee shops use a bigger version of this same machine (they make a much larger one).
I’d like to hear the why. What’s wrong with dispensing boiling hot coffee over a cup of ice? If we knew more about the problems with the current approach, we might be able to suggest alternate solutions.
I don’t like the taste of cold-brewed coffee, and I’d like my iced coffee to have the same consistent quality and strength as my hot coffee, which is hard to manage when messing around with doubling the strength of the brew then pouring it over ice.
You can make cold coffee with one of the Dolce Gusto line of coffee makers. You still have to supply a container of ice for it to go into (if you want ice), but it does come out cold (hot is an option too though, it makes it either way).
You can’t just put whatever coffee you want into it though, you have to buy special “pods”, sort of like a Keurig, but not interchangeable with those.
I hear you. I’m not a fan of pouring hot fresh coffee over ice, either.
The biggest issue you seem to be facing is time, and not so much quality of brew. You can certainly brew a regular ol’ pot of hot coffee, turn off the burner promptly after brewing, let it sit out to cool to room temperature, and then put the pot in the fridge. A few hours later, you’ve got nice tasty cold coffee that you can sweeten, cream, and ice to your liking.
But then, that takes six hours or so. Still, you can plan ahead and have cold coffee at the ready. Make a hot pot at dinnertime, let it sit out until bedtime, put it in the fridge, and then wake up to great iced coffee.
I drink all my coffee iced. I just make it the night before and refrigerate it overnight. No ice is involved, unless at the time of drinking I want it super-cold. I’ve tried different methods, and this work the best for me. Oh, and for some reason it tastes better later in the day.
Thing is, unlike hot coffee, cold coffee doesn’t change all that much when you stick it in the refrigerator. You could make 2 or 3 days worth at a time, maybe even a whole week’s worth every Sunday night, and let it happily sit in the fridge until you want to drink it.
But iced coffee needs to have ice IN it !
You really need an ice maker ( eg some refrigerators have it as an accessory. )
Now you have a supply of ice, you just add hot coffee… espre
See post #13.
Yes, when I make a pot it lasts 2-3 days. And it actually tastes better on day 3 than on day 1. And I make it very strong, so adding a little ice doesn’t dilute it much.