While cold brewing, a technique that involves steeping coffee at cold temperatures for an extended period of time, is by no means a new technique, in recent years general knowledge of and demand for cold-brewed coffee, or cold brew, has increased dramatically. Presently, there are generally four conventional methods for cold brewing coffee.
The first method involves a filtration process utilizing a cheese cloth felt filter for holding coffee grinds, while water is passed through the filter to produce a cold brewed coffee. However, this filter is limited to producing small amounts of coffee and requires an extensive amount of cleaning to remove contaminants from the cloth filter.
The second conventional method is generically referred to as a “bucket system” which involves batch brewing within individual buckets. The primary disadvantage with his system is the significant lack of consistency from batch to batch.
The third method is generally carried out in coffee shops or cafes and involves use of a commercially available dripper machine. This method is limited is designed for brewing individual cups of coffee and is not well suited for large scale production.
The fourth conventional method utilizes equipment initially designed for brewing beer, but which has been adapted for cold brewing coffee. While this method is suitable for industrial scale cold brewing of coffee, the necessary equipment is very expensive and difficult to use.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an apparatus and method for cold brewing coffee that overcomes the above described drawbacks. Specifically, it would be desirable to provide a method and apparatus for cold brewing coffee on a large scale that is inexpensive and easy to implement and use with high consistency of the finished brew, and that is also easy to clean.