Just to clarify this a bit for people, both about cold brew in general, and what this product is in relation to that.
Cold brew is a different way to brew coffee, as opposed to heated methods like drip brew, espresso, french press. The process, according to wikipedia:
...coarse-ground beans are soaked in water for a prolonged period of time, usually 12 hours or more. The water is normally kept at room temperature, but chilled water can also be used. The grounds must be filtered out of the water after they have been steeped using a paper coffee filter, a fine metal sieve, a French press or felt.
Once you've filtered out the grounds, what you're left with is a coffee concentrate, that can then be prepared and consumed in a number of ways. It can be mixed with hot water and served hot, or just diluted with cold milk/water/ice for more of an iced coffee.
The main difference from other brewing methods is described as follows:
As the coffee beans in cold water extract coffee never come into contact with heated water, the process of leaching flavor from the beans produces a different chemical profile from conventional brewing methods. Coffee beans contain a number of constituents, such as caffeine, oils, and fatty acids, which are highly soluble at high temperatures. By brewing the coffee at lower temperatures, many of these solubles do not completely dissolve, resulting in lower acidity and lower caffeine content when brewed in equal volume.
If all you want is iced coffee (and you don't know or care about the difference in taste), it may not be worth the wait (ie the time to steep the grounds, which is really the brewing time). But it does provide the opportunity to prepare a whole lot at once that can last better than brewing hot and storing.
Sorry, I was geeky. I grind the beans coarsely, put them in the bottom of the Tupperware, add cold water, put it in the fridge. When I'm ready to drink, I pour off the liquid (grounds mostly but not completely settle to bottom) through a gold filter (but have also used a paper towel). I don't have and don't think I need a special fancy cold brew maker, though for $15, might be worth it!
So this was basically my attitude before as well. I hadn't even gotten started with cold brew before this. You definitely don't need any specialized products to do it. But for $15, this product really just makes things a little easier and more convenient as compared to simpler methods like the above. It has a built in filter, and it stores the concentrate in a airtight container so that one brew lasts longer. It's enough for me to take the plunge and give cold brew a try.
