This thing makes the most wonderful coffee. I am an admitted coffee snob but was suffering from the acid in the coffee I drank. It all ended with this set up. It makes great coffee that is so darn much easier on your system.
It is not without its minor flaws, however. It is a bit more expensive to make coffee this way. Clean up is a bit difficult. The rim of the plastic upper part could be an inch taller.
I am going to tell how I approached each of those problems, it seems to work well for me.
In using the full pound of coffee and 72 ounces of water called for (It soaks for 12 hours per instructions) the top container is filled to the very brim...water and grounds are easily spilled over the top when pressing the grounds down (again per instructions) to assure uniform wetness.
I now use about 75% of a pound of coffee and 90% of the water called for. I place a #4 basket filter over the round Toddy filter to make for a better flow at the end of the process. I leave it all for about 30 hours and it is at least as strong as that obtained by following the instructions provided. Remember...this is not an exact science! I get more cups of coffee per pound this way and also have much easier clean up and less mess in the making. With the coffee and water mixture about an inch below the top of the container, one simply does not make the spills normally encountered.
When done, I let the concentrate run into the carafe per instructions, but then press the outsides of the grounds and then the center to get all the concentrate out...I do this twice. A surprising amount of extra concentrate is saved in this fashion. I then remove the carafe, place a plastic bag over the top of upper unit and invert it into the bag. The round filter is right at the top and I can easily pick it out.
In the sink I have placed a very large bowl (I use a stainless one) and rinse the parts that need it into the bowl. The grounds do not get away or get down my drain. When done I can just toss the bowl of water and grounds rinsed from the filter, etc. into my back yard and the clean up is basically complete.
I have been using the Toddy for more than 2 years and here are some tips and tricks.
1. You don''t have to use 16 oz of coffee to make great tasting cold brew. Fresh dark roast beans do make a difference. I tried pre-ground from a bag and it was so-so, pre-ground from a can had no taste at all.
2. Anything less than 12 oz will cause the lower glass container to overflow when you drain the upper plastic "brew" container.
3. Simply put in 12 to 16 oz of ground coffee like this:
a. 2 cups water before you put in any coffee
b. 6 8 oz ground coffee
c. 3 cups water slowly all around the ground coffee
d. 6 8 oz ground coffee
e. fill slowly to the top making sure to cover all of the grounds.
4. No mater how much coffee you use, anything between 12 and 16 oz, you will almost always have to tap on the top of the grounds with a spoon. This cause the water to rise and soak the dry spots in the grounds. It is helpful to do your tapping before you fill the Toddy to the top. DO NOT STIR the grounds this will clog the filter. You can slowly lower a spoon into the grounds, with the flat of the spoon, and slowly pull up, but do not stir.
5. You can put in a regular industrial size coffee filter along with the regular Toddy sponge like filter to ease clean up, but it does create more compostable waste. Regular coffee filters are too small.
6. I used to reuse the grounds immediately, by putting the coffee solution in another container and then adding water to the already wet grounds, with the plug in of course. Then I waited 12 more hours and doubled my yield. I no longer do this because it made too much coffee and it just sat in the fridge for too long.
7. Let your coffee "steep" cold, of course, for more than 12 hours, say 14, 16, 18 hours, and the caffeine and oil content will increase for a more flavorful cup. After a couple of years, I started going for 24 hours and it makes it even more flavorful.
8. After cleaning up, wet the sponge filter and store it in a plastic food safe bag in the fridge.
9. Tell your family members what the filter is so that they don''t throw it away thinking that it is a molding chunk of cheese ;0)
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Now you can taste that smell!
Let me explain: I can''t call myself a coffee addict, but I really enjoy a good cup of coffee. Unfortunately, I''m a little let down when I walk into a cafe, smell the rich aroma, then taste a cup of coffee that''s either weak, bitter or just too strong. The smell doesn''t match the taste, and that''s a bummer.
With the Toddy system however, even though I don''t get the rich smell of fresh-brewed coffee in the morning, I do get a taste that reminds me of that smell, and that''s far more important. Better still, my girlfriend can make her coffee weaker than mine by simply adding less concentrate. Cups of coffee tailored specifically to your taste!
I''ve tried espresso makers, french press, auto drip and even (dare I say it) instant coffee, and french press is the only type that comes close to the rich flavor. But that said, as I get older (early thirties) acid content becomes a bigger issue for me, and the relatively low acid content in a cup from the Toddy system is more and more appealing.
Now, as much as I like the system I do have a couple of gripes. First, I wish the brewing process was a little more intuitive since it''s time consuming and messy. I brewed my coffee almost a week ago, and I''m still finding grounds hidden here and there. Hence, I wish the brew portion into which the grounds go had a lid.
Second, though it''s easy to figure out through trial and error, a chart in the manual with more detail info on ratios, coffee types and strengths would be helpful. For example, I used Eight O''Clock coffee (I know, it''s not designer coffee, but it tastes pretty good) which isn''t quite as full-flavored a roast as some other coffees. Hence, I find I need to add more concentrate to water. I''m curious what the concentrate will be like when I use a stronger/different roast.
Nonetheless, I gave the Toddy system 5 out of 5 because when it''s all said and done, a brewer is about the cup of coffee it produces, and hands down this is the best cup of coffee I''ve ever made at home.
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I have been making iced coffee the cold brew way for a few months with two jars and a strainer. Since I consume so much, I thought I would give the famed Toddy system a try surely so many people couldn''t be wrong. Boy, am I sorely disappointed! I open the package and all you get is a cheap plastic pitcher and a glass carafe. $30 for this is way overpriced! Even so, the price would be fine if it did anything different or better than my makeshift system but it is actually worse, way worse!!! Here are my reasons:
1) The cheap plastic brew container has NO COVER and a FLIMSY STAND. I am going to leave an open, wobbly container full of coffee concentrate on my countertop for 12 hours, does this sound like a good idea? Does it sound sanitary? Unless your house is like a museum, probably not. By contrast my $2 jars have lids imagine that.
2) The filters are so sensitive you cannot stir the grounds and water together to fully soak the grounds. What genius designed this filter? They expect you to go through a delicate dance where you add a few grounds, slowly pour the water in a circular pattern, add some more grounds, slowly add some more water, etc. All so the filter doesn''t CLOG. Who has time for this!? By contrast, when I put water and coffee grounds into my $2 jar, I drop it in and stir with a spoon imagine that! My $1 strainer and 10 cent regular coffee filter removes all the grounds/residue and leaves me with pure concentrate.
3) You have to keep buying their filters and they aren''t cheap! Nowhere had I seen that you had to keep buying their filters they cost $2 each and you can only use them 10 times! And you most likely will end up ordering them over the internet, where you will have to pay shipping. They might end up costing $4 each! Why wouldn''t I just keep using my $1 strainer and 10 cent coffee filters, which works just fine and are easier to get!?
4) Their filters require a lot of care. Every time you use them you have to go through some ridiculous process of storing them in a zip lock bag in the fridge. Again, who the heck has time for this?! My $1 strainer takes 5 seconds to rinse and then I stick it on the drying rack and the 10 cent filter I just throw out!
All in all I am very disappointed with the Toddy system. Not only is it way overpriced, but it is worse than a $5 makeshift alternative. I am using the carafe because I might as well and the brew container is now used in my son''s bath...
I hope this helps people to see the light about this product.
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This makes, quite simply, the best coffee you''ve had in your life. Make it any way you want--hot, cold, espresso strength, American strength. I started with expensive coffees but am now quite happily using Folger''s Special Roast. The cold-brew process makes delicious coffee even with the cheap stuff. I have become something of a cold-brew-coffee snob: I only drink toddy coffee at home, and when I''m out and forced to drink regular hot-brewed coffee, I cringe and can never finish a whole cup. This is literally a life-changing brewing method. The plastic handle they now include, while not absolutley necessary, is a nice bonus. ONE IMPORTANT THING: don''t follow the instructions included as far as the technique for making the coffee, namely, 2 cups then 5 cups then 2 cups water added in stages. Instead, do 3 cups 3 cups 3 cups. When I used the 2-5-2 method, the thing would get clogged every single time, which is a real problem when you''re dealing with a large quantity of coffee concentrate. Using the 3-3-3 method, I haven''t had a clog or a slow "bleed" once; coffee comes pouring out as if from a firehose once I pull the stopper. I also ensure no dry grounds by, about an hour after initial setup, scraping coffee up from around the edge of the brewer into a pile in the middle, leaving behind a ring of already-dampened grounds at the sides; then I add another 1/2-1 cup of water, pouring it on the pile in the middle so that the grounds level out again and the brewer is really _full_. I''ve found the Holy Grail of coffee makers and I won''t look back my life long.
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I use this on a boat which has a traditional steel faucet. The adapter to plug the hose in with comes with several sizing''s to make this possible. One worked. The pitcher fills quickly and the water is great. We can''t use this in our kitchen which has a big non-traditional faucet head, but otherwise this is easily the best pitcher on the market.
