Brewki - DKINZ - Revolutionary Deluxe Cold Brew Coffee System - Japanese/Dutch Style - Slow Ice Drip Method

I love this ice-drip coffee brewer. I am updating my review to further share how awesome it is over my six month period of using it regularly (almost daily) and in comparing it to another cold dripper I own. This dripper costs twice as much as the cheaper dripper I have, but this one is totally worth the extra money if you care about your coffee. This device does not give me problems with the grind bed backing up and clogging the way the cheaper dripper does. Also, the cheaper one feels flimsy while this dripper is a quality piece of equipment.The most crucial part of the device – the dripper valve and the adjustability of the valve – is made of high quality materials.The device is small and portable, and I like that feature because it makes it easy to put by my desk as I'm working and I can keep an eye on it throughout the brew cycle. You want to keep the drips happening at a consistent rate, and it will change as the water level depletes. Many recipes suggest 40 drips per minute and that is what I use, and I found a great way to sync this up is to open a YouTube video of a metronome doing 40 beats per minute and make adjustments easier than by using a stopwatch.As another reviewer said, this is not a device for making large volumes all at once; I've figured out how to produce enough to fill a 16 oz mason jar with a brew cycle. However, the coffee produced by this device will probably not be the kind of coffee you want to guzzle down like an animal. If you do a good job, the coffee produced by this device will be more like a scotch and you will want to savor it slowly.Here's some things I've learned through A LOT of experience:The filters that come with the device are not optimal for filtering the coffee because for some reason, they cause backups frequently. Aeropress filters do work better. That being said, you can use the included filters as the top filter that you put over the coffee grinds. It is good to have a filter on top to avoid tunneling, and you can reuse these top filters several times by simply rinsing away the grounds after the brew.You can actually run the brew with NO FILTER below the coffee grounds. The holes in the stainless steel grind receptacle are small enough to prevent coffee grinds from falling into your brew. What has worked great for me is pre-infusing the grinds with an equal weight of water to get them evenly soaked and avoid tunneling. So if I grind 26g of beans, I'll weigh out 26g water, pour the grinds into the stainless steel receptacle WITHOUT A FILTER on the bottom, then put 2 filters on the top (I found using 2 instead of 1 actually works better), then slowly pour that 26g of water over the filter, let it steep into the grinds, and get it presoaked. Do this over the sink, you should get some drips coming out the bottom and making any loose grinds fall through. That's okay, I'd rather those grinds come out in the very beginning and not end up in the brewed coffee.Another thing that helps avoid backups is DO NOT compress the grinds. In the beginning, I'd try to get the grinds level by tapping the cup. But I think this compresses the grinds and leads to more likeliness of backups.I use refrigerated water. I've tried runs using ice in the upper chamber, but have not tasted any improvements. All the ice does is makes things more complicated.My personal water to grinds ratio is 11.5 to 1. I weigh 26g beans, I then add 26g water for the preinfusion, then 273g water to the upper chamber. I have discovered that the upper chamber can hold 340g max.One thing I wish I had known from the beginning is if you have the upper chamber dialed in to the actual spigot opening you will be using at the beginning of the brew (or the end of the brew), the water will not start flowing easily when you initially pour in the water at the beginning of the brew. I found instead of slapping the device to encourage the first drops to come through, or opening the valve a lot, I can bang my fist on the counter next to the device to get the drops flowing initially.After all water is finished from the top chamber, keep an eye on the bottom to see if drips are still happening. Kind of like how a turkey keeps cooking after you pull it out of the oven, the coffee is still making its way through the grinds for awhile after the upper chamber has run out of water. Give it enough time for it to completely stop dripping out of the stainless steel grind receptacle.Now here is one of my biggest discoveries: in the beginning, I'd make the concentrate, bottle it in the mason jar, store it in the refrigerator, then add the additional water to it at the time I drank the coffee. But I then experimented with brewing the coffee and then adding the additional water to the brew at the time I bottled it and put it into the refrigerator to age. This allowed whatever flavor profile is going to develop to develop with all the water present and it took the coffee to another new level of awesomeness. So what I do now is weigh the brewed coffee as I pour it into the mason jar (obviously not including the weight of the jar, just the coffee), then whatever the coffee weighs, I add in 70% of that weight in cold water before I put the lid on the jar and stash it in the refrigerator. For example, if I got 240g of dripped concentrate, I then add 168g of cold water on top of that concentrate before putting the lid on the jar and putting it into the refrigerator. When the time comes to drink it, I just pull it out of the refrigerator and it's ready to drink as is.If you do back-to-back brews, it helps to unscrew the valve pieces and shake out any water inside the drip spout. When I didn't do this, I would run into issues where drip rate was inconsistent in the second brew. Sometimes it would come to a complete stop, sometimes drip rate would speed up or slow down suddenly; but when I started doing this separation thing and shaking away water, it fixed the problem.I like to let these coffees age for at least 2 days, but you don't have to. However, don't be shocked when you drink one that's a week old and it sends you into coffee-ecstasy! They do seem to get better over time. I've enjoyed them 10 days out. My buddy says they're awesome at 14 days too. My understanding though, is there is some ceiling when it starts going south.In fact, speaking of my buddy, I just bought one of these as a gift for him and that inspired me to update this review. The fact that I'm giving this as a gift is a further endorsement of my love for this dripper.If any of these suggestions help you with your cold dripping, I'm glad my MANY trials and errors with this device can be of use.ENJOY the cold drip!!! Once you go cold drip, you'll never go back to full immersion!

I only rated this 4 stars but might revise up or down after it is used more. This system appears to work as intended. It has many components and sections but easy to disassemble/assemble for use. I stopped using filtered water, as it was a pain and expect that the tap water might eventually block water drip because of minerals in my water source. The whole assembly is a bit wobbly and I have been afraid it might topple (when adjusting the spigot) but hasn't so far. It is unfortunate that the reservoir, that the extract collects in can't be used for storage. It can't because the cover doesn't fit this part. I have been using 55 gms of fresh ground coarse coffee (that I roast myself) packed into the canister with an espresso tamper and have been using aeropress filters which work fine. Sometimes the pour has to adjusted to start or control the flow rate, which can be time consuming and a pain. It takes about 4 hours for the water to pass through and produce the concentrate. I have been using it for iced coffee so I'm not sure how it compares to freshly brewed coffee (typically using a small press). My only complaints so far are the drip adjustment, concern about possible mineral buildup in the mechanism, relatively small amount of coffee produced given time and effort (I didn't want to spend 300.00 for the bigger unit) ; and the need for a better design that integrates the brewer with a storage unit.

I wish the top held a bit more, so I could fill it with more ice. The adjustable dripper mechanism is weirdly coarse, as in a tiny 10mm rotation one way or the other changes it from 1 drip per sec to 5 drips per sec. The grounds holder could be a little bigger to allow for a hot bloom, if you wanted. The locking/turning tabs are fiddly and I keep thinking I'm gonna chip them off when I turn it. It only holds about 320 ml of water in the top.For the most part, I'm glad I bought it. Once it's set up it certainly makes tastier coffee than traditional immersion cold brew, in my opinion. It brings out more layers of flavors instead of just "balanced with a little chocolate" like most batches of cold brew are. This really helps highlight the origin of the beans, if you buy high quality beans.

I love it so far. It took me few tries to master the opening :) but after couple of errors it became a breeze and now I'm enjoying best cold brew ever !. One thing to keep in mind guys... it's really small so depending how strong you like your coffee, to me the whole container lasts for two servings if I want to dilute it with water. For me ( only drinker ) it's okay but if my husband was up for the challenge I would be looking for something with bigger container.Quality if really good too ( plastic but very decent finishing for me money )

It's a real surprise.Through this, I drink cold- Brew coffee every morning.Whenever I drink coffee through this, I feel happy.

Unfortunately, it looks great but bad design in construction...not easy to assembler.

I personally have purchased this item and I must say that compared to similar cold drip cold brew coffee makers, this ones the best. The quality and craftsmanship is like comparing a Bentley to a Buick. I don't get the issue of having the drip stop in the middle of the brewing process, it's surgical grade stainless steel so its quite precise in timing the drop, probable has the best valve compared to any other cold drip dutch style maker on the market even the $400 models. The flavors you can get out of this thing is amazing!