YAMCDM8SBK Cold Drip Maker (6-8 Cups), Yama Glass, Black

When I opened the box I found broken

It operates as expected. It works well when using water at room temperature. Started using it for making tea as well and it is sweet, smooth, tasty, floral and there is no bitter aftertaste. You can use a slower pace than one drop per second. Set it and forget it.

UPDATE: I noticed my valve wouldn't stop dripping even when "off." I sent a 15 second video and my amazon order number to the company via email and got a response within an hour that they are sending me a replacement valve for free. I think the reviews that say "received it broken," etc, and gave one star - what jerks. The company can't control if sometimes in shipping something breaks - if the company is responsive and takes care of any damaged items (as they obviously do), what more can you expect? Ok, now back to the regularly scheduled review: I researched a lot of different cold brew methods and did the "jar of grounds in the fridge" for a month to make sure cold brew wouldn't have the acid (I have a mild ulcer and a cup of coffee a day for about two weeks and it starts hurting all the time). After a month, I was ready to commit. Then I started looking at all the cold brew methods out there. Honestly, I was planning to spend $50, maybe $75 for something nice for my "coffee ritual" and have a little show-off to my buddies. Then I saw the Yama brew tower and couldn't get it out of my mind. North of $250 is a serious commitment for a cup of coffee. And it certainly fits the bill when it comes to show-off. When my friends asked my how much it cost, I just send them the link to this amazon page and tell them they should buy one for themselves. On the show-off note - My wife told me she would make space for it in the kitchen, and I said "nothin' doin'." I had it setup on the counter in front of my bookshelf in my office, and besides looking amazing in my office, the smell is out of this world when I'm brewing. Speaking of my wife, at first she scoffed about paying $270 for something to make coffee. She said "you'll play with it for a month and then never use it again." I figured she'd be biased enough to not really like the coffee. Now she comes in my office throughout the day for another cup. She absolutely loves it and can tell the difference between this and everything else we've ever used, which includes a $1,000 espresso machine, fridge-cold brew, and every latest thing that comes out of starbucks. This single stand easily replaces all of that stuff in hands-down amazing flaver. I compared the reviews of folks who were in love with their setup and found folks that used the "Toddy Cold Brew" were just as fanatical about the taste of their coffee as folks who bought a Yama tower. If you're like me, you're probably thinking "yeah, why not just spring for the $40 and buy the Toddy system?" Two main things bugged me about the Toddy: (1) It's plastic. I'm just not a fan of my drink being in plastic. BPA or not, I'd just rather use glass. (2) (and this is the big one) It's kinda one-size fits all. You don't have that much control over the brew. If you want the Toddy system, let me save you $40. I'll give you the $2 mason jar I fridge-brewed with. You'll get the same result. I noticed there are other towers out there that don't have the cool looking stand or the science-experiment looking coil, etc. So why the Yama instead of another coil-less tower? Again, two reasons: 1. It looks way cooler. 2. I think the coil does enhance the coffee because it's helping aerate the brew before hitting the flask, just like you do with a fine wine. As far as any other coffee you may have drank in your life - trust me. The Yama coffee tastes worlds different. I tell my friends it's like you can tell it's coffee, but at the same time, it's completely different. There is no comparison in taste. And yes, the coffee even ages. It will taste different each day it ages after the brew. Because of this I bought 2 more beakers, their caps, and even ceramic filters (I'm also going to cold brew lose leaf tea with this and want a separate ceramic filter for the tea). I now brew a beaker and drink it over the next couple days, and every day that same coffee brew has a totally different flavor. I can tell it's coffee, but it's totally different than coffee. I've never been the guy that could tell the difference in tastes enough to pair foods together, or wines, etc. But suddenly the age of the coffee tastes different with different foods. I can have the same breakfast two days in a row, and drink from the same brew and the second day the coffee tastes different and it brings out different flavors in the same breakfast than the day before. My coffee used to never bring out the flavor of anything I drank. Now it's like a central part of the meal. Yes. No kidding. So look, if you've read this far, I'm guessing you're going to buy it, so let me give you some tips for your best cup. 0. Don't drink your coffee. Taste it. You don't have to do like some silly mouth wash routine like you see people do when they taste wines, etc. But just take small sips and taste what it's like in your mouth, and then pay attention especially to the after taste. Trust me. It won't be like coffee. After you've tasted it a bit, feel free to drink it. 1. Don't be afraid to experiment. 2. A brew you don't like today may taste better tomorrow, put it in a jar and let it sit on your shelf, taste it over the next couple days. I don't refrigerate mine, it sits right here next to the tower in my office. 3. Use a burr grinder. Trust me. I have the kitchenaid burr grinder (you can buy them here on amazon, search for KCG0702CS to see what I have). Why a burr? Because you can use the dial to get the exact granular size of your grind and it does make a difference. Same beans with a different grind setting, brewed exactly the same, will taste different. I typically grind between 3.5 to 5 (not sure what that means anywhere else, but it's the settings on my grinder). A 1 is the coarsest grind, an 8 is the smallest. So this would be right around the middle setting of any other grinder you may use. 4. Be a scientist. When I brew, I write the date and time I start the brew, which beans I'm using, what the grind setting was, how much water I'm using, and whether it is with or without ice. I typically always keep the drip the same, but if I were going to play around with that, I'd write that on the note too. That note stays with the coffee. As I drink it over the next couple days I decide if I like that combo or not and think how I will adjust things next time to get a different brew. 5. Use different beans. Try them from all over. Never turn a bean down, you may be surprised how much you like the flavor. I say that, but I tend to stay away from dark roast because it's usually more "burnt" that "flavor". I've had my best luck with medium roasts, but I read that a lot of people love using a light roast with cold brew towers. Try a large variety and figure out which one(s) are your favorites. (come back and leave a comment with your experience, share your recipes, I will write you back. When you try different beans, remember to try them at different grind settings. It will change the way the coffee tastes and you may like different grind setting depending on the bean. What's the worst that can happen? You taste a bean/grind you don't like even after letting it sit for several days. It helps you appreciate the combinations you really like. 6. I pack my grounds down in the middle beaker and then loosen the top of the grounds a little and then put the paper filter on top. Check out the pictures to see what I mean. Why do this? You'll see the starting picture the grounds are lower in the beaker, and then after it's going for a little bit (maybe an hour or more), the grounds have risen up to the top. After that, they shrink back down. If you leave the grounds "as is" and don't pack them down, the water can find it's own little path through the grounds and not wet the entire beaker. But there's no mistake when the grounds have risen like you see in my pictures that all the grounds are completely saturated. Also, if the top of the grounds is a little uneven when they are packed, it's ok, when they rise they will even out. Here's what happens: For the first 45 min or so the grounds absorb water and begin to rise. Then the first drops start coming through after the grounds are completely saturated. The smell is amazing. Put your nose down around the beaker opening, is almost a sweet smell. You've never smelled anything like that. Those drops are thick and black, kind of like a lose syrup. You'll notice the water is dripping in much faster than the coffee is dripping out. That's because the grounds are still "processing" the water. Once they've risen all the way up, it's almost like a soup. If you tap it, it will act kind of like jelly. After the grounds have risen all the way up, it's like they reach this saturation point were suddenly they absorb the water and at the same time flush out everything and for the next couple hours the grounds will go down while the dark black drips out. The drip speed coming out of the middle beaker will be a lot faster now than the drip speed of your water because it's "catching up". Once the grounds have shrunk almost all the way back down, you'll notice the drip coming out is now very very light brown, so light you can easily see through it. Now all the dense part of the coffee has been brewed out and the remaining flavor is being pulled out of the grind. My process takes about 5-6 hours. Sometimes I do it at night where I can monitor it for the first 3-4 hours, because you do have to adjust the drip as it's going. It's just the nature of the silicone in the valve to shrink and expand as it heats and cools, causing the drip rate to change a little over time. I really hope you've enjoyed this review, and hope if you buy the Yama tower you come back to this review and leave a comment about your experience. Not sure if this is allowed by amazon, but if you'd like to email me with your cold brew experiences, my email is my first name at my first name last name dot com.

I gave that as a gift to a friend and they loved it. It's more for the look but it does the job for cold brew well

I bought this for my husband for father's day and he was so exited! Here is how I got to the buying, maybe I can get you to the fun part faster than I got there! I had seen this on Amazon I don't even know how long ago and even though we are huge coffee fans I wasn't sure about getting it. We had a Toddy maker Toddy T2N Cold Brew System (which is fabulous btw) and I just wasn't sure how much different this would be, plus it was fragile, not good with an autistic teenager in the house, not to mention how expensive it was. So I saved it to my list and mulled it over, and over, and over.... Meanwhile the kid moved out, and we found a great coffee house that actually had one of these. My husband tried their drink which is the coffee concentrate over ice, no water added. He loved it. Right then I decide to finally get this for him. It arrived well packed and nothing broken. He was so happy when he unpacked it and totally surprised that I had found one. :) When put together it is so cool looking. You just know a scientist in his lab was working late one night and needed coffee so he came up with this! As for my husband, he is making a batch every week now. The only reason I gave it 4 stars is because it has next to no instructions. Getting the brew right is quite tricky and more detailed instructions would really help with that. So this is what I know about brewing with it...You have to refill the water (usually once) as it brews, the grind you use is important, not unlike espresso, too fine and it brews too slow (over extracted, bitter concentrate) too coarse and it brews too fast (under extracted, sour concentrate) sorry I can't tell you more about that, but really it is going to vary based on where you live and how humid the air is, if it is anything like espresso. You also have to adjust the drip speed at the spigot several times while it is brewing. I don't know how much you can make up for the grind with the spigot drip speed, as I have never made it. It is his, so he is the barista here. The instructions say you should finish brewing in around three hours. I can tell you the smell of the concentrate is AMAZING! It hangs in the air around the maker like an invisible cloud from the time the concentrate hits the decanter, until you cap it and put it in the fridge. Even if it is not brewed to perfection, the coffee that comes out of this is good, when you finally get it right it is just awesome. It doesn't make a ton though, so my husband likes to add it to his regular coffee for an extra shot of coffee goodness, that way it lasts longer. Oh and as for the Toddy they are totally different creatures. They produce a different tasting concoction, both are a concentrate and both are lower acid than hot brew methods, but they are both worth getting if you already have a Toddy maker. As a matter of fact that great coffee house had both kinds of drinks on it's menu. If you have never done cold brew before and are trying to decide which one to try first, you may want to start with the Toddy, it is much simpler and a good starting point. I am planing on getting the filters for the AeroPress AeroPress Micro-Filters, Package of 350 . I THINK they are the size of paper filters you need for this, and you get 350 of them in the package for very little money, worth a try anyway. I will try to update this when we try it. Update: these filters are a great size, the fit really well, the one thing my husband said was that they didn't wet uniformly and the water started to make a little river out of itself on the filter, he pressed the filter flat into the grounds when he saw it, that got it wet all over and solved the problem. I suggested he pre-wet the filter next time. I would think just being slightly damp would solve that problem, something to try anyway ain't physics fun! Another thing I wanted to point out was that the maker of the filters actually suggests that you rinse and reuse the filters, if you want to do that. So if you are a green reuse type of person, or just a really cheap one (Hi Mom!) that's another reason to like these filters. Bottom line: this is not a coffee maker for someone who just wants an easy cup of joe. This takes some tinkering, but if you are inclined, it is fun to do, so good, and really a work of art in it's own right.