For lovers of cold coffee, quick-brew options typically come down to one of two things: hot-brewed espresso poured over ice, or cold brew/iced coffee functions on a hot coffee machine that often produce tepid, weak results. Many commercial brewers are available for cold brew, but most are steeping vessels that require advance notice and produce large volumes. Single-serve, high-quality cold brew was nearly absent from the coffee device landscape.
Pros & Cons
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Makes excellent quality cold brew in five minutes -
No paper filter required -
Simple operation -
Portable cup for taking cold brew concentrate on the go -
Lightweight with a small footprint -
Thoughtful features and accessories -
Relatively inexpensive
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Cheap plastic concentrate cup for the price -
No visible timer or countdown for cycle
Cuisinart’s new Concentra aims to fill that void with an automatic machine that serves one purpose: cold brew. Promising cold brew concentrate in about five minutes, the Concentra steeps rapidly under pressure and dispenses a single serving of concentrated cold brew, ready over ice or on the go.
A slight build is one of the many things I liked about the Concentra.Pamela Vachon/CNET
Cuisinart Concentra at a glance
- Function: automatic cold brew coffee maker with settings for cold brew concentrate and various iced coffee sizes, dispensing water along with concentrate.
- Dimensions: 8.92″D x 7.11″W x 12.6″H
- Weight: 6.75 lbs
- Price $100
An included scoop fits the mouth of the filter cup.Pamela Vachon/CNET
Cuisinart Concentra setup and operation
As a single-function coffee maker, the Cuisinart Concentra has no real mystery. The only real setup required is inserting the provided water filter into the capsule that holds it in place within the water reservoir. Otherwise, you can go from unboxing to brewing in less than a minute.
Choose from cold brew concentrate or four iced coffee sizes.Pamela Vachon/CNET
Its operation is equally simple. The menu has only five programs: cold brew concentrate, the machine’s only function, and four iced coffee sizes that dispense the right amount of water into the waiting vessel along with cold brew concentrate.
What I liked about the Cuisinart Concentra
There is a secure lid for bringing cold brew concentrate on the go.Pamela Vachon/CNET
For such a simple machine, there is a lot to like here. To start, and most importantly, the cold brew concentrate it produces is genuinely concentrated, so much so that you actually need water to dilute it. (For the record, I’m using freshly roasted beans ground to an espresso size, which surely helps with the concentration I achieved.) It does this with pressure, not heat, in about five minutes, so the concentrate comes out at room temperature. (In a world where many hot coffee makers are moving toward plastic-free brewing, this isn’t as necessary for a cold coffee maker.)
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In a machine that’s ultimately very simple, there are still a lot of thoughtful touches. I liked the compartment built into the side of the machine that holds the coffee scoop. The scoop is a generous size, since cold brew takes a lot of grounds, and its mouth fits perfectly into the filter cup. The filter has a built-in metal mesh, so you don’t need a paper filter. The provided plastic cup for cold brew concentrate has an airtight lid for on-the-go use, and the lid threads onto the cup base when not in use to help users keep track of it. The base of the machine adjusts in height when the small concentrate cup is used as the receiving vessel, which helps avoid unnecessary splashing during brewing.
The height is adjustable for brewing small volumes of concentrate.Pamela Vachon/CNET
Did I mention that this device actually produces great-tasting cold brew?
What I didn’t like about the Cuisinart Concentra
If I’m honest, there’s very little to criticize about the Concentra system, but before I get into the couple of bits that could arguably be improved, I want to touch on a couple of things that may seem like drawbacks but aren’t.
The concentrate cup is small and cheap, but has a secure lid.Pamela Vachon/CNET
First, we produce cold brew concentrate in a 2-ounce portion. For those accustomed to Starbucks or Dunkin’ sizes, this will seem like a scandalously small volume of coffee. However, measure for measure, those 2 ounces of cold brew have the potency of about 6 to 8 shots of espresso. It’s strong and needs water plus ice to dilute it. Once assembled, those 2 ounces of concentrate look like your Grande cold brew.
At first, I thought the water reservoir was pretty meager, given that you can choose a 16-ounce iced coffee on the menu, which would basically empty the entire tank. I’m not willing to put “needing to fill up the water reservoir daily” on the cons list, though, since fresher water makes for better coffee, full stop.
The water reservoir is small, but the compartment for the scoop is nice.Pamela Vachon/CNET
As for actual drawbacks, the little concentrate cup is admittedly pretty cheap-looking, even though it’s a sound, sealable, lightweight vessel for taking cold brew concentrate on the go. The cycle is long for a coffee maker (but short for cold brew), and a timer or countdown indicator might be nice, but a more extensive digital display would also drive up the price and isn’t entirely necessary.
Final verdict on Cuisinart Concentra
The Concentra dispenses water along with cold brew concentrate.Pamela Vachon/CNET
I’m keeping the Cuisinart Concentra for my personal coffee-making collection, which should count as high praise, given how many machines I use. (It joins forces with Casabrews and Aeropress in my cupboard.) If you love cold brew, I daresay no other device can do what this does as well, or as quickly, in a single portion that won’t go stale in your fridge over the coming days. Lightweight and small, you can easily put it away seasonally if that’s your vibe. It’s early, but you don’t have to take my word for it: Ratings for the Concentra model on both Amazon and Cuisinart’s website put it comfortably at 4.7 out of 5 stars.
The cold coffee money shot.Pamela Vachon/CNET
Pamela Vachon
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