How do you usually satisfy your cold coffee craving? I have recently added another coffee making equipment to my already packed kitchen. With this cold drip coffee maker, different flavour spectrum can be brought out with the same coffee roasted for pour-over / espresso. In the past, I had to get cold drip/brew coffee from local cafes for that sweet and special whiskey-like flavours.

The big black box of the Cold Drip X5 coffee maker reminded me of receiving a game console on birthday. I first saw this beautiful cold drip setup in the chiller in Sun Ray Cafe. This is also one of the brewing equipment commonly used by Dave Lim, a humble barista and roaster who knows alot about tea brewing! And recently bagged 3rd place in the International Tea Masters Cup!

Inside the box you can find the manual, quick start guide and well laid-out parts.

It can be configured to be used in drip-mode with the water tank on top, or storage mode with an air-tight lid. Two metallic micro filters are also provided for both coffee and tea. And I am going to focus only on its usage for coffee making. Not going to pretend that I know how to prepare tea, maybe I shall learn from Dave one day 😉

The water tank is attached in the drip-mode and the drip-rate can be controlled by tuning the external housing of the X5 Cold Drip coffee maker.

The fine control of drip-rate is made possible by the precisely made drip valve and the valve cotton pad which sits between the water-tank and drip valve.

The drip-rate can be really slow and consistent.

I have been making cold drip in 1:9 ratio, it is also one of the suggested recipe found in the manual. Which is about 60g of coffee grounded in the same setting I would use for espresso to 500ml of brewing water. 60g of coffee fills a 4oz latte cup!

And the result of the spent coffee after about 3-4 hours of dripping in the chiller. I like to start with faster drip-rate in the first 30-min to ensure that the top surface of the coffee bed is submerged. This is to ensure the whole coffee bed is well saturated. Alternately, pre-wet the ground in the micro filter before dripping.

You definitely do not want to spot dry and wasted coffee ground at the end of the drip! This can be a problem if the drip-rate is too slow.

After dripping, the server can be sealed with the airtight lid. This is important because the coffee can be sweeter and tastier a day or two after dripping. So allow the coffee to rest in the chiller. I know it is hard to resist the temptation!

 

There you have it, easy cold drip coffee making at the comfort of your own home with a slick looking equipment. Considering getting one? Here are some of the points to note.

The Good

• Easy to setup and clean
• Easy to adjust drip-rate in-flight with no disassembly of the setup needed
• Good storage solution for resting coffee

Not so good

• Not easy to pour coffee from server to cup without spilling

 

The X5 Cold Drip coffee making equipment is now available in-store at Sun Ray cafe and online from Parchmen & Co