If you enjoy a morning cup of Joe, you’ve probably sampled cold brew coffee. The main reason consumers prefer cold brewing over standard methods is because brewing at lower temperatures extracts the best flavor while leaving behind the bitterness and acidity. This results in a smoother cup of coffee where the subtler notes such as tangerine, wild cherry, walnut, and toasted marshmallow all stand out. The one caveat to all this is that cold brew often takes 12 hours to create using traditional methods.
FirstBuild, a co-creation community backed by GE Appliances, is aiming to make cold brew as easy as making a standard cup with their innovative new cold brew coffee machine, Prisma. Leveraging a specialized vacuum infusion process, Prisma is aiming to get coffee-shop-quality results in “I-don’t-have-time-to-visit-a-coffee-shop” kinds of timeframes. Using the device involves a simple three step process: add finely ground coffee and water at the desired ratio, push the button to begin extracting the coffee through vacuum insulation, wait about 10 minutes. The cold brew drains into the carafe and you’re ready to slug your morning mix.
Prepping the device for a thorough wash is fairly straightforward too. Users simply slide the brew chamber off, discard the used filter and grounds, then just detach the brew chamber and filter retainer ring. Rather than relying on proprietary filters, Prisma uses a standard basked filter which is the kind used in commercial coffee makers.
For an 8:1 brew ratio (34oz water, 4.5oz coffee grounds, and 24oz cold brew coffee), Prisma outputs 700 mL (23.7 oz) or approximately four 6-oz. cups. The carafe is constructed of glass and the device is powered by any standard 120V outlet. At just 17.5” Prisma is engineered to fit under most cabinets.
Prisma is currently available for pre-order via their Indiegogo campaign and early-bird specials are still available at $229, which is $70 off the eventual retail price. With about 3 weeks left to go in the campaign, Prisma has raised just under $130,000 on their $150K goal. It’s a hefty sum to start for a coffee machine but according to the inventors, it is a coffee machine like no other; they say it’s the fastest cold brew machine around. With the right kind of kick from coffee-lovers, they’ll be changing Monday mornings everywhere in June 2017.
This isn’t their first break into the beverage innovation market. FirstBuild has successfully raised a bit of money for other products of theirs through crowdfunding. The Opal Nugget Ice Maker, for example, is an affordable specialty ice maker that produces soft, tiny, fast-chilling ice cubes that absorb the flavor of the beverage. Aside from the price, what sets it apart from the crowd is the fact it doesn’t require a dedicated water line. The crowdfunding campaign for that device raised over $2,700,000 last year; 1700% of their goal. In a few weeks we’ll see if the cold brew coffee maker concoction can keep the pace.
