Instant Cold Brewer review: This coffee maker proved I don’t need to wait a lifetime for cold brew — and neither do you

I am a year-round fan of cold brew coffee and iced tea — come rain or snow, you can usually find me throwing some ice into my morning coffee. The extra prep time needed for a cold brew always bothers me, though. Many of the machines out there take ridiculous times to brew the perfect coffee, so you can understand why it feels like the Instant Cold Brewer is made for me.

Boasting an incredibly simple operation and, most importantly, delicious coffee, the Instant Cold Brewer is one of the most unobtrusive and straightforward methods to get your cool beverage fix. The standout benefit of using this brewer is the speedy brewing times — you can get 4 cups of cold brew after a wait of just 15 to 20 minutes.

Despite a couple of issues, this brewer made getting my cold brew fix painless for the first time in my life. Could it be one of the best coffee makers for you?

Read on for my full Instant Cold Brewer review.

Instant Cold Brewer review: Cheat Sheet

• What is it? A cold brew coffee and iced tea machine
• Who is it for? Anyone who doesn’t want to wait ages for their homemade cold brew
• What does it cost? A very reasonable $59 at Amazon
• What do we like? It’s sleek and easy to operate thanks to a foolproof design
• What don’t we like? Cleaning the machine can be frustrating and nailing the perfect brew can take some trial and error

Instant Cold Brewer review: Price & availability

The Instant Cold Brewer is available for just $59 at Amazon, although you cannot buy it directly from Instant. In the U.K., you can grab yours from the Instant website for £79, or £59 from Amazon.

It’s therefore very affordable, over $140 cheaper than other domestic cold brew and iced coffee machines like the Keurig K-Brew + Chill ($199) — although this is a pod machine. A closer competitor is the Presto Dorothy, which you can currently get for just $53 on Amazon. Like the Instant machine, the Presto also uses the ‘tornado effect’ to brew your cold brew, which I’ll explain later, however it has a smaller water volume than the Instant Cold Brewer.

Consider too that an average-priced cold brew jug will set you back between $20-40, such as the Cold Brew Coffee Bottle from Whittard ($36). This will take 8 hours to fully brew, so paying an extra $20 for an electrified machine brewer which is done in 20 minutes is an even better deal in comparison.

Instant Cold Brewer review: Design

The Cold Brewer has a simple design, looking plain enough to fit into any kitchen while not looking cheap. This is really helped by the use of a glass jug rather than plastic, which gives the machine a sleek finish, and a metal coffee container, which keeps the unit looking premium even if the water jug isn’t in position.

The water jug is topped with a small plastic lid, which rotates to lock and is supposed to prevent any accidental spillage. However, liquid does still come out, so you can't rely on it to prevent all spillages. Thankfully the lid twists easily, so pouring the finished coffee isn't much of a problem.

The plastic base has a small LED display, with a touchpad to adjust brewing time — it's not particularly sensitive to the touch and I would have preferred a mechanical button. You can’t see the remaining time easily from across the kitchen, which is a shame, but it is clear enough if observing closer up. 

The only problem with the design is the pretty short power cable — I don’t have many accessible sockets in my kitchen, so I had to rearrange a few things to make space for it. The stand and jug is lightweight and easily stored, although the cable is not detachable and gets in the way when storing. 

Instant Cold Brewer review: Operation

Using the Cold Brewer is as simple as loading the central unit with ground coffee in a 14:1 ratio to the water, according to the video instructions provided by Instant. There are clearly laid out lines drawn on the glass to measure water levels, with a large maximum volume of 4 cups. This is easily a day’s worth of cold brew for a couple of people, and measures up well compared to other machines I have mentioned — even the De’Longhi ‘’Cold Extraction’’ attachment only allows for one cup at a time.

The brew time adjustment button can’t be held down, nor are there any time preset buttons. So, to get to a 20 minute brew (the recommended brew time), you have to tap the button twenty times. It’s a bit of a pain.

Once you get it running, though, you will see that the Instant Cold Brewer in action is, oddly, a beautiful thing to behold. The clear glass jug allows you to see the diffusion of the loose tea or coffee ground into the water. The machine uses a ‘tornado’ motion, effectively spinning a pair of blades at the bottom of the central cylinder, with gentle pulses of the motor at regular intervals gently encouraging the coffee to brew. 

The timer on the front of the base will show a live reading of the remaining time, and you can simply add more time using the ‘’+’’ button, or otherwise stop the operation early by pressing the cancel button. It’s simple but effective, and does all you really need from a cold brew machine.

Instant Cold Brewer review: Noise

A special mention goes to the low operating volume of the Instant Cold Brewer. The machine is practically silent during operation besides roughly 5-second pulses of the motor — this doesn’t reach above 62db according to the Decibel X app, quieter than many other coffee machines available.

On the other hand, there is a short digital jingle when the machine finishes operation, but this is actually a little too quiet — you’re probably not going to hear this if you leave the machine running while getting ready in the morning.

What isn’t quiet is the ear-splitting beep of the timer when you are programming it. As I previously mentioned, you have to add each minute individually, so the loud beep can get very irritating.

Instant Cold Brewer review: Results and taste

Instant recommends 20 minutes brew time for coffee, and in my testing anything less than about 15 minutes produced a subpar result — visibly, the coffee is only properly diffused into the water after about 15-20 minutes, depending on the roast and liquid volume, and the full flavor is transferred after 20 minutes. 

The machine supports a maximum of 30 minutes brew time, which should be long enough to maximize flavor. This is still remarkably quick compared to the usual 8-12 hour time for non-mechanical cold brewers, but is beaten by high-end espresso machines that can cold brew by the shot, such as the De'Longhi La Specialista Maestro’s ($1,199) being able to brew in just 5 minutes. The Presto Dorothy also beats the Instant brewer, with a recommended brew time of just 15 minutes, although it has a lower max capacity.

Experimenting with timing often yielded poor results — in my testing, I found that loose tea took a little longer than coffee to make a full-tasting iced tea. I was left with only ‘’tea-flavored water’’ after leaving the machine running for 20 minutes, rather than a full-bodied taste.

Thankfully, you can use the adjustable brew time to get around most issues, although it will involve a little trial and error to begin with. Instant recommends using a medium roast, and for 20-minute brews I found that this gave better results than a light roast — this was disappointing initially, as the latter being my cold brew go-to.  However, I used a slightly higher amount of grounds and bumped up the brewing time to the maximum 30 minutes, yielding great results with a light roast.  

An issue I came across was that a full load of coffee could sometimes cause a large amount of coffee grounds to get into the final cup, and when I used a fine grind this issue occurred in every pour. The cold brew was a little powdery, despite tasting good overall, so you’ll want to use a medium-coarse ground from one of the best coffee grinders. 

Instant Cold Brewer review: Cleaning

The main issue I have with the Instant Cold Brewer revolves around cleaning. The black plastic handle and lid rim at the top of the water jug are non-removable, which makes giving the glass jug a proper clean quite challenging — I have medium-sized hands, and cut the side of my hand with the sharp plastic when trying to reach inside, although this was in part due to trying to reach the tricky spots underneath the rim.

The underside of the lid is quite complex, but this won’t get too dirty from coffee grounds or loose tea so a quick rinse will do the trick. The black plastic parts of the jug however are prone to getting coffee stuck inside, and are nearly impossible to access directly. I couldn’t get to these areas with a sponge of a brush and had to rely on rinsing alone, which could cause dirt and mold build up over time — less than ideal.

That being said, the Cold Brewer is dishwasher-safe, which provides an easy way to get those hard to reach spots. I also appreciated being able to detach the lower portion of the central cylinder to access the blades of the motor itself. This part tended to gather a lot of coffee grounds and especially loose tea, so being able to easily rinse this off was a big convenience.

Instant Cold Brewer review: Verdict

The Instant Cold Brewer is an affordable and effective way of getting your iced drink fix at home. For not much more than a standard cold brew jug, you can speed up the process massively, and without much effort.

You will have to try and deal with a slightly frustrating cleaning process, and be prepared for a bit of  trial and error with roasts, grinds and timing to get the flavor just right. However, the fast brew times make the process a lot less tedious than attempting the same guesswork on a non-machine brewer. Your successes will taste all the more sweet thanks to the large capacity too, allowing you to share the joy of cold brew with others.

The Instant Cold Brewer is my go-to for DIY cold brew and tea, and guarantees I will never go back to a hot brewed iced beverage again.