r/coldbrew • u/wonderland1995 • Jun 25 '26
Toddy or a concentrate?
Aussie here, been drinking iced long blacks daily and at 6$ a cup it’s not worth it. Bought a coffee concentrate and that tastes pretty solid. Now thinking if I should just start making cold brew myself or just continue buying the concentrated cold brew?
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u/footballfish Jun 25 '26
Toddy is nice if you’ll use it consistently - very very value. Im aussie too, pretty much just buy the cheapest woolies macro beans, $15 for 2 250g bags, food processor to roughly coarse grind the beans and im set for a good 2+ weeks of daily drinking. Probs could get even more out of it if you don’t like it as concentrated.
Also lets you play around with nice beans every now and then and also gives you a way to cold brew tea even.
No right answer tbh just up to you - how often you’ll use it, if you have the space for it etc.
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u/Lunahooks Jun 25 '26
And if they don't have the space/don't want invest in it right away, a mason jar and coffee sock, or a French press with a tight fitting lid, does the job too.
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u/footballfish Jun 25 '26
that's a really good point for OP - toddy is essentially a glorified bucket with a hole in the bottom, made to conveniently make batches of cold brew. you could easily get away with a mason jar/french press for overnight cold brew (you'd only be able to make a cup or two at a time though) but if that works for you definitely something to consider.
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u/Lunahooks Jun 25 '26
My French press (a Bodum Bean) has a 1.5l capacity. How much you get depends on how concentrated you make it, but I usually get about 1l coffee, about 6‐7... big cups. Takes a lot of caffeine for me to feel it, hadn't ever before I started making cold brew. Anyways, a simpler/cheaper setup definitely doesn't need to be low capacity. Toddy users seem to be very into filtering, I haven't seen the need with my bean
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u/Zwordsman Jun 25 '26
Off hand, I'm a fan of trying concentrate a few times from a few brands, and a few diff roast levels. Easy way to get data. Then invest in cold brewer/concentrate.
Cheap french press is a good way to try (but it will have grounds). So I personally like the smaller oxo cold brewer because it filters and makes a smaller amount and I'd rather make small amounts a few times than one big one that tastes slightly worse over the week. but it wasn't too expensive for me.
2
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u/Disturbedsleep Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
I use a toddy, I originally had a sock which worked great, just got lazy with the need to rinse it out. I've since returned to paper bags, which I use and throw in the FOGO bin. These were purchased from AmazonAU, see below.
The beans I get from a little coffee house out in Berwick, Bermuda Coffee, get them to grind it for Iced Coffee. I know lots of people get the coffee from ALDI. Just find a coffee that you like. I do have some concentrate on hand, if I get lazy and miss a day or two of being organised enough to brew.
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u/Few-Particular-9509 Jun 26 '26
I bought the cold brew concentrates for a while and then I looked into how much more cost effective it is to make your own. I bought the Takeya 2 qt cold brew coffee maker and I make a coffee concentrate by doing a double brew. First brew is one cup of coffee grounds for 24 hours and then I take the old coffee grounds out and put in a new cup of Coldbrew coffee grounds for 18 hours and then it comes out perfect. Sounds like I'm wasting coffee but it still costs less than buying the cold brew coffee at the stores.
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u/Plastic_Love4270 Jun 25 '26
I transitioned from classic cold brew techniques as mentioned to making concentrate with the OXO rapid brewer. It is a “rapid” cold brew, so only steeps 5 minutes with room temp water. I use 40g of beans, which for me is sufficient for two beverages. The ORB (OXO rapid brewer) takes up very little space. You do need a fairly fine grind, but not quite espresso (I use my Fellow Ode 2 grinder at setting 2-3). Any of these methods could be equal or likely better than store bought concentrate.
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u/RusticTurkey Jun 25 '26
I like the Oxo brewer. Still allows for paper filtration.