Ronco Coffee Time Brew System Review

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Ronco Coffee Time Brew System

The Ronco Coffee Time Brew System

As you know, we at Gear Diary love our coffee.  My Keurig is still a great system, but I love to make coffee pretty much any way I can; that also includes on ice.  Quite some time ago, I was exposed to cold brew coffee by one of my local coffee shops.  I only had a small sample, but what I tried was amazing.  So I looked up devices like the Toddy T2N and other systems for making cold brew including tryin to make it in the brewers I already have.  The Toddy was what I was planning on buying; however, on the day of my son’s birthday party I had to stop and get some paper plates for birthday cake, and I came across the Ronco Coffee Time Brew System at a local bargain outlet for the low price of 4 bucks.  I jumped on it, as I figured that even if I hated it I would only be out 4 bucks and a little coffee.

Ronco Coffee Time Brew System

The Coffee Time system is very simple; it’s essentially a big funnel with a rubber stopper, a felt filter(with one replacement), a lid and a carafe with lid for catching the cold brew.  That’s it.  To make it, I put in a regular coffee filter in the bottom on top of the felt filter, then I measure out a cup to a cup and a half of coffee; next I’ll measure out 48 to 56 ounces of water.  I usually use a cup and a half of coffee to 56 ounces of water.  I also alternate adding coffee and water so as to get the ground coffee as saturated as I can.  Once it is full, the temptation is to stir the coffee, but you should not do this — it will clog the felt pad up.  Just let it sit.  After it’s set up, I put it in the fridge and let it sit for 12 hours.

Ronco Coffee Time Brew System

After 12 hours, I pull the stopper out and sit it on top of the carafe.  The coffee extract drips down into the carafe.  It takes about 5 minutes for the funnel to completely drain.  Once it’s done, you now have a concentrated coffee solution.  For iced coffee, I will fill up a 16 oz cup of ice, pour the extract in until the cup is halfway full, and then fill the rest with milk or cold water.  This is a must, as what this system makes is concentrated; you are on your own if you don’t dilute it!  When I first tried a small sip of the extract undiluted, I almost immediately felt the effect of the caffeine in the brew; be on the safe side, dilute it! You can also mix the extract and water in about a 1 to 1 ratio and microwave it if you’d like hot coffee.  I’ve done this, and it’s quite good.

Ronco Coffee Time Brew System

Now Ronco claims that their cold brew is also better for you if your stomach is sensitive to the acids in regular coffee. Ronco says that the resultant brew has 65 percent less acid then regular coffee, and that there’s less bitter taste as all of that is in the oils which are filtered out by the felt pad.  Because of the uniqueness of the cold brew, I found that I could get great coffee with mediocre coffee as well.  I still recommend getting something a bit above Folgers, but I have tried this with 2 store brand premium blends, and it worked well!

Ronco Coffee Time Brew System

Finally, the uses for the cold extract are many.  You can do it up almost anyway you want after it’s brewed: cold, hot, or frappe — it’s all good.  The best part is you add what you want to it.  That means you can add less sugar than what Starbucks would or no sugar at all.  So the result is healthier for you as well.

So am I happy?  Well, I am so happy with the system that I went and got another one for the same price!  Now I can make twice the amount of coffee at the same time.  One of the carafes full of extract is going with me to work for the remainder of the spring and summer season until I get the yen to have hot coffee again.  For now, I am really enjoying my iced coffee in the morning.

MSRP: $9.99.  I paid $3.99 at a discount store.  You can get one for $9.40 on Amazon.

What Like: Easy to get good iced coffee every day

What Needs Improvement: Cleanup is a bit messy

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About the Author

Joel McLaughlin
Joel is a consultant in the IT field and is located in Columbus, OH. While he loves Linux and tends to use it more than anything else, he will stoop to running closed source if it is the best tool for the job. His techno passions are Linux, Android, netbooks, GPS, podcasting and Amateur Radio.

4 Comments on "Ronco Coffee Time Brew System Review"

  1. Kate Zambon | April 16, 2013 at 8:53 pm |

    I have one of these and I love it! I found a glass Coffee Toddy carafe at the thrift store for 50 cents, but getting the other parts of the system was still crazy expensive. Plus, from what I understand the Toddy system doesn’t have a lid for the brewing basket. Advantage Ronco. One thing that makes cleanup super easy: look for extra large commercial coffee filters to line the basket. If the waterline doesn’t exceed the top of the filter, cleanup is really easy. 14+ cup filters aren’t so easy to find though, unfortunately.

  2. As a avid Coffee drinker and fellow Gadget lover, I think the idea is ok however the design does not seem that great. Large bulky and overnight for Coffee concentrate bleh. There are plenty better coffee making devices French press and my new Aero Press are two of them which I feel are the best for fast great tasting coffee. Check out the Aero Press I have had it for a couple months now and it’s great for travel, durable and a good design. Cheers

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