This Machine Promises to Make (Good) Instant Cold Brew, But How Well Does It Work?

If you’re a fan of cold brew coffee, you’re in good company. The market for the drinks, estimated to grow to about $3.87 billion this year, is expected to reach more than $16 billion by 2032. That noise we’re all familiar with—swirling ice around supersized plastic cups between sips—isn’t going away anytime soon.

I love cold brewed coffee enough to drink it year-round and keep a squeeze bottle filled with simple syrup in the refrigerator to tune up my late afternoon dose. Cold brew tastes great and doesn’t need a lot of fancy gear. Even with a bag of premium beans, you could make cold brew at home for far less than what you'd pay at most coffee shops, though this takes at least eight hours and usually overnight.

Do you know who doesn’t have to wait long for coffee? Those who take it hot in a traditional coffee maker (or the Keurig crowd). Even the four minutes or so it requires to do pour-over feels “instant” compared to cold brew.

Cumulus Coffee The Cumulus Machine

View on Williams Sonoma View on Cumuluscoffee.com

Cumulus is the first machine to offer on-demand cold brew. Instead of chilling hot coffee over ice, or shortcutting the steeping process while making cold brew—both options we’ve seen before—Cumulus relies on capsules full of cold brew concentrate and, essentially, a mini refrigerator inside that keeps water at around a crisp 43ºF. If you love cold brew or nitro coffee enough to spend $700 on a machine and invest in a pod-based system, the Cumulus delivers on taste and speed.

The Tests

• Taste Test: Using both dark and medium roast pods, I made several cups of the machine’s three options—cold coffee, nitro, and espresso—and noted the taste and texture.
• Temperature Test: Using an instant-read thermometer, I took the temperature of each of the machine’s three drinks and noted the temperature consistency.
• Timing Test: I brewed each of the Cumulus' three drinks and timed how long they took.
• Taste Test: I tasted these drinks: a 10-ounce cold brew; 10-ounce nitro; and two-ounce cold espresso.
• Use Test: Throughout testing, I noted how easy the coffee maker was to set up, use, and clean.

What We Learned

You Better Love Cold Coffee, Because You’ll Need to Drink a Lot of It

Cumulus uses proprietary coffee-filled pods that, at least for now, are sold exclusively through the brand’s site. The system works like other pod-based coffee makers: Add water, load in a pod, make a drink, and then yank the empty canister. 

The recyclable aluminum pods hold 0.68 fluid ounces of cold brew concentrate and look like tiny beer kegs. When I opened one to taste the coffee it was intensely bitter, with a consistency closer to syrup than coffee. The pods don’t require refrigeration.

The Cumulus coffee maker produces three drinks: a 10-ounce cold brew, or what the machine calls “still”; a 10-ounce nitro cold brew, and a two-ounce cold espresso. In every case, the pod’s contents get pulled out of the machine and mixed with water that you load to make the drink. “Espresso” isn’t the most accurate description, since the coffee in the pod isn’t brewed, nor is it made using pressure. 

Cumulus has a patent around the technology in the machine that produces nitrogen cold brew. Instead of relying on CO2 canisters, Cumulus uses a series of pumps and valves to pressurize ambient air it pulls in through vents in the side. From there, the machine injects tiny bubbles into the water that then mixes with the concentrate to provide that creamy head, luscious mouthfeel, and cascading look. It adds that foam to the nitro and espresso more so than the cold brew. 

Cumulus ships its machine with a variety pack of 12 coffee pods. The brand offers five different coffees—from light to dark roast, and decaffeinated—and the website provides tasting notes and acidity levels. The most common way to buy more capsules is a 10-pack sleeve for $25, plus about $8 for shipping. (If you buy three sleeves, and spend $75 or more, shipping is free.)

It Was Huge

Cumulus is a big investment, but it’s also just plain big. At 19 x 6 x 16 inches and just over 30 pounds (empty), it packs a Dell CPU vibe sitting on the countertop. In most kitchens with upper cabinets, you usually have about 18 inches of room above the countertop, so the Cumulus, which comes in black or white, should fit. But the Cumulus gets taller than 16 inches. To make a coffee you press on a chamber in front, which then springs up—like a dumbwaiter—revealing the chamber that accepts the coffee pod. Press that down until it clicks and you’re a button press away from coffee. When left open, that chamber bumps the height up to 20 inches, which is just below the bottom edge of my upper cabinet’s door. It might sound like a small detail, but during testing, when I absentmindedly left the chamber up, I was thrilled the cabinet door above it, which I was opening, didn’t cause a collision.

The Machine Was Sleek, at a Cost

With a few days of use, the Cumulus is easy to master. But you’ll probably need to hold onto the owner’s manual. The bone I have to pick with Cumulus is the same with a lot of design-forward tech like speakers, earbuds, etc. To streamline the looks, designers rely on tiny LEDs, and few words, to communicate issues, leaving you at times feeling like you’re trying to decipher Morse code using lights.

The Cumulus has essentially three controls on it, the most intuitive of which is the large, toothy wheel at the top you rotate right or left to select cold brew, nitro, or espresso. Below that, is a large brew button you press to start the process of mixing the pod’s contents with water, and it has an LED ring around it. That ring can be blue, green, white, orange, or red, and all those colors mean different things. Below the brew button is a small LED that Cumulus calls the alert light. It too can be white, blue, or orange and each color has a meaning. Unfortunately, Cumulus isn’t popular enough yet to where you can ask Alexa “what does the orange light on Cumulus mean?” the way I do for my Sonos speaker.

The first machine Cumulus sent me had a defective valve that would allow some coffee concentrate to leak into the drip tray below. Cumulus replaced the machine and that issue hasn’t happened again, so I’m confident the leak was limited to an early model sent to the media. And while I didn’t experience any major issues while testing, I’d say I never felt comfortable enough to keep the manual—which includes a color decoder—anywhere but right on top of the machine.

The pull-out water carafe holds about 44 fluid ounces of water, which it cleans using the replaceable Brita-style filter. When you replenish the water, Cumulus needs up to 15 minutes to cool it down to about 43 to 44ºF, which means the coffee maker frequently cycles on and off to keep the water constantly chilled. (A standby mode button on the back does prevent the machine from cycling on and off as necessary to keep the water cold). Once fully loaded, Cumulus can make up to three of the 10-ounce drinks back-to-back before you need to add more water and wait another 10 to 15 minutes for it to chill down. If you attempt to make a drink and Cumulus senses you don’t have enough water, an LED alerts you. The coffee maker can get a bit noisy while it's working. Cumulus reached about 76 decibels while making a nitro during testing, which would have been enough to force you to move away from it if you were on a phone call.

After about 150 brews the LED turns orange notifying you to clean the system. I found the task pretty simple: Add some of the granulated detergent Cumulus ships with the machine, along with water, into the water tank and pop in the blank aluminum pod they supply, then press brew.

The Coffee Cumulus Made Was Good, Cold, and Fast

During rounds of coffee making I was happy with the consistent and pleasing flavor from all three of the beverages. The flavor profile of coffee tends to be a bit muted in cold brew but, as you’d expect, the level of acidity was also lower. When I tried the Arabica coffees without milk, the roasty notes of the light and medium coffees shined through and I found the punchier dark roasts more pleasing as a smaller cold espresso. Cumulus mentions tasting notes like crisp citrus, lingering honey, and musky cedar—all of which were harder for me to discern when chilled, and even more so if you take your cold brew with cream.

It takes about 70 seconds to make either a 10-ounce cold brew and nitro, which finishes pouring at about 43ºF. That’s (hopefully) slightly warmer than the food in your refrigerator and was cold enough for me to enjoy without adding ice. I tried gaming the Cumulus by starting with refrigerated water kept at 40ºF, instead of cold tap, and it didn’t seem to make a difference in the time or final temperature. 

The cold brew was potent and I’d say if you enjoy cold brew at coffee shops, you might want to add a splash of water or maybe some ice to it to dilute it a touch. I’ve made cold brew more quickly at home, from commercial concentrates, but the flavor of the Cumulus was cleaner and I enjoyed drinking it black, which is not something I can say for a lot of bottled versions. 

For me, the star of this machine is the nitro, which is a drink that’s difficult to reproduce at home. Having used the first-generation Spinn, which also has a nitro feature, the Cumulus version is better. The injected air, which you can see as a stream of cloudy water that flows into the cup after the coffee, creates a foam that is thicker, creamier, and lingers longer.

The two-ounce espresso was particularly luxurious and unlike what you’d find at a coffee shop. Typically, an iced espresso is what it sounds like—hot coffee poured over ice, and the crema is collateral damage. But on the Cumulus the espresso has an equal ratio of two ounces of foam to two ounces of coffee. It’s a punchy little shot that offers a nice pick-me-up during the afternoons. Is it a proper espresso? No, it’s more along the lines of a stronger cold brew with more foam, but still unique to have a home. The espresso takes about 35 seconds and pours at about 44ºF. It offers a bit of customization: If you find the 10-ounce cold brew a touch weak, you could make the two-ounce espresso and dilute it with less water. I added water first to avoid collapsing the crema.

The Verdict

Cumulus Coffee The Cumulus Machine

View on Williams Sonoma View on Cumuluscoffee.com

While this $695 machine is certainly a splurge, the pods it relies on are filled with great-tasting coffee. I enjoyed all three of the drinks the Cumulus makes, but the nitro is the best of the bunch. If you’re comfortable buying into a pod-based system, and would otherwise head to a coffee shop for your cold brew fix, the Cumulus could be a good fit. But if you only drink cold brew, or there is only one cold coffee drinker in the house, it will take a good long while for the investment to pay off.

The Pros

The machine doesn’t need much in the way of maintenance and produces beverages with the push of a button. There is no app or connectivity to get in the way. All three of the drinks come out cold enough—about 43ºF—to drink straight, without any ice. It can crank out up to three drinks in rapid succession before needing to add more water.

The Cons

Cumulus is expensive, the machine isn’t small, and there isn’t much versatility in drink sizes. It uses colored lights instead of text to communicate what's going on, so it can take a while to learn how to use the machine. You’ll want to keep the owner’s manual.

Key Specs

• Materials: Food-grade plastic, stainless steel, aluminum, and silicone
• Connectivity: None
• Cord length: About 43 inches
• Size: 19 x 6 x 16 inches (closed), 20 inches tall when open
• Weight: 30 pounds, 9.6 ounces (without water)
• Water capacity: 44 ounces
• Serve sizes: 10-ounce cold brew; 10-ounce nitro; 2-ounce cold espresso
• Warranty: A two-year standard warranty, or a three-year warranty with registration

FAQs 

Who owns Cumulus Coffee?

Cumulus Coffee Company is a startup that raised more than $20 million in funding to bring its coffee maker to market. CEO Mesh Gelman,, a former Starbucks executive, notes the trend in cold coffee is the driving force behind Cumulus. Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is among those who invested in the brand.

Does the Cumulus coffee maker only make cold coffee?

Yes. It makes three drinks, each about 43ºF. Pick between a 10-ounce cold brew, a 10-ounce nitro, or a 2-ounce espresso.

Why We’re the Experts

• Sal Vaglica was the equipment editor for Serious Eats. He now writes for the site.
• For this review, he made cups of cold brew, nitro, and cold espresso from a range of light- and dark-roasted coffee.