Customer Reviews With Photos

UPDATE: I noticed my valve wouldn't stop dripping even when "off." I sent a 15 second video and my coffeemakers.us.com order number to the company via email and got a response within an hour that they are sending me a replacement valve for free. I think the reviews that say "received it broken," etc, and gave one star - what jerks. The company can't control if sometimes in shipping something breaks - if the company is responsive and takes care of any damaged items (as they obviously do), what more can you expect? Ok, now back to the regularly scheduled review: I researched a lot of different cold brew methods and did the "jar of grounds in the fridge" for a month to make sure cold brew wouldn't have the acid (I have a mild ulcer and a cup of coffee a day for about two weeks and it starts hurting all the time). After a month, I was ready to commit. Then I started looking at all the cold brew methods out there. Honestly, I was planning to spend $50, maybe $75 for something nice for my "coffee ritual" and have a little show-off to my buddies. Then I saw the Yama brew tower and couldn't get it out of my mind. North of $250 is a serious commitment for a cup of coffee. And it certainly fits the bill when it comes to show-off. When my friends asked my how much it cost, I just send them the link to this coffeemakers.us.com page and tell them they should buy one for themselves. On the show-off note - My wife told me she would make space for it in the kitchen, and I said "nothin' doin'." I had it setup on the counter in front of my bookshelf in my office, and besides looking amazing in my office, the smell is out of this world when I'm brewing. Speaking of my wife, at first she scoffed about paying $270 for something to make coffee. She said "you'll play with it for a month and then never use it again." I figured she'd be biased enough to not really like the coffee. Now she comes in my office throughout the day for another cup. She absolutely loves it and can tell the difference between this and everything else we've ever used, which includes a $1,000 espresso machine, fridge-cold brew, and every latest thing that comes out of starbucks. This single stand easily replaces all of that stuff in hands-down amazing flaver. I compared the reviews of folks who were in love with their setup and found folks that used the "Toddy Cold Brew" were just as fanatical about the taste of their coffee as folks who bought a Yama tower. If you're like me, you're probably thinking "yeah, why not just spring for the $40 and buy the Toddy system?" Two main things bugged me about the Toddy: (1) It's plastic. I'm just not a fan of my drink being in plastic. BPA or not, I'd just rather use glass. (2) (and this is the big one) It's kinda one-size fits all. You don't have that much control over the brew. If you want the Toddy system, let me save you $40. I'll give you the $2 mason jar I fridge-brewed with. You'll get the same result. I noticed there are other towers out there that don't have the cool looking stand or the science-experiment looking coil, etc. So why the Yama instead of another coil-less tower? Again, two reasons: 1. It looks way cooler. 2. I think the coil does enhance the coffee because it's helping aerate the brew before hitting the flask, just like you do with a fine wine. As far as any other coffee you may have drank in your life - trust me. The Yama coffee tastes worlds different. I tell my friends it's like you can tell it's coffee, but at the same time, it's completely different. There is no comparison in taste. And yes, the coffee even ages. It will taste different each day it ages after the brew. Because of this I bought 2 more beakers, their caps, and even ceramic filters (I'm also going to cold brew lose leaf tea with this and want a separate ceramic filter for the tea). I now brew a beaker and drink it over the next couple days, and every day that same coffee brew has a totally different flavor. I can tell it's coffee, but it's totally different than coffee. I've never been the guy that could tell the difference in tastes enough to pair foods together, or wines, etc. But suddenly the age of the coffee tastes different with different foods. I can have the same breakfast two days in a row, and drink from the same brew and the second day the coffee tastes different and it brings out different flavors in the same breakfast than the day before. My coffee used to never bring out the flavor of anything I drank. Now it's like a central part of the meal. Yes. No kidding. So look, if you've read this far, I'm guessing you're going to buy it, so let me give you some tips for your best cup. 0. Don't drink your coffee. Taste it. You don't have to do like some silly mouth wash routine like you see people do when they taste wines, etc. But just take small sips and taste what it's like in your mouth, and then pay attention especially to the after taste. Trust me. It won't be like coffee. After you've tasted it a bit, feel free to drink it. 1. Don't be afraid to experiment. 2. A brew you don't like today may taste better tomorrow, put it in a jar and let it sit on your shelf, taste it over the next couple days. I don't refrigerate mine, it sits right here next to the tower in my office. 3. Use a burr grinder. Trust me. I have the kitchenaid burr grinder (you can buy them here on coffeemakers.us.com, search for KCG0702CS to see what I have). Why a burr? Because you can use the dial to get the exact granular size of your grind and it does make a difference. Same beans with a different grind setting, brewed exactly the same, will taste different. I typically grind between 3.5 to 5 (not sure what that means anywhere else, but it's the settings on my grinder). A 1 is the coarsest grind, an 8 is the smallest. So this would be right around the middle setting of any other grinder you may use. 4. Be a scientist. When I brew, I write the date and time I start the brew, which beans I'm using, what the grind setting was, how much water I'm using, and whether it is with or without ice. I typically always keep the drip the same, but if I were going to play around with that, I'd write that on the note too. That note stays with the coffee. As I drink it over the next couple days I decide if I like that combo or not and think how I will adjust things next time to get a different brew. 5. Use different beans. Try them from all over. Never turn a bean down, you may be surprised how much you like the flavor. I say that, but I tend to stay away from dark roast because it's usually more "burnt" that "flavor". I've had my best luck with medium roasts, but I read that a lot of people love using a light roast with cold brew towers. Try a large variety and figure out which one(s) are your favorites. (come back and leave a comment with your experience, share your recipes, I will write you back. When you try different beans, remember to try them at different grind settings. It will change the way the coffee tastes and you may like different grind setting depending on the bean. What's the worst that can happen? You taste a bean/grind you don't like even after letting it sit for several days. It helps you appreciate the combinations you really like. 6. I pack my grounds down in the middle beaker and then loosen the top of the grounds a little and then put the paper filter on top. Check out the pictures to see what I mean. Why do this? You'll see the starting picture the grounds are lower in the beaker, and then after it's going for a little bit (maybe an hour or more), the grounds have risen up to the top. After that, they shrink back down. If you leave the grounds "as is" and don't pack them down, the water can find it's own little path through the grounds and not wet the entire beaker. But there's no mistake when the grounds have risen like you see in my pictures that all the grounds are completely saturated. Also, if the top of the grounds is a little uneven when they are packed, it's ok, when they rise they will even out. Here's what happens: For the first 45 min or so the grounds absorb water and begin to rise. Then the first drops start coming through after the grounds are completely saturated. The smell is amazing. Put your nose down around the beaker opening, is almost a sweet smell. You've never smelled anything like that. Those drops are thick and black, kind of like a lose syrup. You'll notice the water is dripping in much faster than the coffee is dripping out. That's because the grounds are still "processing" the water. Once they've risen all the way up, it's almost like a soup. If you tap it, it will act kind of like jelly. After the grounds have risen all the way up, it's like they reach this saturation point were suddenly they absorb the water and at the same time flush out everything and for the next couple hours the grounds will go down while the dark black drips out. The drip speed coming out of the middle beaker will be a lot faster now than the drip speed of your water because it's "catching up". Once the grounds have shrunk almost all the way back down, you'll notice the drip coming out is now very very light brown, so light you can easily see through it. Now all the dense part of the coffee has been brewed out and the remaining flavor is being pulled out of the grind. My process takes about 5-6 hours. Sometimes I do it at night where I can monitor it for the first 3-4 hours, because you do have to adjust the drip as it's going. It's just the nature of the silicone in the valve to shrink and expand as it heats and cools, causing the drip rate to change a little over time. I really hope you've enjoyed this review, and hope if you buy the Yama tower you come back to this review and leave a comment about your experience. Not sure if this is allowed by coffeemakers.us.com, but if you'd like to email me with your cold brew experiences, my email is my first name at my first name last name dot com.

Carafe broke at the handle and Chefman only offers to replace with a K-cup model as a replacement. They take weeks to respond to a simple email and offer nothing to warranty the products sold on coffeemakers.us.com. I can buy another coffee maker from coffeemakers.us.com but Chefman can't replace the carafe in the one we already purchased. This did not even last 3 months before it fell apart. Do not buy from this company! The do not help their customers at all.

Easy to use and clean!! It fits the fridge very well! I can enjoy the cold brew coffee at home now!!

This coffee maker makes amazing coffee, some of the best I've made myself. The flavor is excellent and it can easily make more than once cup at a time, so it's great for making delicious coffee for more than one person. It is a lot of work to use and maintain, however. I wouldn't recommend this as a daily morning coffee maker (especially if you need caffeine to wake up), but something for the afternoon or evening. The time required to use is about 15 minutes from start to clean-up (after getting the hang of it), and the filter and glassware need some special care to keep in good condition. Due to the process of this setup, the coffee also has to be brewed at boiling temp (I use an aeropress for my daily coffee and like to brew at 80°C) so it will take quite a while to cool down before you can enjoy it. The price is also something to consider as I would highly recommend getting a butane burner to use with this, which could put the total cost to ~$130 for this setup. Overall, I would recommend this if you're looking for a new and fun way to make coffee and don't mind the extra work to clean and maintain a cloth filter and fragile glassware. This is an excellent product that makes delicious coffee and is fun to use.

I was making tea add hot water and it broke in several pieces.

I’ve had this coffee maker for about 3 months now. Replaced my Kuerig as I went through two different Kuerigs within a year for faulty computer malfunctions. Junk if you ask me. The BUNN has none of the computer brains to worry about malfunctioning. It has very easy access to the filter which comes right out the front. As soon as you close the water lid it begins to drain into the carafe & in about 2 mins you have 10 cups of coffee. I picked the BUNN without the burners as the carafe keeps the coffee hot for at least 8 hours.

I really like the small size of this unit. I can get two good cups of coffee from this. But upon first use, after putting the water in and before it started brewing, the water started leaking out of the top. Almost 1 full cup seemed to pouring out the sides onto the counter. After it started brewing and the level went down, the leaking stopped. I did not overfill this though. I paid attention to the makers on the side so not sure if this is a design flaw or if there is a crack in the unit. This is disappointing.

I bought this for my husband for Fathers Day. He said it was the best gift he has ever received. He has recently discovered cold brew and was trying to make it at home using K cups and it was always a disappointment until now. He makes it the night before work since it has it brew for 12 hours and then in the morning he adds a handful of ice in the same container he made it in and hes out the door. He says it stays cold all day in that container even in 100 degree weather in the car. It fits perfect in the refrigerator. It shipped out super fast. Great buy!!

I’ve had mine for years. Take it with me wherever I travel because it’s hard to find good cup of coffee. Honestly, to me it makes a better cup of espresso than my Nespresso machine. It’s a smoother coffee. I think it may be because there is no heating elements to potentially burn the coffee.

This is a very convenient and portable coffee machine. I am very honored to have it. It makes me feel the grace of this modern technology. First of all, this coffee machine has a very good texture. It is very solid and wear-resistant. The working principle is also very simple. I feel it is very easy to use. I can easily get a cup of energy-filled coffee within 5 minutes. In addition, it is also very convenient to charge. It is not very heavy, so it is very convenient to carry around, especially when camping or traveling. I like to grind my own coffee. It saves a lot of money. The third aspect is that it is easy to rinse, which is very friendly to lazy people.

This is for the larger sized, 64oz Rumble Jar: RECIPE: I follow a recipe I found on the internet that calls for 1 part coffee to 4 parts water. That's 4 cups of water for every 1 cup of coffee grounds. After 1-2 days brew (I prefer 2 days) your coffee concentrate is ready. I put my concentrate into a 1.5 liter glass container, and add 6 more cups of water. I have found an old 1.5 liter Livingston wine jar works great :) VOLUME: There are 2 indicators on the steel mesh filter. The second one marks 1.5 cups of coffee grounds. This 64oz Rumble Jar is Perfect for using 1.5 cups of ground coffee of your choice, with 6 cups of water. JAR: I use a 64oz Wide Mouth Ball Mason Jar (I found mine for $6 in a store) FIT: The 64oz Rumble Jar fits perfectly in the 64oz Wide Mouth Ball Mason Jar. The orange silicone lid fits snug in the mouth of the jar, so no need to worry that the lid will come off as I give it a moderate shake here and there. ORVERALL: The Rumble Jar works exactly as described. I grind my coffee slightly more than 'coarse' so I do end up with some silt that settles at the bottom. It came in some nice packaging, and I only just now realized, while writing this review, that the mesh sock that the Rumble Jar comes with inside the box, is actually a secondary mesh filter. I have not used this yet, but I think it might even take care of that list bit of silt possibly. I am happy with my purchase, it seems to be strong, and long lasting. Happy Brewing!

This does make good coffee, but the release switch broke the second time I used it. Fortunately I can manually move the mechanism to release the coffee into the carafe. Easy to clean. I like using the paper filter in addition to the standard filter.

I got an used machine and paid full price. Not what the description said! It was dirty.

We use this to make Greek coffee each and every morning. Love that you can see the process of the coffee brewing, however, it takes much longer than my other Greek coffee maker since this one is only 300 watts unlike what is advertised. I have had coffeemakers.us.com try to replace it with the 600-watt coffee maker and yet, I keep receiving a 300-watt maker. So, the description is wrong. Here is the description: Electric Turkish Coffee Maker & Kettle | 500mL-600W | For Turkish Coffee, Heating Water, Tea | Heats Water, Milk, Coffee I will, however, keep this one and just resign myself to it taking 7 min. instead of 3 min. They just need to change the description.

I had one of these explode on me today, leaving me with a trip to urgent care and 2nd degree burns on my arm.