Yes, Really: This Cold Brew Coffee Maker Brews 7 Café-Quality Cups in 5 Minutes

It’s nearly impossible for me to make it through my morning iced coffee run without the voice of my penny-pinching Dad in my head. 

“$2.50 every day for cold coffee?!” 

"You’ve got a perfectly fine coffee maker at home! Just add some ice cubes!” 

"Do you have any idea how much money you would save if you stopped buying coffee?!” 

The answer to the latter question is: exactly enough to buy the Gucci crossbody I’ve been eyeing. So yeah, Dad ain’t wrong.  

But as a caffeine-dependent anti-morning person, I’ll gladly forego a cushion in my savings account (or a shiny new addition to my handbag collection) if it means not having to spend my first waking hours navigating the precarious science of making iced coffee. 

Seriously, have you ever tried to make cold brew at home? From fine-tuning the perfect grounds-to-water ratio to patiently waiting all morning for it to chill, unless you’re a barista, at-home cold brew never tastes the same and is a serious time suck. 

So when someone told me there was a machine that could make an entire pitcher of ready-to-drink cold brew in just 5 minutes, I had to try it. 

At first sight, the Dash Rapid Cold Brew Coffee Maker — which proudly claims on its packaging to be the world’s first gadget of its kind — looks too simple to be true. I had expected a lofty machine of winding tubes and pumps, so when I pulled out a compact device consisting of a container and carafe on a sleek base, I was immediately skeptical this contraption was actually capable of changing the cold-brew game (and balancing my budget).

So how does it all work? Get ready for some science ... and a super cool sounding oxymoron. Through patent-pending “ColdBoil” technology, a vacuum pump siphons water from the carafe to the brewing chamber, where it speed steeps before shooting back into the carafe. Simply add cold filtered water to the carafe and coarse ground coffee (the same grind you use for your drip coffee maker will do), and set the timer according to strength preference. The entire process takes no longer than 5-15 minutes (depending on the desired strength of brew) and the resulting brew is exactly what you want: rich and smooth with no yucky acidic after-taste, AKA the exact opposite of your DIY cold brew minus the wait. 

The best part: you can make up to 7 cups at a time and it lasts up to 10 days in the refrigerator. 

Excuse me while I channel my inner frugal Dad voice and spell it out: Spend 5 minutes on Sunday and you can have ice-cold ready to drink delicious cold brew in your fridge all week. 

I miss my barista already ... but my wallet doesn’t.