The Cumulus Machine Review: Fast and Frothy Cold Brew

As a result, a slew of exotic machines entered the world, each designed to shorten the long road to cold caffeine. Most quickly cool hot coffee or use pressure or stirring to speed up extraction. “Wired” critics have not always friendly for such an attempt.

Cumulus is different: It starts with real cold brew coffee, extracted over hours from high-altitude coffee beans specifically made for cold brewing. The cold brew is then concentrated using a proprietary vacuum distillation process that packs double-cup coffee into recyclable capsules the size of the base of a light bulb.

Cumulus produces a variety of capsules, light and dark roasts as well as decaf and espresso, Retail price is approximately $2.50 per bottle. You need them to use the machine. Place the capsule into the Cumulus, select your cold brew style among “Still,” “Nitro,” or “Espresso,” and press the illuminated button on the device. This concludes the instructions for use.

Cumulus will then pressurize, cool and hydrate it, turning it into 10 ounces of distilled or nitro sparkling cold brew, or perhaps 2 ounces of double-frothy cold espresso.

Each drink is chilled in the refrigerator at 34 degrees Fahrenheit. The device is easy to clean by removing and rinsing the bottom tray. The front-mounted water tank is also easy to fill and replace. For a first-generation device, it’s somewhat surprising how easy and intuitive it is to use.

Who has the taste?

But although it is a true cold brew coffee, Cumulus coffee does not taste very characteristic of classic cold brew coffee.

This device avoids the pungent bitterness, sourness, and warmth associated with most other fast cold brew coffee makers. But from light to dark, coffees made with cumulus tend to taste mostly like… other coffees made with cumulus.

The capsules tend to be “smooth” rather than firm or toasty, with an unparalleled flavor or taste that remains consistent throughout the capsule. Some describe Cumulus’ unique characteristics as somewhere between espresso and cold brew, with a floral aroma unknown to cold brew’s usual mildness. Less politely, one could describe the flavor as sharp, even a bit phenolic or rubbery, especially on lighter roasts. Darkness comes best.

The vacuum distillation process used for concentrated cold brew coffee is proprietary, so it’s difficult to attribute the cause. But what I do know is that coffee is a complex thing, filled with hundreds of substances—esters, acids, oils, and things with funny names—that evaporate at different rates and under different conditions. Presumably, fully refining and condensing it is both a science and an art.

I invited person after person to try the Cumulus machine’s cold brew. Some guests, from my mother to Italian Jersey coffee lovers, prefer Cumulus’ nitro foam to its best-packaged counterparts, and they can’t believe this foam paradise is arriving so quickly.

Others, myself included, are confused by its slightly peculiar taste, which is like a glimpse into the uncanny valley of cold coffee. Of course, this is cold brew coffee. But that’s also something else.

fine foam

The success of Cumulus is in the foam and texture.

The Cumulus’ nitro feature is the most frothy sight of nitro coffee I’ve ever seen, whether in a cafe or at home: tiny, slightly pressurized bubbles permeate the entire substance of the coffee. Mix the nitro cup with milk and sugar and it’s an orgy of fat and sweetness with finely textured air. It is air and it is architecture at the same time.