Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/07/31/the-royal-brew-nitro-coffee-ma.html
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BoingBoing readers are well known for their receptivity to YouTube influencers. I mean, I would have laughed out loud at the ridiculous claims (nitrogen, a neutral noble gas, eliminates the need for cream or sugar?); but since it was endorsed by a YouTube influencer, it Must Be True! Wow, what effective advertising!
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Thinking of the example of nitrogen in draft beer (Guinness being the most prominent example), I think this could be worthwhile and worth not dismissing out of hand. Having said that, though, the claim that it could replace cream or sugar is clearly marketing fluff and I’d have to try it first before I considered spending any money on it.
On first glance, though, it looks like more trouble than its worth.
I love what nitro can do to beer, especially stout, but I’ve not had a drinkable cup of nitro iced coffee, despite several efforts at different cafes. In fact, in 45 years of drinking coffee it is the only coffee I’ve tried that I would describe as “irredeemably terrible”, and that includes percolated, reheated percolated, the weird flavored coffee that was so popular in the 80s, and cheap instant.
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Cream and sugar don’t change the caffeine content of your coffee. You know what also makes coffee so tasty you don’t need cream and sugar? Using decent beans, hot enough water, and not overextracting. No stupid hipster hardware required.
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We have a keg-size version of this thing where I work (or rather use to work). The fine nitrogen bubbles do depart a certain creamy “mouth feel,” but I found it gimmicky, not very satisfying, and never went back for more. And besides, the only way to drink coffee is hot and black.
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Sometimes I feel like I’m the only one left who likes my coffee hot and black.
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I missed the influencer, was that in the post? I’m reading this via the BBS only, did I miss something?
Want a creamy foam on top of your iced coffee? You can try this recipe for a lot less money (provided you have a cocktail shaker, the aeropress can easily be substituted for another brewing method):
I made this for my partner today. I was surprised by the amount of solid foam! It tasted nice but I still opted for hot, black and strong 
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That’s a shakerato, the default caffe freddo in Italian coffee bars for decades (though with real espresso, not aeropress stuff). The giant dose of half-and-half makes my arteries cringe – the drink is fine without dairy – but a touch of sugar will make the foam more durable. In Italy if you want it sugar free you have to ask for it that way, and they sometimes look at you like you’re demented if you do.
ETA: The trendy cold coffee drink these days is coffee and tonic. I haven’t tried it yet, since I still remember the awful Italian coffee sodas from the 80s.
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I finally tried espresso and tonic the other day. It was not as bad as I was expecting. Under the right circumstances I might have it again. However I have no idea what the right circumstances would be. The initial circumstances were having tonic in my fridge, never having tried it and being recommended two videos on it.
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Nitro cold brew is good. But it’s the cold brewing that would “eliminate the need for cream and sugar”. It makes a very low acid, low bitterness brew. The nitrogen just creates a very fine, Guinness like bubble structure which leads to a creamy Guinness like head. And it’s a very, very convenient way to dispense coffee.
But it’s still commonly mixed with cream and sugar.
From a quick glance this thing is just some relatively common home brew kegging equipment sold as a “cold brew machine”. Though that hookup/regulator isn’t something I’ve seen before. Seems to mount to a standard Sankey keg hookup, which is somewhat rare for mini kegs. They tend to be ball keg (post mix soda) hookups.
Though the regulator does not look adjustable.
The pricing is roughly inline with standard portable mini-keg systems. Though if you get an actual full sized regulator/regular set up it will tend to be cheaper. And you can get the gas a hell of a lot cheaper. And you’ll need a hell of a lot fewer parts to hook it up to a kegerator or a jockey box/be able to use the stuff with larger kegs.
With a co2 regulator you can use these to make seltzer, with much better carb levels than a Soda Stream and much cheaper gas. Make home made sodas. With either gas you can keg cocktails. And the small kegs are generally more fun for home use if you don’t home brew.
It’s just a little more practical than mixing up 5g/20lt of shit.
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Ok, I’ve been making summer iced coffees this way with the aeropress for years, all except for the cocktail shaking part - I will definitely now give that a try. When I just put a glass with ice under the espresso machine, it does create more foam, but it’s a small amount- perfect for a small glass but this aeropress tall glass version looks great. Thanks for the post. You’ve saved me $170.99
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A hipster barrister with sleeve tatts and a beard… I’m sold!!
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The aeropress is a lot more affordable then a real espresso maker, if you know of anything that makes real espresso for under $ 170 please let me know 
Seeing that as optional is so ingrained for me that I didn’t even think to mention it. My partner put in a more modest amount of almond milk, do whatever you want, the shaking is the interesting bit
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If you’re patient you might be able to find a used Fe-ar Peppina for that.
I already tried that; it didn’t lead to perfect happiness.
It never does. It never does…
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