Extracting coffee flavor is a spectrum. On one end, you can force hot pressurized water through super-packed grounds to make oily, rich espresso. On the other, you can soak loose grounds overnight in cold water to make a clean, crisp cold brew. Osma’s Pro cold brew coffee maker marries the two methods to preserve the sensitive compounds that characterize each flavor.
The Osma Pro entices suitors with 1,000 units currently available on preorder, and a singular countertop brewing experience. According to somewhat oddly named reviewer Design Milk, “[t]he Osma did in fact reveal a spectrum of flavor and aroma masked or destroyed while preparing a pour-over.”
But how?
Osma Pro Promises a New Coffee Experience
Osma says the Pro’s method is “a new way to brew and experience coffee.” I will try to explain the brewing science shortly, and you will probably laugh. But in layman’s terms, the Osma sounds exciting.
The brand sought to reconcile the flavor losses implicit in traditional brewing methods. “Traditional cold brew captures heat-sensitive compounds that hot water destroys,” Osma explains. “But its 12+ hour brew loses time-sensitive compounds.”
The Pro keeps the espresso user experience. But it delivers a new coffee flavor experience by reconstructing the extraction method at the physics level.
Ok, let’s get into it then.
Osma Pro Cold Brew Coffee Maker Basics
At first glance, the Osma cold brew rig looks like a simple, single group head espresso machine. The familiar portafilter is there, and so is what looks like a steam wand. But upon closer inspection, the wand is actually an intake straw. Put a tumbler with ice cubes and 8 oz. of water under it, and it draws the cold water into the machine.
From there, it gets pretty complicated. Osma says the Pro’s “fundamental mechanism of action is micro cavitation.” Without spinning out into an abstract mental web of causal contemplation, what the hell does that mean? Apparently, the machine releases CO2 trapped inside the coffee grounds, which creates “microbubbles.” The bubbles then collapse in the portafilter. That process dumps the energy required to extract the “widest range of flavor and aroma compounds” from the coffee.
I have not had enough coffee today to go any further into it than that. But Osma’s website is pretty transparent as far as the science involved. It even includes a schematic that looks like it was specifically made for third graders to understand, which of course I can’t figure out.
Extracting the Goods: Pre-Order
Visit Osma’s website, not only to try to decipher the schematic drawing but to pre-order the Osma Pro cold brew coffee maker. As of this writing, an unknown number of the limited first run of 1,000 units was still available. MSRP is $695.
Learn more at DrinkOsma.com.
