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IN THE WORLD OF SPECIALTY COFFEE, you could say ordering a glass of cold brew is like entering an upscale bar and asking for a glass of red wine—with so many different varieties available, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the options. Even as cold brew gains mainstream popularity, however, many coffee professionals and enthusiasts alike are unaware of the myriad methods of preparing it, each system contrarily affecting flavor, suiting different baristas in different ways, and fluctuating in volume of salable product. Let's get one thing out of the way: There is no universal method for making cold brew. In fact, the variety of brew methods and imaginative number of devices for sale with which to do it rivals those in the hot-coffee market. Many quality-focused cafés are using multiple methods to produce cold brew with differing flavor profiles to meet growing demands of their customers and to make preparation less challenging for baristas. Sure, when baristas talk about brew methods, it can sound like a laundry list of brand names. In such conversations, you'll inevitably hear mention of devices by Toddy, Yama, Filtron, Hario, and a number of newcomers selling cold-brew equipment, like the recently released OXO Cold Brew Maker. Trying to wrap your head around each apparatus, its strengths and weaknesses, and its ideal application can make matters unnecessarily confusing. Here's a way to make the conversation more accessible: Even as new devices enter the market, we can best under- stand how they work by defining two general brew techniques: total immersion and cold drip. This division gives us a clear approach to comparing different devices, and makes it easier to understand what will work best with different roasts and in different café environments. Total immersion First, let's examine total-immersion methods. "Total immersion" refers to all brew methods in which the coffee grounds remain in contact with cold water for the entire brewing process. This method can be easy as pie, requiring little in the way of special equipment—mixing coarsely ground coffee and cold water in a French press, a mason jar, or any old bucket will do the trick. BrewING DEVICES NEW ADVENTURES IN COLD BREW: By Jon Shadel 70 barista magazine