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So obviously she had lied about mailing it the previous week.After all that, I can only conclude that Toddy Products doesn't care one whit about their customers. Finally, their babysitter/mother came to the phone and told me very professionally that it would be shipped out to me right away. RE the product itself, I have to agree with numerous reviewers here. When my new Cold Toddy brewing system arrived from Amazon, a part was missing. It was reminiscent of being in a McDonald's on a weekday at 3:30 PM, after the junior high kids are out of school. When I protested (I told them, "This is NOT good customer service."), the teenybopper on the phone argued with me, saying "We have nothing to do with Amazon." [but they MANUFACTURED THE PRODUCT]. For the next 2-1/2 minutes or so I was subjected to hearing three pimple-faced teens laughing hysterically and mocking me (the girl repeated what I said in a high-pitched voice, and some pubescent pimple-faced kid was criticizing me left and right). They TRIED TO CHARGE ME for the missing part and shipping.
I will NEVER deal with them again if I can help it, even if it means using some other filter. I NEVER HEARD FROM THEM. (Another reviewer here called them "disorganized," which I think is being charitable). FINALLY, two weeks later, I phoned the company's customer service again because the missing part had still not yet arrived. (My state is adjacent to Texas, and the part should have arrived in a few days at the latest via USPS). So I phoned Amazon and was told to phone the company.
Despite the intrusion, he was VERY gracious and informed me that the company had been sold in January 2010. But I have to admit that it makes superb coffee, so I am giving it two stars. He is in contact with the current Toddy Products owners/officers and sent off an e-mail right away asking someone to contact me. So I called Toddy Products "customer service," and explained what had happened.
WHEN (not if, see below) this breaks I will switch brands. The glass carafe is so thin it seems as if it will shatter if one breathes on it too hard.Based on the above I should be giving this product one star. These are the thinnest, cheapest, flimsiest parts I have ever seen. That experience left me so disgusted and angry that I felt that management needed to know what kind of "professionalism" was being projected, and I knew better than to call Customer Service again and get the same idiots. Fine. I pointed out that I paid for the product in good faith and that all of the components should have been included, to which she replied "but it's only $XX.XX." At that point I asked for a supervisor, and was placed on hold. So I went online and found contact info for a former principal of the company.
A couple of days later, BOTH of them were in my mailbox with the EXACT SAME DATE (a few days prior) stamped on the shipping label. The phone wasn't on hold, it was OPEN MIC. The Toddy Products company earns a grade of F for their customer service. or so she thought. They claimed that the part had been mailed the week before but promised to mail me another one.
If you are a hardy coffee drinker like me I recommend that you get one. It brews a smooth cup and you don't need sugar or cream cause the acid taste and bitterness in gone try it you'll love it. This a great way to brew coffee it does take some getting used to and experimenting is needed to get the best flavor. I like it for the convenience of making one cup at a time or 6 cups.
However, this product, and their coffee are terrible. A previous review describes the problems (from design to filter). Thank goodness they have a return policy. A glass carafe that I used to make iced tea in nearly 30 years ago. Oh well. All that for the low price of $35. It appears as though they use the same grinder for their flavored coffees as their non-flavored blends.
As anyone who has tried to grind coffee at the supermarket knows, grinding flavored coffee before non flavored coffee ruins the quality. Putting the filter in the refrigerator. If cold brew coffee is truly better for many people, surely we can come together to design something that is actually decent at producing it. Good luck to all those who use it and have success. A useless handle (that's not even permanently attached to the bucket). etc. It seems as though a high school student 20 years ago designed the aparatus, and it went straight from the lab to our already cluttered countertops without some decent engineering.
that bends when I try to use it. I exercised that option - though it took multiple phone calls to get the refund (an extremely disorganized company here in Houston). but oh, what a mess. I suppose that the Toddy produces okay cold brew coffee that is indeed easier on the body's system, etc. I mean, c'mon, a cheap rubber stopper that I have to keep track of. And for the coffee purist, don't bother ordering coffee from the company.
And cold brewing is light years ahead of hot brewing methods for those of us who get sick from drinking "regular" coffee.The coffee concentrate is wonderful. I would rather see a brewing chamber and carafe that is made of sturdy, heavy glass. In a brewing cycle, I use one pound of coffee and 9 cups of water to brew the concentrate. My daughter is a barrista at a local coffee shop, and she loves the Toddy brew. Since I am doing this for my health, the plastic is a concern for me and this causes me to drink less coffee.
The carafe is so thin, that I am afraid the least little bump will break it. It would also be nice if it were prettier, since it is out on my counter a lot. I like strong coffee, so I use 1/4 - 1/2 cup of concentrate per 12 oz cup of coffee, which means that one pound of coffee nets me 12-24 cups. The yield is only 6 cups of concentrate, because the coffee grounds absorb so much water. It gets expensive, since I use high quality coffee, and Toddy coffee is so good that my family drinks it very fast. The system is made of a flimsy plastic brewing chamber and an extremely lightweight, thin glass carafe. It is not as messy as the "mason jar" method of cold brewing, and the coffee is a bit purer.
Not exactly like espresso, but pretty darn close, and you can use the concentrate to make any of the fancy coffee drinks that an expensive espresso machine will make. I also don't like the plastic brewing chamber and worry that it is leaching plastic into my coffee. I would gladly pay a little more for a nicer quality system. At $16.00 per pound, I am spending $.66 to $1.32 per cup, which is still far less expensive than coffee shop, or drive thru coffee.It makes great coffee and was worth the purchase, but the company should improve the quality of the components. I really like the quality of coffee this method produces, and I like the simplicity of the procedure. When I consider that the price for the Toddy is a fraction of the cost of a real espresso machine, I feel it is a wonderful bargain.I only gave it 4 stars because even though the brewing method is great, the actual quality of the toddy components is poor. The other thing people considering this system should be aware of is that it makes LESS COFFEE PER POUND than traditional brewing methods.
Coffee from it is like liquid gold. There are some misleading reviews and I believe they're from folks that really didn't read the directions. The best way to go is to grind your own beans at the grocery store on the coarsest setting to help eliminate clogging and get the most concentrate (the finer the grind, the more water gets retained and not drained plus the small grinds clog the filter). I simply use tin foil and it works just fine. It's always worked perfectly for us. Every few months I boil the filters and they're just like new. The "hillbilly method" sounds like a lot more work and more mess.
I've never had a problem with the so called "flimsy" plastic pot. Plus, there's so many other uses for the concentrate, from drizzling over ice cream to mixed drinks. I also tried it with a typical coffee filter and it took an eternity to filter through.not worth it. Sure it's a simple design. I now find myself trying to choke down "regular" brewed coffee or loading it up with cream and sugar when we go to other events. We have now become coffee snobs because of it. At first it seems laborious to make a batch but I've found that the time taken to make a batch is surely made up in how little time it takes each time you want a cup of coffee.
Some have complained about no lid for the container. When we have company I get out a shot glass and put one shot in each mug and in goes the hot water.easy and simple. Definitely a case where simple is better. My wife and I have been drinking cold brew from the Toddy now for over a year. We simply put hot water on the stove first thing in the a.m., pour a little concentrate in the bottom of a cup, and when the water is ready we've got a pipin' hot cup of delicious coffee. It's a different way of thinking about your coffee but once you get used to it you'll not be sorry.
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