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Timemore C3 Max Pro for Cold Drip

The Kyoto tower: three chambers of glass, one valve, and hours of patience. Cold water and ice drip through the bed a drop at a time, and what collects at the bottom is a concentrate — sweeter and heavier than cold brew, and clean in a way immersion never quite is.
Find your grinder… Timemore C3 Max Pro
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Timemore C3 Max Pro 16–17
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Manual grinder · 38 mm conical burrs

Timemore C3 Max Pro's setting

Clicks
16–17
Grind size
700–900 µm
Grind descriptor
Medium-coarse

These settings are consensus values computed from 1 independent sources (manufacturer manuals, reference charts and our micron model), monitored daily for changes.

See the Timemore C3 Max Pro grind chart

Overview

Ours 1:10·60 g·600 g·20 °C·Medium-coarse · 700–900 µm·5 h Make it yours

Brew with us

Cold Drip

Grind Medium-coarse 700–900 µm
Ratio 1:
Dose g
Water g
Water temp °C
Total time 5 h

STEP 1 / 7 0:00 / 0:00

Notes

We set the rate with the bed already in and then do not touch it again — every adjustment mid-brew makes the top of the batch and the bottom of it two different drinks. What comes out is a concentrate; taste it before you dilute.

Behind every step

  1. 1Weigh beans

    0:05

    Weighing instead of scooping is the only way to repeat a brew — beans differ in density and roast, so a scoop of one is not a scoop of another. Fix the dose and every other variable finally means something.

  2. 2Grind

    0:15

    Cold DRIP is percolation, not immersion, which is why it grinds finer than a cold brew jar despite both being cold. Fine enough that a drop has something to extract from on its way past; coarse enough that the bed does not compact and stall somewhere in hour four.

  3. 3Add the grounds

    0:10

    Level matters more here than on any other brewer on this site. A drop a second has no force behind it at all, so it will find the lowest point of a sloped bed and run down that one channel for six hours while the rest of the coffee sits dry.

  4. 4Fill the tower

    0:30

    Cold water and ice, and the ice is not decoration: it keeps the reservoir cold across the hours this takes, and as it melts it slows the drip a little, which is closer to how the method is actually run than a fixed rate would be. Fill the bulb before you open the valve — topping it up mid-brew resets the rate you spent time setting.

  5. 5Set the drip rate

    0:30

    Set it with the chamber already loaded, and watch it for a full thirty seconds rather than trusting the first few drops — a valve that looks right for five seconds often is not. Then leave it: this is the only control the method has.

  6. 6Drip

    300:00

    Four to six hours, and the only correct thing to do is nothing. The bed stays cold and wet the whole time and extraction happens drop by drop rather than all at once, which is where the sweetness and the almost syrupy body come from — and why the result is a concentrate rather than a finished cup.

  7. 7Enjoy

    0:10

    Coffee keeps changing as it cools: aromatics fade, acidity sharpens and sweetness comes forward. Drink it soon after brewing, and taste it as it drops in temperature — that's how you learn what to adjust next time.

Fix it by taste

Rate first, grind second, and nothing else. Start at 60 g to 600 g with the valve near a drop a second and expect four to six hours. Watery? Slow the valve. Stalling? Coarsen. Do not change both, and do not change either halfway through — a tower adjusted at hour three makes the top of the batch and the bottom of it two different drinks.

  • Watery, thin concentrate
    The valve ran too fast
    Fix · Closer to one drop a second; a stream is not a drip
  • Stalls, chamber floods
    Grind too fine, or the bed compacted
    Fix · Coarsen a step and level the bed without pressing it
  • Uneven, one channel through the bed
    The bed was sloped
    Fix · Level it properly — a drop has no force to spread itself
  • First and last of the batch taste different
    The rate was adjusted mid-brew
    Fix · Set it once, before you walk away, and leave it

What you need

A tower, which is the whole cost of this method and the reason it stays a café thing. Nothing else is needed and nothing else helps. A cheap tower with a coarse valve is the one real trap: if it will not hold a drop a second, it will not make this drink.

Beans & roast

Medium roasts, and fruit-forward washed coffees do especially well — the slow cold extraction pulls sweetness forward and leaves acidity soft, which flatters something with fruit in it. Dark roasts turn heavy and ashy over six hours.

Variations to try

  • Longer and slower

    A drop every two seconds over eight to twelve hours — sweeter still, and the classic café setting

  • Straight over ice

    Skip diluting: pour the concentrate onto ice and let the melt do it

  • Aged

    Rest the concentrate a day in the fridge; it rounds out noticeably

Cold Drip FAQ

What is the difference between cold drip and cold brew?

Cold brew is immersion — grounds sit in water for twelve to twenty-four hours. Cold drip is percolation — water passes through the bed once, a drop at a time, over four to six. Same temperature, completely different mechanism, and the drip is cleaner, sweeter and more concentrated for it.

How fast should it drip?

About one drop a second is the everyday setting, and cafés often run slower — a drop every two or three seconds over eight to twelve hours. Set it with the bed already loaded, watch it for thirty full seconds, and then do not touch it again.

Do I have to use ice?

Not strictly, but it helps twice over: it keeps the reservoir cold across a long brew, and as it melts it slows the drip slightly, which is closer to how the method is actually run than a fixed rate. Fill the bulb before opening the valve either way.

Grinders dialed for this method

Full grind chart →
OXO Brew Conical
OXO Brew Conical Electric grinder · 40 mm conical burrs 23–30
Timemore C3 Max Pro Manual grinder · 38 mm conical burrs 16–17
Timemore C3 Pro Manual grinder · 38 mm conical burrs 16–17
Comandante C40 MK3
Comandante C40 MK3 Manual grinder · 39 mm conical burrs 23–30
Comandante C40 MK4
Comandante C40 MK4 Manual grinder · 39 mm conical burrs 28–34
Comandante C60 Baracuda Manual grinder · 60 mm conical burrs 31–49
Ratio calculator Grind settings for 58 grinders Make your own version Alpha