Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Let me start off by saying I am a nitro fanatic - coffee, matcha, golden brew, stout - I love it all. The creamy mouthfeel of a nitrogen infused beverage is second to none. With this, I found a large sum of my paycheck going to Starbucks' nitro coffee. I am not a fan of Starbucks (even though I am a Seattle native) and so it pained me to continue to feed them money. I began researching at-home nitrogen taps and this one came up. One a whim, I purchased the 64 oz. and it arrived at my house promptly two days later. I immediately made a batch of cold brew and was impressed by the cascading foam. However, I noticed that the foam dissipated rather quickly. I contacted Royal Brew's customer support and they quickly replied and informed me that I had neglected to add an o-ring to the connection between the spear part. I went back and added this and it seemed to help quite a bit. I continued experimenting and found that adding any source of dairy - whether goat milk, cow milk, half-and-half, or pure cream significantly increased the foam stability (foam is a suspension of air in liquid). The N2O cartridges add a sweet almost metallic taste to the brew which can be both desirable and undesirable - pending the palate. I rather enjoy the sweet nature of the N2O when there's a dairy source in there but not when it's just black brew. I ordered the N2 cartridges from NitroPress and tried those instead and found I much prefer the taste to the N2O cartridges. Alas, they are also much more expensive. I decided to break the numbers down to see how much I'm truly saving by using this tap vs continuing my Starbucks splurge. Cost of keg after tax = $153.03 Cost of one 12 oz. nitro cold brew from Starbucks = $5.45 = ~28 cold brews from Starbucks to pay off the keg itself Now, this is not factoring in the cost of cartridges or beans. So, once I order 28 nitro cold brews from Starbucks and pay off the keg itself - this is how the figures look: Cost/batch (48 oz) of pure N2 = $2.20 (the NitroPress carts are $44.03 after tax for 40) Cost/batch (48 oz) of coffee beans = $3.09 (assuming $14/lb) = $2.20 + $3.09 = $5.29 for 48 oz. = $1.32/12 oz (one equivalent to Starbucks grande) The cost of $1.32/12 oz using this tap saves me $4.13 per drink had I gone to Starbucks instead. In case you don't mind using N2O - the cost comes out to $0.97/12 oz which equates to $4.48 savings per drink compared to Starbucks. I'd encourage you to try both N2O and N2 to see what better suits your desired organoleptic properties. Again, N2O works well when dairy/fat source is added but I personally do not like it when it is just black coffee. I'm lucky enough to have access to raw cream and drinking that infused with the nitro coffee is the closest I've been to Heaven. Final notes: I'd encourage you to try some other recipe ideas such as matcha, golden milk, and Thai tea - they all have turned out very well. Additionally, this keg is extremely easy to set up - just remember that extra o-ring. Royal Brew has helpful set-up videos in case something isn't making sense. Happy brewing!