A cooling apparatus includes a container configured to contain a coolant within a space. The apparatus further includes a cooling block positioned substantially within the space and having a high heat capacity such that the space not occupied by the cooling block is filled with a coolant to a level at or below the top of the cooling block, and a placement structure having high thermal conductivity positioned on top of the cooling block and outside of the space. A method for cooling an object is also provided, which includes inserting a coolant into a container configured to contain the coolant within a space, and placing the object on a placement structure outside the space. For this method, the placement structure has a high thermal conductivity and is coupled to a cooling block, the cooling block having a high heat capacity and positioned substantially within the space. A two-stage cooling apparatus and method is also described.