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These Editor-Tested Cold-Brew Coffee Makers Will Put an End to Your Starbucks Runs

Photo credit: OXO
Photo credit: OXO


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There's nothing quite as enjoyable as that first sip of perfectly ground, richly flavorful, addictively delicious cold-brew coffee — and somehow, it's even better when you've made it yourself.

If you have a favorite brand of coffee beans and a coffee grinder for making a hot batch each morning in your regular coffee maker, you have pretty much exactly what you need on hand to be able to use one of these cold-brew coffee makers. With these incredibly easy-to-use products, you can tweak the taste of your cold brew to be exactly as smooth or as strong as you'd like.

Best Cold-Brew Coffee Makers

What to Consider

➥ Cold-Brew Coffee vs. Iced Coffee

First of all, let's get the terminology down. Even if they're used somewhat interchangeably, cold-brew coffee and iced coffee are not the same. Iced coffee is simply hot-brewed coffee that's been refrigerated. Cold-brew coffee is made by steeping ground coffee beans in cold water and leaving it to chill for 12-24 hours. The result is usually bolder in flavor and generally much less acidic in taste than traditional iced coffee.

Although cold-brew coffee is slightly less caffeinated than coffee that's been brewed hot (because hot water extracts more caffeine), cold-brew coffee tends to taste strong. It's recommended that you drink cold brew over ice with either milk or the dairy alternative of your choice.

Each cold-brew maker has its own recommendations of how much ground coffee is needed, which is usually an approximate 1:4 coffee-to-water ratio. But when it comes to grinding your own beans for cold brew, the rule of thumb is to use a coarse grind. Pre-ground coffee is usually too fine, and it might result in a muddier brew since more of it may escape through the filter while steeping.

Aside from being rewarding, the great thing about making your own cold brew is that you can get as experimental as you want with different beans, coarsenesses, and steep times until you find the best combo for you.

➥ Brewer Capacity

The standard serving of cold-brew coffee is 12 ounces — this is the same as a Starbucks “tall” cold brew as well as the recommended amount from Stumptown. However, this isn't just straight cold brew in a cup; it's usually been diluted with ice and milk. Even if you drink more or less than this amount per day, it's a good idea to look at the capacity of a cold-brew coffee maker to determine if it measures up to your weekly coffee consumption.

The OXO Compact Cold Brew Coffee Maker has the smallest capacity in this guide at 16 fluid ounces, making it best for people who prefer a very small amount of coffee per day. On the other hand, for serving multiple cold-brew drinkers in one house (or one person with a high caffeine tolerance), the Cuisinart Automatic Cold Brew Coffee Maker makes 7 cups (or roughly 56 fluid ounces). A large capacity can also indicate how much real estate it will take up in your fridge, so choose wisely if you're already tight on space!

How We Tested

Our guide to the best cold-brew coffee makers includes testing feedback from our editors after an initial 3-week trial (although many of us have continued to use these devices for much longer). We’ve evaluated each cold-brew maker’s ease of use, capacity, and of course, the taste of the coffee. We also took into consideration any design features or flaws, the affordability, and the footprint of the product that may also be factored into your buying decision.

By making your own cold brew in the comfort of your own kitchen, you'll be able to create a custom coffee batch brewed to the unique strength, flavor, and quantity that you desire. Read on to learn more about these easy-to-use cold-brew coffee makers that'll streamline your daily grind.

Best Overall

Capacity: 32 ounces

The Takeya Cold-Brew Coffee Maker is a crowd-favorite product because it's simple to use, easy to store, and makes enough cold brew per week for a light-to-moderate caffeine drinker.

The vessel is made of BPA-free plastic, and it includes a fine-mesh filter for steeping your coarse-ground beans, which removes easily from the top without any need to fish them out. It also has a sturdy handle and an airtight lid — all with a small space-friendly size and footprint. Our tester Erica Murphy gave its design top marks, saying, “It’s about the size of a small pitcher, so I didn’t think it took up too much space. It fits in both the door handle of my fridge and on the top shelf.”

Photo credit: Kayla Ramsey
Photo credit: Kayla Ramsey

Our tester Brandon Carte is also obsessed with this model and has even used it for brewing tea. He says, “The pitcher even comes with a tiny cup, so you don’t drip dirty water everywhere when you’re adding or removing the tea or coffee grounds. All the parts are easily removable for cleaning, plus everything is dishwasher-safe. We haven’t had any issues with the pitchers leaking, either.”

If your cold brew servings are a little smaller than the standard 12 ounces, this pitcher should make enough coffee to last you through the workweek. But if you don't love the fact that it's made of plastic and not glass, we recommend a similar, slightly slimmer alternative in this guide: the Hario Mizudashi Cold Brew Coffee Maker.

Most Compact


Capacity: 16 ounces

Going easy on the caffeine? The OXO Compact Cold Brew Coffee Maker is a petite model that makes some seriously delicious coffee. Instead of steeping your coffee grounds in a brew basket that's submerged in water, this two-part set comprises a brewer that allows water to seep through the grounds via a rain-like distribution. After 12-24 hours of cold-brewing, you can dispense the coffee easily into a separate cork-topped, borosilicate-glass carafe for easy pouring and sipping at your leisure.

Our tester Jennifer Hussein enjoyed the device's convenience as much as the taste of the coffee, saying, “It’s super tiny, so very little space was taken up. My cold brew came out perfectly strong and slightly sweet every time and never tasted bitter or too intense. I wish the carafe were just a tad bigger so I could make more cold brew in one session.”

If you want to size up, OXO also makes a 32-ounce cold-brew coffee maker that's bigger but works pretty much the same way.

Easiest to Pour

Capacity: 28 or 38 ounces

The KitchenAid Cold Brew Coffee Maker makes fueling up with cold brew quick, efficient, and simple. To use, you just add your coffee grounds and water to the carafe, let it steep overnight, remove the brewing filter, and then you'll have homemade cold brew on tap for the entire week. The device looks super sleek with its glass and stainless steel build, but its design does take up slightly more shelf space in the fridge and can't be stored on your refrigerator door.

However, if you have room to spare, it is a total joy to use, according to our tester Caitlyn Fitzpatrick. She says, “If you’re intimidated by making your own cold-brew coffee, the KitchenAid maker will show you just how easy it is. The directions are super clear on what you have to do, and it only takes a couple of minutes to put it all together before it starts brewing. You can easily make your brew before bed and wake up to coffee.”

Best-Looking

Capacity: 33 ounces

Simple yet sculptural, the Hario Mizudashi Cold Brew Coffee Maker will make your everyday coffee routine feel like a calming morning ritual. It's made of heatproof glass and comes with a filter basket and snap-on top — you can steep ground coffee with it in the same way you can with the Takeya Cold Brew Maker.

Photo credit: Melanie Yates
Photo credit: Melanie Yates

Standing 11 inches tall with a 4-inch base, this device takes up a very small footprint on a fridge shelf or door, but its height may limit where you can place it. Our tester Melanie Yates says, “Despite the fact that this cold-brew coffee maker can feel a little top-heavy when it’s full, it looks so beautiful and makes a lot of great-tasting coffee. Even when I’ve tested it with a finer coffee grind, its filter basket does a thorough job of straining so that the result is still flavorful and not muddy.”

Fastest Brew


Capacity: 56 ounces

If you live with multiple cold-brew lovers under one roof, it's a good idea to get a large-capacity device ... and an even better idea to get one that brews on-demand instead of overnight. The Cuisinart Automatic Cold Brew Coffee Maker is a plug-in device that takes up about as much space as a standard drip coffee maker, but it brews up a fresh, cold, or room-temperature batch in about 25-45 minutes, and you can actually choose how strong you'd like it.

Much like the OXO Compact Cold Brew Coffee Maker, this is a two-part device that brews in one part and dispenses the coffee into another. However, when switched it on to brew, this one begins rotating its brew unit, integrating the coffee into the water much quicker than simply leaving it to steep on its own. This agitation process makes some noise, but it's in no way a loud or irritating sound. When it's done, the device's blinking lights will indicate that you can dispense your coffee into the carafe whenever you're ready.

We recommend using medium-coarse coffee grounds for brewing to get the optimum flavor out of each batch, but tester David Monk didn't have an issue with using what he had on hand. He says, “The cold brew was excellent. I used a finer ground coffee than I would have liked, but I was still happy with the results.”

After brewing, you can drink the coffee over ice or store the glass carafe in the fridge for up to 2 weeks since the lid seals tight to maintain freshness.

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