The Best Cold Brew Coffee Maker

Buying Guide

Cold coffee has taken off in popularity in recent years, thanks to the inventiveness of various coffee shops. But you don’t have to pay for an iced latte at a drive-thru on your way to work. You can make cold brews in the comfort of your own home.

Your first instinct may be to simply brew regular coffee and pour it over ice. But there are a couple of problems with that. One is that cold brew coffee typically has a stronger coffee-to-water ratio, which means your homemade cold brew may turn out far weaker than you’re used to getting at your favorite coffee shop.

Another issue, as explained by expert Julie Chernoff, is that iced coffee may take too long to brew. Chernoff is a longtime member of Les Dames d’Escoffier, the Association of Food Journalists (AFJ) and the International Association of Culinary Professionals. With a cold-brew coffee maker, you get an appliance dedicated to making a delicious cup of iced coffee.

“The one thing that a cold brew coffee maker can save you is time,” says Chernoff. “Doing it on your own can take half a day or more to really extract the flavor of the coarsely ground coffee beans, whereas a cold brewer does the job in under ten minutes.”

Not all cold brew coffee makers operate at that rate of speed, though. With some models, you’ll find you have to brew for half a day or more. That means you’ll need to make tomorrow morning’s coffee as soon as you get home from work today to ensure it tastes good. But many of today’s cold brew coffee makers come with airtight lids that mean your brew will stay fresh between several days and two weeks. If you choose a brewer with a 2-quart capacity, that means you could make a batch on Sunday and drink on it for several days, depending on your daily consumption.

• Some consumers simply prefer the taste of cold brew coffee, which is one of the reasons it’s become so popular. It tastes completely different from hot coffee that has been poured over ice.

“Cold brew has a distinctly different flavor profile than traditional hot drip coffee; it leaches out the bitterness that often plagues drip coffee,” says Chernoff. “It’s strong and sweet and far less acidic. The rapid brew versions use an electric pump to manufacture internal vacuum pressure to circulate water through the grounds.”

• But even within cold brew coffee makers, the taste experience can vary from one to another. One thing affecting taste is the coffee’s freshness, particularly if you won’t be drinking it soon after brewing. Look for a brewer that includes a lid with a tight seal to keep your coffee fresh for days at a time.
• If you don’t like the first cup of coffee your cold brew coffee maker puts out, don’t give up. You can often tweak the drip settings or adjust the number of beans you use to get just the right concentration of coffee to water.
• One of the biggest differentiators between cold brew coffee makers is the design. If you have specific preferences, this will immediately push some ahead of others. Some look like Mason jars, while others have a design similar to a beaker. You’ll also find cold brew coffee makers that are designed for you to easily take it with you as you head out the door.
• Capacity is also an important decider. If you plan to consume less than a few cups of coffee a day, a 32-ounce brewer will likely work just fine. However, if you have more than one coffee drinker in your household, a 2-quart coffee maker may be a better choice. The larger option could also be a good pick if you would like to make coffee for several days at once.
• As with other drip coffee brewers, you’ll need a filter to hold the coffee while the water passes through it. Some cold brew coffee makers have reusable mesh filters while others rely on paper filters. With the latter, you’ll need to consistently purchase new filters, so that’s an expense to keep in mind.
• In addition to the difference in reusability, some filters do a better job than others at keeping grounds from ending up in your coffee. Look for one that will give you the purest cup possible.
• Markings make some coffee makers easier to use than others. Look for a brewer that has markings that make it easy to see liquid levels.
• Some cold brew coffee makers are dishwasher safe, but with others, you’ll have to wash by hand. Also consider how difficult it will be to clean your filter. You may find it easier to just dump the filter with the grounds, especially since coffee grounds can cause plumbing and septic issues.
• With many cold brew coffee makers, you’ll need to be a little more patient than with the instant brewers used for hot coffee. In some cases, you’ll need to plan to make it before bed at the latest and let it brew all night.