By admin 
If you’re looking for a consistent, low-effort way to make coffee, try cold brew. Making cold brew requires little technique and minimal gear, unlike pour-over makers and espresso machines. I’ve made excellent batches with just a scale, burr grinder and Mason jar, and you can too, provided you understand the basics and have a few coffee tools.
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I’ll explain brewing fundamentals while also highlighting my favorite cold brew makers and accessories, drawing on my experience as a product tester and lifelong coffee nerd. Experts from world-renowned roasters and fellow CNN Underscored coffee enthusiasts will also chime in with brewing tips and gear recommendations so your first batch is perfect.
Brewing systems for cold brew
Takeya 2-Quart Glass Cold Brew Coffee Maker
Takeya’s glass cold brew maker is the best I’ve tested. Cleanup is easy, the build is solid and brews taste great. My favorite feature, though, is its airtight seal, which guarantees long-term freshness and spill-free brewing.
Read our review
Ball 64-Ounce Wide-Mouth Mason Jar
If you can tolerate a slightly messier brewing and cleanup process, a 64-ounce jar is my budget-friendly pick. The lid ensures an airtight seal, and the wide mouth makes it easy to add ground coffee. You’ll need some way to separate your cold brew from the coffee grounds, however. I prefer a coffee sock, but a cheesecloth, nut milk bag or pour-over device with a filter work too.
Read our review
Toddy Home Cold Brew System
“If you are an avid cold brew drinker, this brewer makes a large pitcher, which can be brewed as a concentrate and diluted to taste with water or milk,” Ted Stachura, director of coffee at Equator Coffees, said. It’s also CNN Underscored tech writer and avowed cold brew enthusiast Henry T. Casey’s preferred brewing method.
Read our review
Oxo Compact Cold Brew Coffee Maker
Brent Wolczynski, the director of product development and cold brew at Stumptown Coffee Roasters, recommends this brewer for its easy-to-use design. Add grounds and water, then wait for 12 to 24 hours for up to 24 ounces of cold brew. Want a true “clean cup” of cold brew? He said you can add an optional paper filter, which is “as close as you can get to the extremely tight filtration we use in our cold brew.”
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Hario Cold Brew Coffee Wine Bottle
For cold brew enthusiasts who take their coffee black, Michael Phillips, the global director of culture and omotenashi at Blue Bottle Coffee, said the Hario Cold Brew Bottle is “hands down the best bet.” The convenient thing about this brew system is that it doubles as a carafe.
Espro P3 French Press
If you don’t mind some leftover sediment in your coffee, you can use a French press for cold brew, according to Trade Coffee director of coffee Maciej Kasperowicz. Because it’s a carafe with a built-in strainer, it’s a natural vessel. Our testing writer Joe Bloss recommends the Espro P3, which comes with dual filters to cut down on sludge typical of this brewing style.
Read our review
AeroPress Original Coffee and Espresso Maker
We hold the AeroPress in high regard at CNN Underscored — we even named it a “buy it for life” product — where many of our editors swear by the travel-friendly device’s durability, versatility and portability. While it’s most well known for making hot coffee, it can also brew a mean cold brew-style cup. AeroPress’ recipe comes together in two minutes.
Read our review
Kalita Wave 185 Dripper
Colby Barr, Verve Coffee Roasters’ CEO and co-founder, said that hot-brewing coffee extracts “many more complex aromatic and flavor compounds.” So when the weather is hot, Verve baristas simply brew strong pour-over coffee using the Kalita Wave, which is also our best-tested pour-over coffee maker, then add the cold aspect. For a 16-ounce cup, Barr recommends 25 grams of ground coffee, 275 grams of water and 100 grams of ice.
Read our review
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Tools and equipment for cold brew
Baratza Encore Conical Burr Coffee Grinder
A good burr grinder will make any coffee better, Kasperowicz said. He recommends the Baratza Encore, which is a favorite among enthusiasts for its even grind, customer service and replaceable parts program. I recommend upgrading to the ESP or ESP Pro if you plan to make espresso too.
Capresso Infinity Plus Conical Burr Grinder
Casey used to dash home from the supermarket to brew his freshly ground beans, but now he grinds at home with an earlier model of this best-tested burr grinder. “I truly trust Capresso for this, as mine has lasted me since at least 2017 (I can’t find the receipts), and its coarsest grind has resulted in perfectly ground beans for making the cold brew concentrate I love so dearly,” he said.
Read our review
Fellow 1.2-Liter Atmos Manual Coffee Canister
Cold brew may be a forgiving brew style, but the taste of stale coffee drives me crazy, and I hate bean bags that lack tight seals. Luckily, Fellow makes a vacuum-sealed coffee container that keeps beans fresher longer. I like this model, which doesn’t require any pumps or electricity.
Oxo Good Grips 6-Pound Precision Scale With Timer
If you don’t measure your coffee beans and water, you won’t be able to modify or replicate your results. That’s why a good coffee scale is essential, regardless of how you’re brewing. This is our testing team’s favorite budget model, thanks to its precise measurements and simple controls. It has enough features for pour-over brewing too, making it a versatile purchase for coffee hobbyists.
Read our review
Maestri House K-112 Mini Coffee Scale
While this wouldn’t be my first choice for cold brew, this affordable yet feature-rich model is my favorite all-around coffee scale because of its size and versatility. It doesn’t take up precious counter space, and it’s light enough that it travels well. Its compact size also means it fits underneath my espresso machine’s portafilter. I use it for cold brew, pour-over, espresso, cooking and baking.
Read our review
Brita 10-Cup Pitcher With Elite Filter
In our guide to pour-over coffee, an expert said that filtered tap offers a Goldilocks level of minerality for coffee. That’s been my experience too. Frugal readers should go for this water filter pitcher, which Bloss and I found offered a fair compromise between price, flavor and contaminant reduction.
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Read our review
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Beans for cold brew coffee
ReAnimator Coffee Keystone Blend
“I’m obsessed with cold brew quality to the point where I am taking notes every time I grab a cup somewhere new,” Casey said. That said, he’s only ever asked to buy (and later subscribe to) one bag of beans: ReAnimator Coffee’s Keystone Blend. He said the coffee “hits those perfect just-a-hint-of-chocolate flavors while still being plenty rich.”
Perc Octo Libre Cold Brew
Ethiopian coffees are rarely roasted for cold brew, but Perc bucks that trend with its Octo Libre beans. I tried this single-origin coffee back when it was called Thunder Lips and loved its slightly acidic, fruity flavor, which feels unique for cold brew.
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How to make cold brew coffee
Half the fun of cold brew is experimenting, and even as a devoted Takeya fan, I continue to tweak variables, try different brewers and sample new coffees. But if you’re new to cold brew, I understand wanting a step-by-step guide for your first batches. For that, I turned to Kasperowicz, who offered a basic recipe, which you can use with a variety of brewers. If your brewer is too large or small for this recipe, he said to adjust the numbers while sticking to the same 1:8 ratio of coffee to water.
- Coarsely grind 85 grams of whole coffee beans and add it to your brewer.
- Pour about 680 grams of room-temperature water into the brewer to submerge the coffee.
- Steep the coffee for 12 to 18 hours at room temperature, or if your space is hot, steep it in the fridge for the longer end of that range.
- Strain your coffee. “If you’re using a Toddy filter, put it on a strainer and let some of the coffee that’s soaked into those grinds drip out,” Kasperowicz said. Otherwise, he said you can strain the coffee twice through a sieve. “The grinds themselves do a good amount of filtering.”
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FAQs
“Cold brew traditionally uses a specific method by which the coffee grounds are steeped in cold or room temperature water for an extended period of time, typically 12 to 24 hours,” Barr said.
Iced coffee, on the other hand, is hot brewed coffee that’s been iced. “Sometimes it is simply hot brewed coffee that you chill in the fridge,” he said. “The more intentional version can be referred to as a flash-brewed coffee where you hot brew coffee directly onto ice.”
The flavor of cold brew is also different from iced coffee. “Iced coffee tends to have a more tannic quality to it, while cold brew is sweeter, brighter and more quenching,” Wolczynski said.
You can’t make cold brew from a brewed cup of regular coffee. By definition, cold brew is made by extracting the coffee in cold or lukewarm water over a long period of time. If, however, you want to make something like cold brew, you can flash-brew regular coffee to make iced coffee.
Cold brew concentrate usually contains more caffeine than a normal cup of filter coffee but not always. “The amount of caffeine in a cold brew can vary wildly,” Phillips said. It all hinges on the ratio of coffee to water used in the brewing process. If you add more coffee or reduce the amount of water you’re brewing with, the cold brew will be stronger. Do the opposite — reduce the amount of coffee or add more water — and you’ll have a weaker brew.
Either way, you can always modify your brew or dilute the mixture with water or milk. “That’s one of the great things about cold brew — how easily you can modify it to your preference,” Phillips said.
Start with freshly ground, high-quality beans. From there, it really comes down to personal preference. “Many cold brew drinkers prefer coffee roasted at least to a medium-roast degree,” Stachura said. “A slightly darker roast reduces the perception of sweetness a little in the finished coffee, making for a more intense and nuanced taste profile, while light-roasted coffees may lose some of their aromatic excitement when prepared as cold brew.”
Cold brew isn’t the only way. You can also enjoy a cool, refreshing cup of coffee over ice using the below brewing methods:
- Brew hot coffee and let it cool in the fridge. Add ice.
- Brew strong coffee over ice with a V60 or other pour-over device (aka Japanese-style iced coffee).
- Pull a shot of espresso, throw it over ice and add twice as much water as there is coffee for an iced Americano.
- Make strong coffee with a Moka pot. Add ice, water and/or milk.
- Add instant coffee to a glass of cold water or milk. Add ice.
Meet our experts
For this article, we consulted the following experts to gain their professional insights:
- Colby Barr, CEO and cofounder of Verve Coffee Roasters
- Maciej Kasperowicz, director of coffee at Trade Coffee
- Michael Phillips, global director of culture and omotenashi at Blue Bottle Coffee
- Ted Stachura, director of coffee at Equator Coffees
- Brent Wolczynski, director of product development and cold brew at Stumptown Coffee Roasters
Why trust CNN Underscored
CNN Underscored editors and writers ensure every product included in an article is thoroughly vetted and something we ourselves would feel comfortable buying and using. Our team has many decades of collective experience researching, testing and recommending products across every category — from fashion and food, to home goods and health, to electronics and everything in between — and we’re committed to using that expertise to help you make the most of your money and live a better life.
For this guide, CNN Underscored associate writer Maxwell Shukuya interviewed coffee experts at some of the nation’s leading roasters and a cold brew-obsessed colleague (thanks, Henry T. Casey!). It helps that Shukuya is a coffee snob himself who has tackled numerous coffee guides, including how to restore an espresso machine, the best manual coffee grinders and the best gifts for coffee lovers.
Maxwell Shukuya is an associate writer for CNN Underscored who tests products across a variety of verticals. He has a particular passion for gear, especially when it comes to coffee, hiking and climbing.
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