The Best Cold Brew Coffee Maker We’ve Found

For people who like cold brew enough to keep buying $8 cups of it, a dedicated cold brew coffee maker starts to make a lot of sense.

Can you make cold brew in a French press, a mason jar, or whatever large container is clean and nearby? Absolutely. Cold brew is not complicated. Coffee grounds, cold or room-temperature water, time, filtration. That’s the whole deal.

But the annoying part is not the brewing. It’s separating the grounds from the coffee without making your kitchen look like you lost a fight with wet compost.

That’s where a good cold brew maker earns its spot.

If you’re looking for the best cold brew coffee maker for regular home use, our top pick is the Toddy Cold Brew System. It’s not fancy. It’s not sleek in an Instagram-countertop way. And it’s canister size is a little off-putting. But it makes a big batch of smooth cold brew concentrate, filters cleanly, and—most importantly—satisfies my daily afternoon coffee needs.

Why You Need a Cold Brew Coffee Maker

Cold brew is one of the easiest coffee methods to DIY, but it is also one of the easiest to make annoying.

The simplicity is evident: You don’t need precise water temperature. You don’t need a gooseneck kettle. You don’t need a perfect pouring technique. You just need 1) time (12-24 hours), 2) patience, and 3) a way to filter a soggy pile of grounds. That last part is the problem.

A French press can work. So can a V60, a funnel, cheesecloth, or a mesh strainer. We’ve tried plenty of those setups. They technically make coffee. They also tend to be slower, messier, smaller, or more irritating than they need to be. A dedicated cold brew coffee maker is really about convenience. It gives you a container for steeping, a way to separate the grounds, and a carafe or pitcher for storing the finished coffee.

It’s also a great base for more creative beverages. Don’t limit your cold brew to coffee and cream. It also plays well with other mixers, like fresh-squeezed orange juice and a splash of sparkling water. It’s also delicious with cola, cream, and lime. Add homemade cold foam to REALLY take it up a notch!

Needless to say, we’re just scratching the surface with our cold brew coffee “mocktails” and we’re having fun along the way.

What to Look for in a Cold Brew Coffee Maker

Easy filtration

This is the main thing. Cold brew makers do not “brew better” in the same way a high-quality espresso machine or pour-over setup might. The difference is mostly how cleanly and easily they separate the coffee from the grounds.

A good cold brew maker should filter without a lot of babysitting, clogging, sludge, or counter spillage.

Sufficient batch size

If you drink cold brew daily, go bigger. Cold brew concentrate keeps well in the fridge for about a week, and making one batch a week is much nicer than constantly resetting a tiny brewer.

If you only drink cold brew occasionally, a compact brewer may be enough.

» Learn more: Cold brew vs. iced coffee

Storage

Cold brew makers can be weirdly bulky. Some have wide pitchers. Some need tall fridge space. Some nest neatly when not in use. Think about your actual refrigerator, not your fantasy refrigerator where nothing is blocking the almond milk.

Easy cleanup

Cold brew grounds are wet, heavy, and deeply committed to being inconvenient. Look for reusable filters, dishwasher-safe parts, wide openings, or simple designs that do not require a tiny brush and your last ounce of patience.

A note on concentrate vs. ready-to-drink coffee

Many cold brew makers are designed to make concentrate, which you dilute with water, milk, or ice. We like this because it gives you flexibility and takes up less fridge space.

But if you prefer ready-to-drink cold brew, you can usually adjust your ratio and brew weaker.

Our Pick: Toddy Cold Brew System

If we had to choose one cold brew coffee maker for most homes, we’d pick the Toddy Cold Brew System.

We’ve used it regularly for years, and it has become one of those deeply unglamorous coffee tools that just keeps earning its cabinet space. It makes a large batch, the process is simple, and the finished concentrate is smooth, reliable, and easy to keep in the fridge.

The Toddy is basically a brewing bucket, a reusable filter, a rubber stopper, and a glass decanter. That sounds almost too simple, but that’s the point.

You add coarse-ground coffee and water to the brewing container, let it steep, then place it over the decanter and pull the stopper. The coffee drains into the carafe while the grounds stay behind.

Why we like the Toddy Cold Brew Maker:

• Makes a large batch of cold brew concentrate
• Simple setup with very little learning curve
• Reusable filter system
• Great for weekly cold brew routines
• Easy to dilute to taste
• More affordable than many premium cold brew makers

Go-to cold brew recipe

Our go-to Toddy recipe uses 12 ounces of coarse-ground coffee and about 7 cups of cold or room temperature water. Let it steep for 12 to 24 hours, drain, then dilute the concentrate when serving. We usually start around a 1:1 ratio of concentrate to water or milk, then adjust depending on the coffee and our mood.

» Learn more: The best gifts for coffee lovers this year

Downsides

The glass decanter is a little bulky in the fridge. I don’t like its size so I usually re-bottle it in something more compact.

The rubber stopper is also small enough to disappear into the gray chaos of a kitchen counter. And the reusable filter is one of those things you should probably clean more carefully than we do.

But for regular cold brew drinkers like us, the Toddy hits the best mix of batch size, ease, price, and dependability.

Also Great: OXO Cold Brew Coffee Maker

The OXO Cold Brew Coffee Maker is the other big contender here, and it’s actually a very good one.

If you want something a little more polished than the Toddy—or prefer the color black—the OXO is probably the cold brew maker you’ll prefer looking at and using.

It makes cold brew concentrate, has a reusable stainless steel mesh filter, and uses OXO’s “Rainmaker top” to distribute water more evenly over the coffee grounds.

Instead of pulling a little stopper, you flip a switch to start draining the coffee into the glass carafe. It’s clean, intuitive, and very OXO. (We’re def an OXO house).

Why we like the OXO Cold Brew Maker:

• Easy switch-style draining
• Rainmaker top helps distribute water evenly
• Reusable stainless steel mesh filter
• Glass carafe with measurement markings
• Carafe stopper helps keep concentrate fresh
• Parts nest together for storage

You can also buy a compact version if you don’t drink cold brew often. That said, cold brew concentrate keeps well in the fridge, so there’s not much downside to making a larger batch unless your fridge space is truly limited.

The biggest knock for the standard OXO Cold Brew Maker is its price. At around $60, it costs more than a lot of basic cold brew pitchers and more than the Toddy. But if you want a clean, thoughtful design and you like OXO gear generally, it’s an easy recommendation.

» Learn more: An honest OXO pour over review

Best Small Option: Toddy Go Brewer

If you want cold brew but don’t want a large contraption taking up your counter or fridge, consider the aforementioned’s little sister—the Toddy Go Brewer.

It uses a similar general concept but makes a smaller batch, around 24 ounces of concentrate.

The Toddy Go Brewer is good for:

• Small kitchens
• Campers/hikers/travelers who want portable cold brew
• Single-coffee-drinker-households
• Occasional cold brew drinkers
• Office setups
• People who want less fridge commitment

The tradeoff is obvious: you’ll need to brew more often.

If you drink cold brew every day, get the larger OXO or the Toddy. If you only want a few glasses a week, the smaller Go Brewer makes more sense. You can even buy pre-measured, pre-ground coffee for ease on the Toddy website: Pitcher packs.

Best Fast Option: OXO Outdoor Rapid Brewer

The OXO Outdoor Rapid Brewer is not a traditional overnight cold brew maker, but it deserves a spot here because it solves a different problem: speed.

Most cold brew requires waiting 12 to 24 hours. The OXO Rapid Brewer makes concentrated cold brew coffee in about five minutes using cold water, or about two minutes using hot water. You add finely ground coffee, tamp it, add water, wait, then pump the concentrate into the carafe.

Is it the same as a slow-steeped batch of classic cold brew? Not exactly. But for camping, travel, hotels, offices, or “I forgot to make the cold brew last night” mornings, this brewer is genuinely interesting.

Why we like it the OXO Rapid Brewer:

• Makes cold concentrated coffee in about five minutes
• Works without plugs, charging, or pods
• Compact enough for travel or camping
• Built-in stainless steel filter
• Can make hot or cold concentrated coffee
• Good for one-off drinks instead of weekly batches

The Rapid Brewer is not what we’d buy as our primary home cold brew maker. For that, the Toddy or standard OXO Cold Brew Maker still makes more sense.

But if you want something portable, fast, and flexible, the Rapid Brewer is a fun option.

» Learn more: How to make camping coffee

Can You Just Use a French Press?

Yes. And if you already own a French press, you should probably try that before buying anything. (Long before we owned a dedicated cold brew maker for our portable coffee kit, our French press pulled double duty around camp).

Cold brew doesn’t require a special machine. A French press is one of the easiest DIY options because it already has a built-in way to separate most of the grounds from the coffee.

You can honestly also use any jar with a tight-fitting lid. The tricky part will be separating the grounds from the coffee, but a filter or a cheesecloth can get you there.

Use coarse-ground coffee, add cold or room-temperature water, steep for 12 to 24 hours, press, and pour. If you want less oily/”cleaner tasting” cup, run the finished coffee through a paper filter after pressing.

» Learn more: How do you make good coffee at home?

Final Thoughts: The Best Cold Brew Coffee Maker for Most People

The Toddy Cold Brew System is our top pick because it makes cold brew easy, repeatable, and affordable. It’s not the prettiest coffee maker we own, but it’s one of the most useful. For weekly cold brew drinkers, that matters more.

The OXO Cold Brew Coffee Maker is the cleaner, more polished alternative. It costs a bit more, but the switch-style draining, Rainmaker top, and reusable mesh filter make it feel thoughtfully designed from top to bottom.

The OXO Compact Cold Brew Coffee Maker is best for small spaces or occasional cold brew drinkers, while the OXO Outdoor Rapid Brewer is the one to look at if you want fast concentrated coffee for travel, camping, or emergency cold brew cravings.

And yes, you can absolutely start with a French press.

But if you’re tired of awkward filtering, wet grounds, and makeshift systems that “work” but still make you mad every time, a dedicated cold brew maker is worth it.