Best Cold-Brew Coffee Makers of 2025
Consumer Reports’ tests reveal the top automatic and manual models
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If you’re one of those people who’s loyal to cold drinks in all weather conditions, cold-brew coffee is a great go-to for your morning jolt. But cold brew can be expensive to buy at a coffee shop, so if you drink it regularly, you may want to make yours at home. The good news is that it’s one of the easiest ways to prepare coffee: It just takes a little more time than hot coffee.
Unlike traditional coffee brewing (running hot water through a medium to medium-fine grind for a few minutes), cold brew involves steeping coarsely ground coffee in cold or room-temperature water for as long as 24 hours. This can either yield a ready-made cold brew or a more concentrated brew, which you then dilute with cold water and/or ice. You can also mix cold brew concentrate with hot water for a cup of coffee with much less acidity than you get with hot water-brewed coffee.
To make cold brew at home, you need just a few basic tools—ground coffee, some jars, and a coffee filter. But thanks to cold brew’s popularity, there are now plenty of dedicated cold-brew coffee makers that make the work even simpler. Manual models merely require ground coffee and a little patience. With automatic models, you simply plug the machine into an outlet like a standard coffee maker, add coffee, and you’ve got a pot in as little as 20 minutes.
But Consumer Reports’ tests of cold-brew coffee makers show that some are more up to the task than others. Below, you’ll find the five best cold-brew coffee makers from our tests listed in alphabetical order per category (automatic and manual).
CR members can click each model name for detailed ratings and reviews. To see more options, check out our complete cold-brew coffee maker ratings. For more on all of the types of coffee makers we test, see our coffee maker buying guide. CR members can also explore our complete coffee maker ratings of nearly 140 models.
The KitchenAid Cold Brew Coffee Maker KCM4212SX is the most expensive manual model in our ratings, but it offers the smallest claimed capacity, at 28 ounces—almost half that of the Primula, our top-rated manual model, below. And our testers found its glass carafe unusually heavy. Despite those shortcomings, this KitchenAid model does well in our performance tests, receiving very good ratings for ease of cleaning and convenience, though a lower score for taste. It can brew in 12 to 24 hours, depending on how concentrated you like your coffee.
The Asobu Insulated Portable Brewer KB900 is more expensive than most of the other manual models we tested, but it’s a superior performer. It offers outstanding convenience, and it’s the only model in our ratings with a near-top-level rating for taste. This coffee maker isn’t dishwasher-safe, but it has a stainless-steel insulated carafe (rare for a manual model) and brews in 12 to 24 hours, depending on how strong you want your coffee.
The Ninja Hot & Cold Brewed System CP307 is a full-fledged drip coffee maker with a cold-brew mode. It performs especially well when it comes to convenience, though it’s not the easiest cold-brew maker to clean. It uses an insulated stainless steel carafe and makes a full carafe of cold brew in 18 to 20 minutes by brewing coffee at a low temperature—a little different from the traditional cold brew method, but the lower temperature still yields a less acidic brew than brewing hot coffee and chilling it for iced coffee. The taste score for this machine is decent, on a par with most of the other models on this list. We also tested it as a standard drip coffee maker, and it receives strong scores in all of those tests, too. If you want to bounce back and forth between hot and cold brewing, this coffee maker could be a great option.
The Primula Burke Cold Brew Coffee Maker PBPBK-5101 is one of the most affordable manual cold-brew coffee maker in our ratings, and it scores the best out of all the cold-brew models in our tests. It receives a stellar rating for convenience and a very good score for ease of cleaning, though, again, its taste score is more moderate. The Primula comes with a glass carafe, and most of its parts are dishwasher-safe. One drawback, though, is that it’s the only model on this list that requires a full 24-hour brew time.
With a large claimed capacity of 56 ounces—five ounces more than the Primula, the model with the next-largest capacity on this list—the low-priced manual Toddy Cold Brew System is a solid performer all around. Like other cold-brew coffee makers, its brew time is between 12 to 24 hours, depending on your taste. Where it shines is its ease of cleaning, and the whole device is dishwasher-safe. That said, the product’s convenience and taste scores are middling and, unlike many other models, its filter needs to be replaced.
How CR Tests Cold-Brew Coffee Makers
When we bring cold-brew makers into our labs, a team of testers led by Ginny Lui, CR’s test engineer for coffee makers, takes each model through several assessments. Lui’s team takes stock of each model’s specs—including capacity and brew times. They then evaluate each coffee maker for ease of cleaning (this includes removing the coffee grounds and washing the basket and carafe) and for convenience (how simple it is to set up and use each model).
“We found that automatic models are more difficult to clean than manual models since they often have more parts,” says Lui. “But their relatively short brew times still make them a compelling option.”
An expert coffee taste tester also evaluates the taste of each machine’s brew. We use both medium and dark roast coffee grounds, and brew coffee in each model per the manufacturer’s suggestions for water and dilution ratios and brew times. But it’s important to remember that taste can vary by adjusting coffee, time, and water usage, and you may find that a stronger or more diluted brew may taste better to you.
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