Good Grips 32 Ounce Cold Brew Coffee Maker

I have several OXO products and they are typically well-made, effective at what they are designed to do and very easy to use. Have to admit that at this point, if I need a kitchen gadget, I'll almost always default to the OXO product, if I have an option. I've been making cold brew for a couple of years now, using a 64 ounce mason jar and that method works well, though it has some issues. I'd been eyeing this cold brew coffee maker for a while and when I saw it on sale, I went for it. After only one time using it, I can already say it's worth the purchase. Very easy to set up and use. Very well-designed, as is typical with OXO products. Very easy to clean, which was always a pain with the mason jar and its relatively narrow mouth. And the coffee tastes great! The best part is eliminating the filtering process that usually took a good 15 minutes or so with my old method. With this maker, I just flip the switch, go away and turn on my computer and in 10 minutes I come back to a carafe full of tasty coffee. No more struggling with the dumping of the liquid through the filter, while trying to avoid splattering huge chunks of wet grounds all over the kitchen counter. I'd noticed that my acid reflux was definitely not as active and pronounced when I drank cold brew coffee rather than hot coffee and I'm pretty much sold on moving forward with cold brew from this point on. Very happy I finally made the purchase and, as noted before, very happy to have stuck with another solid OXO product.

Husband loves cold brew and bought this for him as a Christmas present. It's easy to use and he loves it. I like the pot, reminds me a a chemistry lab beaker. Doesn't take up too much counter space.

OXO has an excellent reputation, and this product is simply excellent. I love cold brew coffee and was using the Hario pot but it did not make a true cold brew concentrate. I recently purchased the oxo product. Below are key points: 1. The product design is excellent. The coffee maker can be assembled into a storage mode cleverly to reduce counter/cabinet space when not in use. I love the carafe - it has the measuring cup for the coffee on the top. Unlike other reviewers, I have not had issues with the carafe breaking. The product was designed well - so easy to use. 2. Grinding: I used a Rancilio Rocky burr grinder at the highest setting, and the grounds have to look like bread crumbs (e.g. french press). I have never not used a burr grinder so I do not know about using grocery store, coffee shop, or other grinders. I did note that other reviews had issues getting the grounds to be coarse. 3. Filter: Oxo includes an special filter that can be washed in addition to some filter papers. I would highly recommend using the paper filters too with the product for best results. 4. Coffee: Wow - this is some great coffee. I had no issues making it with the instructions and everything came as advertised. I usually drink 2 oz of the coffee cold with 4 oz of chilled milk. You can also make tea and something other coffee recipes. Have not gotten there yet but I'm excited about the possibilities here. 5. Other considerations: - Only the carafe/beaker/whatever you want to call is dishwasher safe. - Would advise on letting the coffee dwell for 24 hours. It took my batch about 30-45 minutes to drain. I do think that the instructions are unrealistic (they say wait 20 minutes). You can get 2 oz, stop the flow to get your morning coffee, and then keep draining. 6. Competitors: I explored Toddy and Flatiron. What really convinced me to get this product was that Seattle Coffee Gear unanimously agreed in a blind taste that this was a clear winner (those people are very hard to please so it is rare to have unanimous vote!). I also did not like other aspects of those other machines - that being said, I'm sure that they make great coffee. It's just that Oxo designed this machine so well. Bottom line: I am thrilled with this machine. It is intuitive and makes exceptional cold brew. The main hiccup that I could envision for others is having the wrong grinding technique. Lastly, have patience to let all that precious coffee drain!

My wife bought this as we both love cold brew coffee. Up until this i didn't know what was involved with making cold brew, and quite honestly i was disappointed how simple it was. Not that i was disappointed in the product, but the fact that i bought a device to do something that was so simple. Regardless, i use the OXO Cold brewer every week and love the end result! The product is very intuitive to use and designed nicely for storage when not in use. It's footprint is rather small, but the unit is pretty tall but still fits on our counter under the cabinets (you will need to pull out from under a cabinet to fill though). I use a 4 parts water to 1 part coffee grounds when setting up the brewer. I've found that with that ratio, a 12oz bag of ground beans is about as large of a batch you can make. I usually let it sit for a full day before i give it a good stir to mix up the grounds that have "bloomed" to the top. Then i let it sit for another day...so plan ahead on it taking 2 days to make a full batch. Also be aware that it takes awhile to drain...at least a couple hours. Not sure they could have done much in terms of the product to improve drainage, i think it's more of a process thing. When i make my coffee, i've found for me that 1 part coffee to 2 parts water is just the right amount, 3 parts water was to weak for my liking. The only complaint i've got for the product itself is the filter portion. So the unit comes with a reusable mesh screen and the optional disposable coffee filter disc to use in combination with the screen. If you don't use the filter piece, you will get a small amount of grounds that pass through regardless of how coarse your beans were ground. However, if you use the small disposable disc filters i've found that it'll clog up before completely draining the liquid. So usually half way through draining i have to empty the content into a big bowl, change out the filter, put it all back together and wait for it to drain again. Kind of a pain and takes up more time. I have found that i can simply use standard coffee filters instead of the disc. Just set the reusable screen in, lay a standard filter over it and then screw the base on and tear the excess filter off after you've screwed it on tightly. Now you don't need to track down special filters! All in all, great product...just wish the process was faster. Plus i think it looks cool on the counter....all science'y :)

Love it. Went from making cold brew out of my french press to this and it's a HUGE difference in taste. To be fair, that's largely due to the better filtration on this versus the screens on a press. But hey, the rainmaker is cool, the glass decanter with the volume markings is great and the lid on it is great too. It cleans up pretty easily including the filter too. PRO TIP: the paper filters it comes with a) help your brew taste cleaner, so USE THEM, but b) they are REUSABLE! It's a really tough paper and honestly, I've only used one so far for 5 brews and it shows no sign of deterioration. Just rinse the paper filter too and let it dry. BREW RECOMMENDATION: I've experimented a lot and let me tell you what is now the best cold coffee I've had at home. 1. Grind beans course (like breadcrumbs). I highly recommend a medium roast Ethiopian, gives nice chocolatey/citrus notes. Your beans mean EVERYTHING here since you'll taste them more clearly than you do via hot water brewing, so try a variety. To me, Ethiopian is the best flavor. 2. Add your beans, shake it a bit so it's all evenly distributed, put on the rainmaker, and slowly pour in TWICE the volume of water for a 1:2 ratio of beans to water. Most recipes use WEIGHT of beans, not VOLUME, but who has a scale sitting around to weigh their beans? I've done the math and most recipes equate to 1:2 ratio when comparing VOLUME beans to water. I use a measuring cup for both, so that's volume, not weight. Whatever amount of beans I add with my measuring cup, I then use twice that of water. 3. Optional: grind up (or throw in whole) a small bit of a) cardamom pods b) cinnamon c) clove and/or d) cocoa powder. Experiment but best to do this later once your brew itself is solid. 4. Let it sit 12-14 hours, room temp is fine or in fridge. 5. Flip the switch to drain into the decanter and now you have a CONCENTRATE. Sip it, it's damn strong and not meant to be drunk like this. Now dilute it by adding equal parts water, so if you had 400ml of concentrate, pour water in to make 800ml total (you can play with this more/less, but 1:1 ratio generally works). Throw it in the fridge and pull it out when cold. Try it black, it should taste very smooth and drinkable as-is, but of course you can pour over ice, add some milk and liquid sugar and it will be incredibly yummy. For sweetener, simply take a small bottle and mix sugar with equal parts water and shake it for a few minutes to mix, store it in the fridge. You can't use ordinary sugar since it won't dissolve well in cold brew.

I looked through a number of Cold Brew device reviews and this one kept popping up. An advantage of this to the others* is that it didn't require a specific, proprietary filter pad. The screen filter provided with the Oxo should last for years (I hope). You can reduce residue further with a paper filter (included). I tried it and it can clog resulting in a very slow and possibly low quantity of the filtrate (brew). I now use the advice of another reviewer and filter with the metal screen only at first, empty the coffee grinds, and re-filter the brew in the empty bowl with the paper filter installed below the metal screen. Worked perfectly. It is not a required step, the initial filtrate seemed good enough to me. BTW, you can cut paper filters from your drip coffee maker if need be. Other than the 2nd pass for fine filtering sediment, another trick that worked well is a 2nd round of brew, also suggested from another reviewer. The recommended 5 cups of water returns approximately 3.5 cups after 24 hr brewing period (1st pass). I then added another 2 cups of water for an additional 24 hrs (2nd pass) and ended up with about 5 cups total. The 2nd pass did not seem bitter. I think that cold brew may not extract as much coffee as a hot brew, even with the extended time utilized. I'm not sure you would even consider a 2nd pass is you originally filtered with the paper filter installed. As others have mentioned the glass beaker could be thicker and grippier. I collect the brew in the beaker but store it in an old mason jar in the fridge. The beaker feels a bit slippery from condensation if you use it from the fridge. I wrapped a couple of rubber bands around the neck as a precaution, even though I brew at room temperature and the beaker is not slippery, it is still a little awkward. Finally, the dreaded 'leak' issue. DO NOT OVER-TIGHTEN! The O-ring is pretty flimsy and seems it can roll if pressed. It's better to under-tighter and if a leak occurs tighten a little more. If you over-tighten it will be a mess because you'll probably have to take it apart. In a review by Alloy Recon, he mentioned using a sturdier O-ring: "#142 Silicone O-Ring, 70A Durometer, Red, 2-3/8" ID, 2-9/16" OD, 3/32" Width" . Amazon was out, but did have this one: 2 3/8'' Diameter -142 Water and Steam-Resistant O-Rings (25 EA per Pack). Much sturdier O-ring! FWIW, I'm on my 4th brew and still using the original O-ring. The suggested replacement is thicker and causes the filter screen to be looser as well. Not sure if this will let through extra sediment or not as I haven't tried the additional O-rings yet for a brew. If so, the paper filter step should clean it up. OK, as for taste, I have not sampled different devices to compare, but there are reviews where they did. The reviews claimed this to be the most flavorful brew. Possibly as the screen does not filter as much as the filter pads would that are used in some of the other popular devices. Still a very smooth brew. Although this is the most expensive of the devices I was considering, and the additional O-rings are a good insurance policy but added to that price, the other devices required proprietary filters adding to long term cost, if they are even still available over time. I'm very happy with this purchase. Good luck! *The devices I was considering all produced a condensed brew of 32+ ounces that gets diluted when used. I narrowed these down to the Oxo, Toddy and Filtron Cold Brewers. This 'concentrate' was generally not the case for the devices that were simply a jar with a fitted screen tube/insert.

First off, I love this cold brew maker. It's easy to use and consistently churns out amazing cold brew. I've had it for over a year and have made close to 50 batches of cold brew (I know because I'm running out of paper filters soon). I thought I would do my good deed of the day and enlighten everyone with my perfect cold brew recipe. It's rich and chocolatey and downright delicious. It's much better than what they serve at Starbucks (or anywhere else, IMHO). World, you are welcome ;) 1. Get one bag of Starbucks Guatemala Antigua and one bag of Starbucks Yukon Blend, ground coarsely (by Starbucks or by you). I know, I know, many coffee snobs hate Starbucks, but this *is* really good. I promise. The bag of Guatemala Antigua will be enough for about two and a half batches of cold brew and the Yukon Blend will last for four. They don't line up exactly but I'm anal and this doesn't bother me. 2. Use a paper filter in addition to the metal filter--I really think it makes a difference. 3. Mix 6 oz. of Guatemala Antigua and 4 oz. of Yukon Blend in the cold brew container. (I measure this out with a kitchen scale and I would posit weighing is important.) 4. Add 16 oz. water (preferably cold and filtered) through the rainmaker and let sit for 5-10 minutes to saturate the grounds. 5. Add an additional 24 oz. of water and stir to make sure all of the grounds are saturated. (It's also ridiculously satisfying to stir and smell the coffee so I don't suggest skipping this step.) 6. Cover the rainmaker lid with a small piece of Saran Wrap (to keep out any fridge smells) and put in the fridge. As long as you don't touch/pull the seal on the bottom where the filter is, you can put this right in your fridge, but go ahead and put it in a bowl if you're worried about leaks. 7. Let brew between 20-22 hours. I really don't notice the difference in the couple of hours and I've accidentally let it sit for 24+ hours and it's still been fine, but YMMV. Enjoy!

I urge anyone not familiar with the cold brew process (for making hot coffee) or taste to read this review before making a decision. This is really not so much about this particular product as it is about the process of making cold brew coffee. This was my first experience and it has been a bit of a disappointment. The product itself is fine. It seems well made and works exactly as advertised. I used the paper filter the first time I made coffee with it, but after that I ditched it. I found that if you grind your coffee to a course grind as recommended, you won't get a trace of grounds in the finished coffee. So no complaints about the product. My problem is with the whole concept. Like I said, I had never tasted or tried to make hot coffee using the cold brew process but the idea seemed like a solid one and so I bought this product based on the reviews. As soon as I made the first batch of cold brew coffee, the issues became apparent. First of all is the taste. While it's true that cold brew coffee does not have the bitter edge of hot coffee, I found that the taste was not as great as I was expecting. To me, it has a hint of "instant coffee" taste. And after sitting in the fridge for a few hours, it even develops a bit of a state aftertaste. Upon reflection, this shouldn't be surprising, but it never occurred to me that using the cold brew method means that you will always be drinking coffee that isn't really fresh. Second, my wife and I drink a lot of coffee, and we are finding that a batch of cold brew concentrate rarely lasts us more than a day -- two at most. And we are using more of it to make an equivalent amount of coffee to what we were making before. About twice as much. Finally, the process -- I seriously underestimated how much of an inconvenience this would be, compared to making hot coffee via the drip process. I am coming to really dread the almost daily routine of emptying the spent grounds, cleaning the equipment, grinding, measuring, and starting a new batch. At first I thought, "this won't be too bad -- at least once it's done, it will be easy enough to make a cup of coffee." But even that is more of a hassle than I expected. I like my brew strong so, I find myself using a 1-1 ratio of concentrate to water. That means lukewarm coffee, so right away I have to microwave it. Then when I want another cup, it's back to the fridge, then the tea kettle, and finally the microwave. I think the bottom line for me is, if the taste really wowed me, it would be worth it. But it's really a tossup for me -- slightly less bitter coffee but with a bit of instant or stale taste. So it's definitely not worth the extra hassle. I'm going to keep this for occasional use. It probably will come in handy for making iced coffee, although we don't drink that often. That's probably the best use of it.