OXO Cold Brew Coffee Maker

When I was a little kid, my parents had a cold brew coffee maker, and I was fascinated by it. It looked like a wacky science experiment. But back then, I didn't drink coffee, so I had no idea if it was good or not.

Now that I'm a coffee-drinking adult, I've fallen in love with the cold brew method. The coffee is smoother and less bitter and ... I just like it better. And it's simple. Just add the cold-brew liquid to hot water, and you have hot coffee. Or pour it over ice, add milk or water, and you've got easy iced coffee.

I was pretty excited to try the new cold brew coffee maker from OXO. It's a pretty simple device, but really well designed. Water goes into the top section on top of the coffee. It's suggested that you stir the coffee after a few minutes. Then it just sits overnight or up to 24 hours.

The part that holds coffee and grounds sits on a base, and a carafe fits in that base, to collect the coffee when you press the lever to let the coffee drain.

That lever is pretty genius. It lets you stop the draining, if you need to. Like if you want to make a cup of coffee before it has finished draining. If you absent-mindedly grab the carafe while the lever is in the draining position, the lever will flick itself into the non-draining position before you can remove the carafe. So you're not going to be dribbling coffee all over your counter.

The other neat thing is the filter - there's no need for disposable filters since there's a fine-mesh metal filter. If you've got coffee with a lot of dust in it, you might get some of that in your coffee, but most of the coffees I've used haven't been all that dusty. But, if you want to eliminate even the slightest chance of dust, you can put a paper filter inside the metal filter.

Since the filter is built in, when you're done you can just flip the container over and dump the grounds - no worries about losing parts.

For storage, the pieces nest together pretty well, which is a big deal for me - storage space is a big deal, so being able to condense the parts to fit a smaller space is nice.

The carafe that catches the coffee has a lid, so you can use it for storage, or you can pour it into any handy container you like. Or, if you don't drink a lot of coffee, you can freeze the concentrate for even longer storage.

The carafe lid can also be used for measuring, if that's something you need.

Who's it for: Coffee drinkers who want to try cold-brew.

Pros: Easy to use and easy to clean.

Cons: I wasn't crazy about the design of the carafe lid. It worked well enough, so it's a minor quibble, and other people might love it.

Wishes: Nothing, really, I'm pretty happy with it the way it is.

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.