Takeya Patented Deluxe Cold Brew Coffee Maker, 1 qt, Black

I'm a cold brew aficionado. I have tried several products to make my own cold brew rather than getting store-bought cold brew and they have all failed and have been returned. Until now. I have had the large Takeya cold brew maker for less than two weeks, but I can tell you, this one is a keeper. I have already made about 10 batches and I'm now having fun trying different coffees. Right now, I am trying 2 blends and comparing.My process is simple, I fill up the pot with filtered water to about an inch from the bottom of the white rim. I load up the filter with coffee ground coarse to the top of the filter. I attach the extension and then the lid, and slowly dunk the filter in the water. I tighten everything and swirl the water around for a minute or two to wet the coffee. Don't shake too hard or tip it around, well, unless you like grounds in your coffee.I leave the Takeya on the counter for the day, swirling it one in a while. At night, I place it in the refrigerator and the next morning I transfer to cold brew to another jar, clean up the Takeya and either make another batch right away or just put it away until the next time. Usually, I start another batch because it doesn't last long.The clean up is pretty quick. I dump most of the grounds directly in the garbage. I know some people use the grounds for other purposes, I don't, but I also don't put them in the garbage disposal. I then clean and dry all the parts with soap and water, rinse, dry and assemble.My observations:1- The extension is sometimes finicky to connect to the filter.2- I'm not sure how sturdy the actual filter fabric is and I treat it very cautiously. Thankfully, it's not an expensive unit and it's made of plastic so it shouldn't shatter.3- Sometimes find a small amount of residue at the bottom, but since I've only been swirling and not shaking, that seems to have mostly gone away. I have had batches with no residue whatsoever. Just gotta be diligent.4- It's actually pretty neat to see the coffee permeate the water over a few hours. I go for about 22-24 hours because I really like my coffee.Highly recommended. Make sure you start with good water and coarse coffee.Update June 2022. I have been using the device every day since I bought it. It's solid and has stood up well. I now brew the coffee for 48 hours. The first 24 hr sees the coffee maker sitting on the counter. It then goes in the fridge for the next 24 hrs. I use very coarse ground coffee from the supermarket. I've tried different roasts and types and I have settled on dark French roast. I fill the maker up to about an inch from the top, put in coffee to fill the basket up to the start of the extension. This works well for me.

I've always preferred cold drinks to hot ones so imagine my joy when companies started selling pre-made cold-brew coffee in the grocery store. At about $7 per bottle though, it was costing me more to buy it that way rather than brewing my own hot coffee and adding ice. It wasn't until I was perusing YouTube and saw one of my favorite YT'ers pouring her own cold-brew out of a refrigerated container. I immediately toggled to Amazon in a search for one similar and I found this product. After comparing prices and reviews, I decided to give this one a try. 3 weeks and several brews later here are my takeaways:Pros: Easy to clean and use, coffee tastes great, not going back to buying pre-made!Cons: Durability seems fragile as the soft foamy plastic on the handle is coming up already, it will leak if you don't screw the lid on tight so beware, since it has to brew laying down it takes up more space in my small fridge than I'd likeOverall though, it's a much cheaper alternative to pre made cold brews and you can control the strength and taste of your coffee by selecting the brand/grounds/roast you want and by adding more or less ground to the filter.Special Note: I read through a lot of reviews and it seems the main issue most people had was the coffee grounds seeping into the liquid. It appears from reading the replies from the manufacturer and by my own experience with this, that they have created a smaller mesh filter and have stopped shipping the product with the old style. The new style is so good that I'm using fine ground coffee and have had NO grounds in my end product. So please disregard older comments about this issue if you're ordering this for the first time.Another main issue is about the leaking but if you screw the top on securely and shake any excess out into a sink before placing it back into the fridge that will prevent leakage. For just in case, it's good to have a paper towel under your brewer when placed on its side.

My roommate and I have been avid cold brew drinkers for years now but have always been very lazy in learning to make our own coffee and instead resorted to either getting bottles of Stok cold brew from the store (which costs about $5-7/per bottle) or getting cold brew coffee from Starbucks. I am trying to be more sustainable and save money this year and thought a great place to start would be learning to make my own cold brew at home instead of buying premade bottles. I came across this cold brew maker on TikTok and thought for the price it was worth a shot! The setup was very easy as you just measure out 2 cups of coffee and fill the container with water. We waited about 18+ hours (you only need to let it sit for 12 but can go up to 24), occasionally shaking the bottle, before making our first cup and WOW THAT STUFF IS STRONG (which is a great thing for me because I have a terrible sleep schedule). Even with diluting the concentrate, we found that not only was it stronger than what we got at the store but the flavor was so much better! Making our coffee has never been easier as we just quickly prep it the night before and then dilute the concentrate in the morning before serving. The only thing to note is that removing the coffee grounds from the filter is a little difficult as it compresses when removing it from the water so you really have to work to shake/scrape all the grounds out of the filter before washing and reusing. We love our cold brew maker and are ecstatic at how easy it is to make cold brew along with saving us a ton of money. Highly recommend you give it a try!