Description
What the Takeya Cold Brew Coffee Maker is
This is a manual cold brew coffee maker, which is to say a pitcher with a filter in it. There is no electricity, no pump and no heating element. Coffee grounds go into a mesh basket, the basket goes into a 1 quart Tritan pitcher, water goes in on top, and the whole thing sits in the refrigerator for several hours while the coffee extracts cold.
Takeya sells the black 1 quart version covered here, and lists the same design in a 2 quart size. Published dimensions are 5 inches deep by 7.5 inches wide by 9.5 inches high and the empty weight is 12.7 ounces. Takeya states the pitcher fits in most refrigerator doors, which is the measurement most buyers actually care about. The company gives the country of origin as the United States and ranks the product second in Amazon’s Cold Brew Coffee Makers category, with an overall placing of 3,497th in Home and Kitchen.
Cold brew is different coffee, not just cold coffee. Extracting without heat pulls fewer of the acidic and bitter compounds, which is why Takeya describes the result as less acidic than hot brewed coffee. That is a chemistry claim that holds up in general terms, though the actual acidity of any given batch depends on the beans, the grind and the steep time.
The pitcher, the lid and the filter
The body is Eastman Tritan, a copolyester that Takeya specifies as BPA free. The relevant properties for a coffee vessel are that it does not hold stains or odors and that it tolerates heat, and Takeya notes the material withstands hot temperatures if you want to pour a hot cup from it. That flexibility is useful: the same pitcher can hold hot brewed coffee to chill, not only cold brew.
The lid is the feature Takeya patents and leads with. It seals airtight and is described as leak proof, which is what allows the pitcher to be laid down flat in a refrigerator or inverted and shaken during steeping to agitate the grounds. Most cold brew pitchers cannot do either. An airtight seal also slows the staling that open pitchers suffer from, so brewed coffee holds its character longer in the refrigerator.
The filter is a fine mesh basket, reusable, with no paper element to buy. Takeya states it works with any type of coffee grounds. In practice a coarse grind is the conventional choice for cold brew because it extracts more evenly and clogs the mesh less, but the mesh is fine enough that a medium grind will not flood the pitcher with sediment. Anyone who has used a French press will recognize the tradeoff: reusable metal mesh means a fuller bodied cup with some fine sediment, where paper gives a cleaner cup and a recurring cost. For a paper filtered comparison the site covers the Hario V60 dripper and the Hario V60 Drip-Assist.
Handling and cleaning
A silicone handle wraps the body. On a full 1 quart pitcher that is a real convenience, since a bare plastic handle on a cold, condensation covered vessel is exactly the sort of thing that gets dropped. Takeya lists the pitcher as dishwasher safe on the top rack, or washable by hand.
Cleaning a mesh filter is the one chore this design does not remove. Spent grounds need to be knocked out and the mesh rinsed, and coffee oils build up on metal mesh over time and need occasional attention with a brush. That is the same maintenance a French press demands, so anyone who owns something like the Le Creuset French press or the ESPRO P7 already knows the routine.
Highlights
- 1 quart capacity, which Takeya rates at four servings of cold brew.
- Eastman Tritan body, BPA free, stain and odor resistant, and tolerant of hot liquid.
- Patented airtight and leak proof lid, so the pitcher can be laid down or shaken while steeping.
- Reusable fine mesh filter with no paper element to buy.
- Non slip silicone handle.
- Dishwasher safe on the top rack.
- 5 by 7.5 by 9.5 inch footprint, sized for a refrigerator door shelf.
- No power required and no moving parts to fail.
Things To Consider
- Cold brew takes hours, not minutes. This is a plan ahead appliance and the listing does not state a recommended steep time.
- One quart is four modest servings. Households drinking cold brew daily will be brewing constantly, and the 2 quart version is the better size for them.
- Metal mesh lets fine particles through. Expect some sediment, and a fuller body than a paper filtered brew.
- Tritan is a plastic. It is durable and BPA free, but it is not glass or stainless steel, and it will scratch.
- The attribute table lists the human interface input as a touchscreen and the operation mode as manual on the same product. A pitcher has no touchscreen. This is a data fault in the listing.
- The recommended uses field is filled in as not stated, so the listing itself provides no guidance there.
- No filter basket replacement schedule or spare part availability is published.
Who it suits
This is a sensible first cold brew maker for someone who drinks one or two glasses a day and wants a low commitment way to make it. The airtight lid genuinely sets it apart from open jug designs, the silicone handle is the right answer to a heavy cold pitcher, and top rack dishwasher tolerance keeps the maintenance honest. Anyone who wants filtered coffee without buying an appliance will find this a reasonable place to start in the cold brew coffee makers category.
It will frustrate a heavy cold brew drinker, who should buy the larger version, and it is the wrong choice for anyone who wants a very clean, sediment free cup. Households that want hot coffee first and cold coffee occasionally are better served by a drip machine with an iced setting, such as the Technivorm Moccamaster KBGV Select, and using this pitcher only for storage.