The $30 Cold Brew Maker That Breaks Even In Two Months

Although I'm more of a tea enthusiast than a coffee devotee, I cannot resist the siren song of cold brew. Unfortunately, the delicious morning elixir is much pricier than the average cup of tea — ranging anywhere from $4-$7 depending on your go-to cafe or the city you live in. But, here's the thing about cold brew: not only is it more affordable when made at home, but it's also a fairly painless process. All it takes is your favorite bag of coarsely ground coffee beans submerged in a container of cold tap water for 12+ hours before straining through a fine filter and pouring over top ice diluted with water or your milk of choice. The result, although a longer wait time than the mere minutes of a hot pour-over or drip-style coffee machine, is a smoother (i.e. less acidic) coffee concentrate that can be stored in your fridge for up to a week. For beginners, however, the process can be make-or-break depending upon the tools you have on hand (or lack thereof); no tools can equal a mess and bad cold-brewing systems can yield watery cups of coffee concentrate. Looking for an accessible way to save some money while easily mastering the art of making my favorite coffee drink at home, I landed on an on-sale gadget backed by over 6,000 reviewers: the Primula Glass Coffee Maker. Drawn in by the bounty of high praise claiming its ability to create "liquid gold" overnight in the fridge, I added it to cart. Could I really get mess-free cold brew on-demand at home for a fraction of the price I was paying per month at my favorite corner cafe? Keep reading to find out.

Whenever I get a new kitchen gadget, I probably read the instruction booklet at least four times to make sure I don't somehow find a way to mess up. After making sense of the attachments and steps, I gathered my coffee grounds and got to business. Luckily, we happened to have a bag of L.A.-based roaster Groundwork's cold brew blend on hand, but any coarse-ground beans should do the trick.

I got the 50oz size, which comes with the glass carafe, brew core, flavor mixer (more on this later), and pour lid. The first step is to measure out 15 tablespoons of coffee. This ended up being kind of tedious, so an easy solution is to measure out a little less than a cup of ground coffee (16tbsp = 1 cup). The next step is to fill up the carafe with five cups of water. I measured this out the first few times I made coffee in this, but now I just fill it up most of the way with filtered water from my fridge. (The capacity of the pitcher is just over six cups, so I just eyeball it a few inches from the top.) Once I screw the lid back on, I put it in the fridge — and now we wait.

As you can see above, the immediate result is rather unappetizing barely-opaque coffee. However, patience is a virtue, and within hours it started to more closely resemble a deep, rich brew. The next day, I had a pitcher of cold brew ready to go. Because the grounds are in the strainer core, you simply pour your brew over ice and are good to go — no annoying straining required. If you have flavors or syrups to add, once you remove the core, you can use the flavor mixer. Other than that, it's all set. The carafe makes about 4 servings of cold brew, more if you tend to add a lot of milk or cream.

I'm barely exaggerating when I say that a full 24 hours of slow-steepin' in the fridge produces the smoothest, tastiest coffee I've ever had. But don't just take my word for it; the Primula cold brew maker has racked up over 6,800 reviews, the majority of which are five stars. "I am a true coffee addict and I can tell you this way of prepping coffee is incredible both in flavor results and ease of use," reads one glowing testimony. "It saves money and makes better coffee than average coffee shop cold brew," writes another customer. "In my case, I spend about $12 on coffee beans per week with this cold brew maker. Translate that to coffee shop term, I'd spent about $17 on coffee per week. So this coffee maker breaks even in two months."

Another reason I love the pitcher is that it makes clean-up a breeze. Unlike many other cold brew makers or DIY methods, you're not left with messy coffee grounds. To make cleanup easy and mess-free, the core has a bottom that screws off to dump grounds in your trash or compost bin. And, as an extra added bonus, it can also be used to steep tea! As one reviewer raved: "I use this for cold brewing tea, not coffee, but I have to say I’m in love. It is so easy to use, and easy to clean which is clutch bc I have physical limitations and easy cleaning makes it so useful for me! Having fresh cold brewed ice tea in my fridge at all times is great! Helping me stay hydrated! Definitely recommend!".

All in all, I couldn't be happier with this cold brew maker. I was seriously impressed at how delicious the flavor was (I'm convinced that in a blind test, this would be just as good or better as a $7 bougie cold brew from my local coffee shop) and how easy it was to make and clean. I already am kind of obsessed with it, and I'm not even an intense coffee drinker! It's currently on sale for just under $30, so don't waste another moment before investing in this major upgrade. Your taste buds (and wallet) will be glad you did.

At Refinery29, we’re here to help you navigate this overwhelming world of stuff. All of our market picks are independently selected and curated by the editorial team. If you buy something we link to on our site, Refinery29 may earn commission.