I really thoroughly enjoy cold brew coffee and the differences that it has from regular coffee. I love having to not do anything other than pour it in the morning, and that I can make a large amount in one shot. What I didn't love about cold brew was the trouble and mess it took to make. When I first started cold brewing I just put my freshly burr ground coffee in to a large mixing bowl with the correct amount of water and then tossed it in the fridge for 16 hours. After that amount of time I would have to go through the hassle of filtering that all out through filter paper, which would usually need to be done twice to get out fine pieces of grind and so fourth. This made a huge mess and was not ideal. One day it occurred to me that there might be a thing that would make the process of cold brewing easier, and searching amazon I found that there were three front running products: The "Toddy" brewer, the "Takeya" brewer, and this device, the OXO Brewer. When comparing the three device's reviews and listings on Amazon I eliminated the Toddy from my consideration immediately, for a lot of reasons, but mainly because I didn't want to fiddle with a rubber stopper, and because in the toddy, according to their own product video, the paper filter is just inserted in the bottom and could possibly come out and float around during brewing, which would be a major hassle. Additionally, paper filters for the toddy are somewhat expensive and I couldn't find a place to buy them in bulk. The first cold brew coffee maker I actually purchased was the Takeya. It is far cheaper than the OXO and had overwhelmingly positive reviews, but mine at least, was awful. I wrote a full product review for it but the Takeya doesn't use a paper filter at all, instead relying solely on a metal filter. I would have been fine with this, if it worked. The metal filter might as well have been made of swiss cheese because it let so much of the coarse ground coffee through that the water looked like river water with all the stuff floating in it immediately after submersion. The coffee coming out of the Takeya still needed to be filtered, so it didn't eliminate any hassle for me, and was useless. I returned it. So, I begrudgingly shelled out $50 for the OXO brewer. It's possibly a little over priced for what it does, but I don't care at this point. I also got a pack of 50 paper filters as an add on item for like $3. This device uses both a metal and a paper filter, the metal being the primary filter and the paper being the secondary one. Supposedly you can use the brewer without the paper filters, but I think that it would be smart to use the paper filters. The brewer itself comes with some filters, so I would think this is OXO saying that they think the paper filters should be used too. The brewer looks good. If you are someone who really, really cares about how your kitchen appliances look then I guess you have to buy this brewer, but I didn't buy this for aesthetics. I bought it for ease of use and reduction of mess. This brewer is very easy to use. Grind coffee, add water, store for designated amount of time in fridge or at room temp (I do 16 hours, 6 hours starting at room temp, then ten in the fridge) but every has their own method and I encourage you to experiment with what suits you best. Then place the coffee on the stand, decanter underneath, and then push the switch down and wait. OXO says that if using coarsely ground coffee like I am, the drain time should be about 20 minutes, but in my experience, it is more like 45 minutes. I don't mind this because you can just "set it and forget it". The decanter and its lid that doubles as a measuring thing are the gimmick of this product, and where I have to deduct a star from what would be a 5 star product. The idea is that you filter the coffee in to the decanter, close it using the lid, then toss it in the fridge until you want to serve, but because the stupid thing is shaped like it came out of an oversized chemistry set (Erlenmeyer flask? It's been a long time since I took a chem class) it doesn't fit anywhere conveniently in the fridge. It doesn't fit on the door of either fridge that I've tried (Both fairly large fridges) and it has too large of a footprint and takes up way more space than it needs to on a main shelf in the fridge. I cook a lot so my fridge is usually very tightly packed and I don't have room for something that wastes so much space. I bought a separate air tight glass container that is more reasonably sized and use that to store my cold brew. The "Measure lid" is also kinda dumb because, personally, I feel the need to wash it or at least rinse it after each use, and if I have to do that before I put the decanter away, I find it really annoying. Additionally, I don't think that the coffee I brew is so unbelievably strong that two ounces is the correct serving. I barely notice two ounces, I usually pour about eight in to my travel mug for the morning, about two ounces of half and half, and a couple ice cubes. If I'll be working late at night at home I may pour 4 ounces in to a scotch glass with a splash of simple syrup and some ice. If this kills me at some point I'll be sure to come back and edit my review. All joking aside, I've been drinking 8 ounces of cold brew for years now, no ill effects. The other thing I wanted this coffee maker to do was eliminate some of the mess. I understand that there will always be some mess when doing stuff in the kitchen, but my old method of cold brewing made too much of a mess. Following a brew, the grinds get thrown in the trash, and the remainder rinsed out in the sink, then the brew chamber gets washed. I rinse and wash the filter and the filter plate, and the decanter gets thrown in the dishwasher. Not too bad, like cleaning an oversized french press, kinda. Overall, I give this 4 stars. I really like it, will continue to use it, and think it makes my life easier, but I think that the decanter and lid are really pointless inclusions that don't work for me personally, and I would rather either they get eliminated and the price gets reduced, or, the decanter gets redesigned to hold the same volume with a smaller footprint, because in its current shape it is obnoxious. Buy this product, get the filters, too.
