20 Cold Brew Coffee Brands, Ranked Worst To Best

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If you are the kind of person that takes your morning cup of coffee all too seriously, you can probably rattle off the differences between cold brew and traditional iced coffee with ease. Unlike iced coffee, which is often made by chilling the remaining hot coffee from the day before, cold brew is made by a special extraction process. As the name implies, cold brew is made by combining cool water with coffee grounds. The extraction timeline for a cold brew coffee is usually between 12 and 24 hours.

Cold brew coffee is an ideal option for folks looking for a low-acid coffee, since using hot water to extract the flavor from the grounds often pulls the desirable, intense flavor notes out of the coffee and leaves behind bitter ones. This means that cold brew can reduce indigestion, acid reflux, and other digestive side effects of your favorite cup of coffee.

And while we would love to have all the time in the world to make cold brew ourselves, it is much easier to just buy a decent cold brew from a grocery store or online retailer. Here are some of our favorite cold brew brands to stock up on.

Califia Farms is well-known for its dairy-free milk and coffee creamers, but did you know the brand also offers several cold brew coffee options in both 48-ounce containers and single-serve bottles? Califia Farms offers blonde roasts and medium roasts, as well as festive flavors like vanilla latte with almond milk, caramel vanilla with oat milk, and mocha with almond milk. Target priced the 48-ounce containers at around $0.12 per fluid ounce. 

Califia Farms was far from our favorite brand of cold brew. Starting with the obvious — the shape of the bottles makes the 48-ounce containers annoying to store in your fridge. The flavor of this coffee is also lackluster, regardless if you are drinking the blonde roast or the medium roast. There is also an unanticipated sourness to the coffee that makes drinking it an unpleasant experience. 

Java House offers four cold brew options for coffee enthusiasts: pods, individual bottles, concentrate, and on-tap boxes. The 8-ounce individual bottles retail for $2.12 each at the time of publication while the on-tap box (available in 16-cup, 32-cup, and 48-cup sizes) retails for as low as $0.68 per fluid ounce. You can also purchase several of its cold brew products in an espresso variety, which boasts a darker and deeper flavor than its regular medium blend. 

Amazon reviewers have noted several instances of the taps from the boxes coming in upside-down and have likened the flavor of Java House to that of a cheaper Starbucks cold brew. Others have noted that the taste of the Columbian blend is very, very light and reminiscent of a watered-down iced coffee rather than the standard for a pungent cold brew.

Bean Box is a coffee subscription and gift service that also offers cold brew boxes for sale. You can purchase the cold brew tap in one of two flavors: rich and creamy (a medium-dark roast) or smooth and bright (a light-medium roast). Each box contains 1.5 liters of coffee, making it a significantly smaller tap cold brew than other brands offer. 

Many reviewers on its website complain about the bitterness of this coffee (especially with the smooth and bright blend) along with a distinct plastic undertone that altered the flavor of the coffee significantly. And since we had higher expectations for a brand like Bean Box, we would argue that its cold brew taps miss the mark — especially when there are other more reliable options for cold brew taps out there.

With a face like that, it's not hard to love Cafe Grumpy. The brand offers individually-packaged, 11-ounce cartons of cold brew coffee as a one-time purchase or subscription. The BPA-free cartons are recyclable and made from renewably-sourced paper products. One 12-pack of these bottles is $48, or $4 per carton at the time of publication.

Folks who have tried Cafe Grumpy note that its flavors are crisp, light, and mildly bitter. There are no sugars or creamers in this coffee, so you'll get a full-bodied flavor that is both mild and delightful to drink. Realistically though, spending $4 on a carton of cold brew is almost the same amount you'd spend if you went to a coffee shop and ordered a small cold brew. With ordering a coffee out, you also have a bit more space in the container to customize and add your favorite creamer; Cafe Grumpy's design necessitates you pour it into a separate container to do your customizing.

The Death Wish Coffee Company logo is sure to get your attention if you see it in the store. The brand offers unsweetened cold brew and slightly-sweetened cold brew cans for $39.99 for a 12-pack ($3.33 per can) at the time of publication. Both options are brewed from organic beans and deliver a powerful caffeinated punch at 300 milligrams of caffeine per can.

The benefit of drinking such a highly caffeinated cold brew? You may feel too jittery to go through several cans per day, which will make things easier on your wallet. And since the flavor options are so slim for this cold brew brand, you will have to put a bit more effort into customizing your cold brew with milk and creamers. But if you like just plain cold brew, we can vouch for the delicious flavor of the arabica and robusta bean blend Death Wish Coffee uses, but some folks may find it too concentrated and strong to enjoy.

High Brew is a coffee brand committed to ethical, direct trade sourcing of coffee from growers in Colombia, so you can rest assured that you're drinking a fair (and delicious) can of cold brew. High Brew offers single-serving, 8-ounce cans of cold brew in flavors like double espresso, Mexican vanilla, dark chocolate mocha, and black-and-bold.  You can purchase cans from High Brew's website for $26 for a 12-pack, which rounds out to about $0.27 per fluid ounce at the time of publication.

Although we love the ingenious flavors High Brew offers, it's not practical for folks who go through several servings of a cold brew within a single day. Additionally, many Amazon customers note that the packaging for these cans is both difficult to open and ergonomically challenging.

Chameleon is a common cold brew found in grocery store check-out aisles. Unlike other brands, Chameleon offers a one-gallon box of cold brew concentrate that makes up to 250 cups of cold brew coffee at home — it's the most convenient option for people who drink a lot of cold brew. For the less intrepid cold brew drinkers, you can also find 32-ounce bottles of cold brew concentrate in flavors like heavenly mocha or vanilla, or glass 10-ounce, single-serve bottles in the same flavors.

Chameleon uses organic beans for its coffee and provides funding for technical assistance and food security initiatives in its coffee-growing regions in Columbia, Indonesia, Peru, and others. But how is the flavor? In short, several reviewers for Chameleon's cold brew products have found the taste to be lackluster and weak, more flavored like an iced coffee than a powerful, intense cold brew. But, if you're willing to settle for a less-than-exceptional flavor for the convenience of the boxed concentrate, Chameleon is a solid option. 

Stok is one of the most recognizable brands in the grocery store cold brew industry. It's one of our top choices for the best overall cold brew coffee because it is both affordable and available at most grocery stores. Stok is a B-corp brand, meaning that it is dedicated to supporting responsible business practices and ecologically-sustainable production methods. Plus, all of its Arabica beans are Rainforest Alliance certified.

This coffee is very strong and does not present with many bitter or especially acidic notes; the flavors in this cold brew are very mellow and can be sweetened with any of your favorite creamers. The brand offers several flavors and roast types in both multi-serving 48-ounce containers and single-serving 13.7-ounce containers. A 48-ounce container of Stok was listed at Target for $5.49 at the time of publication, or about $0.11 per ounce. 

Slingshot Coffee offers tapped boxes, concentrate, and individual cans of its cold brew coffee. The boxes are a single-origin Ethiopian coffee sold in a 64-ounce container for $15 ($0.23 per fluid ounce) while its 10-ounce cans are sold as a 6-pack for $21 ($3.50 per can) at the time of publication. The concentrate is sold in a beautiful glass bottle for $20 and has enough concentrate to make 32 fluid ounces of cold brew in a matter of seconds. All of these products have about 120 milligrams of caffeine per serving, making them similar to other brands of the same size.

The best value for purchasing Slingshot coffee is to go for the box. But if you find yourself in a coffee-loving household, you may find that you have to purchase several boxes of coffee to sustain your caffeinated tendencies. The flavors of this coffee are immaculate, though, with reviewers noting floral and seemingly herbal undertones. 

Bizzy exclusively offers ready-to-drink cold brew in light roast, breakfast blend, dark roast, medium, and Italian roast varieties. You can also purchase select seasonal flavors like peppermint mocha or pumpkin spice. Each 48-ounce container is priced at $5.99 at the time of publication, making it one of our lower-priced products at around $0.12 per fluid ounce. All of its roasts are certified organic, which makes this price an even better deal.

The caffeine in this brand varies between 180 and 220 milligrams per cup, meaning that it falls in the sweet spot on the caffeine spectrum. Customers are impressed with its strong flavor, mild flavor notes, and commitment to ethical coffee sourcing. If you're a self-proclaimed coffee snob, you have several coffee roasts to choose from with Bizzy.