I am a HUGE believer in the Takeya cold brew coffee maker for several reasons. I have two, one that I use at home, and one that I use in the field doing Army work or on deployments. It requires no electricity to make my delicious cold brew (when I use my JavaPresse Manual Coffee Grinder, Conical Burr Mill, Brushed Stainless Steel, which I also reviewed), it is plastic, and it is water-tight. This means in a pinch, I can throw it into the vehicle or into a bag and run out to a new location with no worries about breaking, spilling, or leaking. I have tested this quite a few times with great results. The filter is discolored quite a bit now on the lower 1/4 of the mesh, because sometimes I just don't have the resources to wash it right away with soap but I do reuse it to make coffee over and over. That is just a cosmetic issue. I have had no issues so far with the O-ring seal at the top or any other components breaking down so far in the last year. I grind up about 1/4 to 1/2 measuring cup of Kona beans and put it into the filter with about 2.2 L of water for my ideal brew over 8+ hours. I love it when it's deep cold, but in a field environment there may be no fridge, so room-temp brew will work. It doesn't make me happy, but it works. Overall, awesome investment and no real gripes.

This is not my first cold brew pitcher, so I have a little insight on why this brand fails. Like other reviewers have stated, the filter is terrible. Its weak and the mesh portion is not properly attached to the plastic. Either I got a defective one or it is poorly designed. The other issue lies in the directions. If you follow them, you will end up with mostly dry coffee grounds. I gave it a go the first time thinking they were teaching me something new, but nope. I had dry grounds. You should really add a few tablespoons of coffee grounds to the filter then run some water through and repeat until your filter is at the desired level of coffee. You will get much better coffee as the water is actually able to reach the coffee grounds for brewing. Overall, this brand is my least favorite and not one I would recommend.

I read the reviews carefully before ordering this item and since we enjoy strong coffee was concerned we might be disappointed, we were not. The results were a strong smooth ice coffee we both enjoyed very much. Coffee selection. We chose Costco Costa Rica whole beans which we ground at the store using the course setting. For actually brewing I pretty much followed the instructions. I filled the filter to just above the filter material (very near the top) and didn't bother to measure how many tablespoons that equated too. I filled the pot as full as I could get it with filtered water and swirled the water around 2 or 3 times during the brewing process. Total brew time was about 18 hours. I poured the cold brew through a standard coffee filter to remove the sediment and served it in two 16 glasses each about half full of ice. I added half & half my wife used Baileys. Final results were great.

Just like everyone else, I wanted the cost savings and convenience of iced coffee at home. I followed the instructions (def used 15 tablespoons as suggested). Then added the filtered water from our fridge. Mine sat a little over 14hours only and it was perfect! I didn't have "coarse" ground coffee in the house and I was anxious so I used my regular Folgers med/dark and it was perfect! I was worried the grinds would seep into the pitcher through the filter net but surprisingly it didn't! I removed the filter part and it was super easy to clean. I added Ice, a little bit more water to the concentrate and then some flavored creamer! And wow! Perfect for summer days! Looking forward to using this with my protein smoothies to make "vanilla latte " shakes.

Giving 4 stars only for the size. I appreciate the compact ability to fit on my fridge door but I only made 2 drinks and it's already half empty. Will need to repeat the process often and pour into a holding jar.

Great cold brew system! We had been putting off getting one for so long. We have a keurig and simply put brewed coffee in the fridge overnight. But as our keurig seems to be dying, it was time to explore other options. I wish we had done it sooner! This system is so easy to use - add your coffee of choice and water, place it in the fridge and wait for the next day. That's it!! So easy, great tasting coffee that goes far enough for both of us. It easily fits on a shelf or the door. We're considering buying a second because of how much coffee my husband drinks or if we have company.

UPDATE:
After a couple weeks of use I've noticed a flaw to call out. When inserting the filter into the water the grounds sometimes pop up to the top of the filter. This causes the grounds to get stuck and not submerge fully into the water to brew properly. I'm not terribly picky and haven't noticed a huge difference in taste or quality. The fix is easy - insert the filter into the water slowly and if needed tap the filter firmly on the side of the carafe. With a firm tap the grounds should fall to the bottom of the filter. Given that this isn't an issue when brewing a full carafe, an issue every time we brew, or a noticeable difference in taste/quality, I'm leaving my rating as 5 stars.