An Updated List of the Best Cold Brew Coffee

Grabbing a bottle of the best cold brew coffee is like giving a gift to your future self. One day you’re going to wake up hungover (from alcohol or just being alive) and be so grateful to your past self for that refreshing bottled caffeine right there in the fridge, saving you a walk to the coffee shop (not to mention a little money). You’ll love yourself even more if you sprang for one of the best cold brew coffee brands.

Over the course of two separate taste tests, we tasted our way through the best cold brew coffee brands on the market. We tasted and re-tasted and came to some different conclusions the second time around. Personally, I think coffee tastes better hot than cold (like, way better), but I set my misgivings aside to get this right. Since it’s not brewed with scalding water, which brings out the bitterness in coffee beans, the best cold brew coffee should be smooth and mellow with a touch of tangy acidity. Here are the six that perked up our taste buds.


best cold brew

Best Fruity

Califia Farms Cold Brew Black Coffee Medium Roast

When I think of perceived sweetness or the suggestion of sweetness, I usually think of flavored sparkling waters. They have zero sugar, no alternative sweeteners, but still communicate to your brain that you’re drinking something that could or should have a natural fruitiness or sugaryness. That’s what we got from the unsweetened cold brew from Califia Farms. “There’s a little bit of tannic fruitiness up front, but it settles down, it doesn’t taste old,” Sporked editor-in-chief Justine Sterling said, comparing the brew’s fruity flavor to cacao nibs. I was pleasantly surprised by the nice, complex flavor of this coffee. One taster even thought it tasted “a little woody.”

Credit: Liv Averett / Target

Rating:

8/10

Sporks

best cold brew chobani

Best Mellow

Chobani Cold Brew Pure Black

Chobani makes good stuff. Great yogurt. Amazing coffee creamer (Sweet Cream is our favorite). And now a really smooth, pleasant, chocolatey cold brew in a convenient, low-waste carton. “It’s not bitter at all,” one taster said. “It’s very light and sits on the tip of your tongue.” It might not be the choice for people looking for a more aggressive cold brew experience, but it’s the best cold brew coffee if you like it mellow. 

Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon

Rating:

8/10

Sporks

trader joe's cold brew review

Best Chocolateyt

Trader Joe’s Cold Brew Coffee

Arabica coffee beans tend to have a sweet, chocolatey flavor, and that comes through in this convenient, 32-ounce bottle of cold brew from Trader Joe’s. Justine liked how gentle this one was compared to some of the more acidic brews we tried. “If you like iced coffee rather than cold brew, this is for you,” she said, praising its “nice, mild” scent. This isn’t a latte, but it straight-up tasted like chocolate milk to me. Delicious, refreshing, and nostalgic, but with a grown-up kick of caffeine.

Credit: Liv Averett

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

stoke espresso blend cold brew review

Best for Espresso Lovers

Stok Espresso Blend

At home, I’m an espresso drinker. My morning coffee is an Americano spiked with a little Chobani Sweet Cream (I told you, it’s good). If you also enjoy the bold flavor but relatively low acidity of espresso, this is the best cold brew coffee you can buy. I personally think it eclipses Stok Unsweet Black, but I think it’s enough of a departure from what most coffee drinkers expect from cold brew that this is the right placement for it on this list. If you love espresso or are espresso curious, pick up a bottle of this stuff. 

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

9.5/10

Sporks

best stok cold brew

Best Smooth

Stok Unsweet Black

Cold brew coffee isn’t supposed to be bitter. That’s the point of brewing with cold water instead of brewing regular coffee and sticking it in the fridge to cool, or shocking it by immediately pouring it over ice. Does that mean that all cold brew isn’t bitter? No. A lot of it is bitter as hell, if you ask me. But not this brew from Stok. Despite being unsweetened, it has a nice, sweet coffee smell and a mellow flavor that reminded me of a good chocolate stout. Even with the low-key taste, you get the feeling it packs a punch. (Seriously, my hands were shaky by the time we wrapped up this taste test.)

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

best cold brew

Best of the Best

Stumptown Original Cold Brew Coffee

During our second cold brew taste test, I really warmed up to Stumptown (pun intended). If you like expensive, third wave coffee, this is the stuff. It’s bottled and you can buy it at the grocery store, but it’s every bit as good as a $6 cold brew from your local coffee shop. I think that makes it the best cold brew coffee on the market. God only knows when pre-bottled coffee is actually brewed, but if you poured me a cup of this Stumptown and told me it was brewed the day before, I’d totally believe you. Maybe it’s the glass bottle (which is cool and makes you feel like you’re drinking a beer). Maybe it’s the high-quality beans. Either way, we really loved the way this one managed to preserve its fresh flavor and intensity. “It’s a real sipper,” Justine said of its nice, bold flavor. She also liked its fruitiness. Buy this. Try this.

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Other products we tried: Starbucks Nitro Cold Brew, Starbucks Black Unsweet Cold Brew, Simple Truth Organic Cold Brew Coffee, La Colombe Medium / Dark Roast Cold Brew Coffee, Trident Coffee Nitro Cold Brew, Kirkland Signature Cold Brew, Chameleon Cold Brew Concentrate

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About the Author

Gwynedd Stuart

Gwynedd Stuart, Sporked’s managing editor, is an L.A.-based writer and editor who spends way, way too much time at the grocery store. She’s never met an Old El Paso taco or mozzarella stick she didn’t like.

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  • My wife swears by Stok, and every time her parents come to visit us we have to stock up as they can’t get them locally!

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  • Aww I love that Stumptown Coffee Roasters placed first on this list! I live in Portland, OR where they’re from, so cool. I love their coffee <3

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  • Grady’s Cold Brew is amazing and wasn’t included! I think it’s available nationally and has chicory to neutralize some of the bitterness.

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  • Stok is the bees knees. Colorado Representing!

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    • Hell yeah!

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  • Stok supremacy. It’s the only bottled cold brew that I have found that doesn’t taste oxidized. It is just so smooth and low in acidity.

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  • Great list! Only two I haven’t tried… What’s your take on coffee concentrates? I’ve been making Javy coffee lately… It’s a second to the 🐐 Stok!

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    • I’ll have to give it a go. Have you tried Jot? I hear good things about it too, but am weary of buying a bottle of concentrate only to hate it

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  • My favorites are Bizzy cold brew and La Colombe bold & rich.

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  • Any good organic cold brews

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  • Are any cold brews, organic

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  • I agree with your assessments of Califia farms, Chobani, and Stok. My preferred iced coffee drink is Stok. I haven’t tried the Trader Joe’s, but I’m curious now.

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    • Agreed. Stok is so darn good, they literally can’t keep it in stock (lol) at my local grocery store.

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  • Very interesting. I’ve tried & liked a couple of these and am happy to have my tastes confirmed by people with better palates than me, lol.

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  • The one left out that is so smooth is chameleon organic cold brew concentrate.. also. The coffee shop one I like best is Peet’s. You can drink cold brew hot just don’t boil it.

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    • We tried a couple types of the Chameleon concentrates (mocha and black) and found them both to be bitter!

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      • The concentrated ones are not great. But the unconcentrated ones are my husband’s favorites and he’s super particular with Cold Brews.

    • My favorite is Chameleon Vanilla Cold Brew. I’ve tried many and I think it’s the best!

      Reply