I Ranked the 10 Best Cold Brew Coffees Out There. Here Are the Only Ones I Would Buy Again

There are two kinds of people in this world: You’re either a coffee drinker or you’re not. 

As someone who once wrote about coffee for a trade magazine, you can guess which category I'm in. I have some experience with dissecting flavors, which gave me a good foundation for testing the best cold brew coffee brands I could find in my local stores. I ranked these cold brew coffees in order from my absolute favorites to the ones that taste like stale coffee in a can — here's what I discovered.

$4.29 from Whole Foods

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Stumptown was one of the few cold brew coffee brands that I kept coming back to instead of just taking a few sips and moving on. The flavor was smooth and rich with medium strength, and I didn’t need to add sugar and milk to make it enjoyable. It’s described as having notes of chocolate, and I did indeed taste an essence of it. The flavor was particularly fresh and high quality, as if I had just brewed the coffee in my kitchen and poured it over some ice. Impressive for something that has been sitting on the shelf for an unknown quantity of time. Though I went for the straight-up cold brew which has been around for a decade, the brand has a number of other flavors, including cold brew mixed with oat milk, chocolate, and horchata, which is a cinnamon/vanilla flavor. I’m looking forward to trying other varieties.

$3.79 from Whole Foods

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Chameleon tied with Stumptown for me; the former was mellow, sweet, and with just enough of a jolt of caffeine (but not too much of one). The cold brew was so yummy, I was disappointed it wasn’t in a big bottle like some of the other concentrates I bought. The brand originates in Austin, Texas, where the founders experimented with a blend of what they call “highly select, meticulously air roasted, certified organic Arabica beans” until they perfected the formula. It definitely tastes more gourmet than many on this list, and the higher price reflects that. If the straight-up cold brew coffee was this tasty, I’m guessing the vanilla and chocolate varieties are also worth a swig. There’s even a concentrate available should you want to mix it to your own strength level. 

$5.49 from Trader Joe's 

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It’s very hard to find something unlikable at Trader Joe’s, and this cold brew was no different. One of my pet peeves with a number of the flavors I tried was a bitter aftertaste. This medium strength cold brew, which is blended from Arabica beans, had none, and was actually mildly sweet without needing sugar. In the past, I’ve  tried Trader Joe’s Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate, which needed to be diluted with water. I liked this more: You can swig it directly from the bottle if you choose, and it’s got the perfect balance. In the past, Trader Joe’s has also offered cold brew bags, nitro cold brew cans, and the aforementioned concentrate (but as an organic version). 

$7.99 from Target

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One of my first thoughts about this Good & Gather cold brew was that it is probably one of the better values on this list for the amount you get, especially when diluted. Add a dab of cold water and it tastes freshly brewed. I found the strength to be medium, without a bitter aftertaste. They don’t have different flavor options, but you could definitely doctor this one up with some vanilla or chocolate for a tasty treat. I wasn’t expecting to like this one as much as I did, as I assumed it would taste generic. It really didn’t.

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$9.99 from Target

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I’ve never been a huge Starbucks fan, as I find the company's hot coffee to be bitter and artificial-flavored. So I was pleasantly surprised when I liked this cold brew. I added a little bit of water per the instructions, and it offered up a medium strength, mellow brew without a bad aftertaste like some of the others. I would drink this over going to Starbucks, quite frankly. There are some other flavors in addition to the Signature Black, including Madagascar Vanilla and Caramel Dolce. Starbucks also offers a pumpkin spice cold brew concentrate, and I am game to give it a shot. If it’s good, it could really save you from way too many fall coffee shop visits.

Related: I'm a Coffee Snob. This Cheap Coffee Is the Best, IMHO

$8.99 from Target

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This cold brew concentrate was almost a tie with Starbucks, but I liked it a little bit less. Which is funny, because I generally prefer Dunkin’s cold brew over Starbucks when making a visit to the shop. This was a little bit bland and low strength to me, but still had that distinctive flavor that only Dunkin' offers. Like Starbucks before it, Dunkin’ also offers a pumpkin spice version in time for the season, because it wouldn’t be fall without it.

Related: The Best (and Worst) Fast Food Coffee You Can Buy

$2.70 from Whole Foods

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Rise is a nitro cold brew, which means that it was brewed with nitrogen to (presumably) add a frothy, smooth texture. And though Rise describes itself as “refreshingly smooth” on its site, I found this to be basically coffee water in a can. Yes, the can is easy to transport, but the flavor needs some doctoring up with milk and sweetener to be tasty. There was a bit of stale flatness to the flavor that was disappointing. Rise comes in a variety of other flavors, including Oat Milk Latte, Oat Milk Mocha, and even London Fog Tea. Perhaps those options are more palatable. 

Related: The Best (and Worst) Store-Bought Coffee Creamers

$5.99 from Whole Foods

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I found this medium/dark roast to be rather unremarkable. It was somewhat bitter and somewhat boring. La Colombe says it is a Brazilian roast, so I was hoping it was more unique. Instead, it was a bit too nutty for me, and I was left wondering who I could give the rest of this big bottle to. La Colombe also offers a light cold brew and an extra-bold dark roast. There are also canned versions, which they call a “draft latte,” and which comes in a number of flavors, including oat milk options. 

$5.29 from Whole Foods

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I was sorely disappointed in this one, because I really like the Califia Mocha variety, which features almond milk and sweetener. This one has a strong, sour taste to it even when diluted, despite being a blonde roast of Arabica beans, which is usually lighter tasting. It would need to add a lot of sweetener in order for it to be palatable to me, but I probably wouldn’t bother with this variety again. There are a number of other flavor combos that the brand offers: pure black, medium roast, vanilla, caramel, and espresso, all with almond milk, and even salted caramel with almond milk. I haven’t tried those, but with this brand, the pre-flavored ones seem to be a better choice.

$2.99 from Whole Foods

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Blech. This is far from one of the best cold brew coffees out there. High Brew has a small splash of milk and sweetener in it to make it more like a freshly-made cold brew, but it just made the flavor a bit off. I will say that though the flavor wasn’t pleasing to me, it was pretty smooth to drink, just not that palatable. The brew is described as being less acidic than coffee, and I definitely can get behind that assessment, even if I wouldn’t grab this again. And despite it being a double espresso, I really didn’t feel much of a jolt. Maybe some of the other flavors, like Mexican Vanilla or Dark Chocolate Mocha, are tastier.