The Best Store-Bought Cold Brew, Taste-Tested & Ranked
Who's the chillest of them all?
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original photos: Candace Davison
With its up to 24-hour steep time, making cold brew at home requires planning—and patience. Is it worth it? Absolutely. But do you always have both of those things readily available, in our go, go, go-based world? Not exactly.
These days, entire grocery store shelves are devoted to ready-to-drink, store-bought cold brew, which will probably only expand, given estimates that this $3.87 billion market will balloon to $16.22 billion by 2032.
As someone who's been buying just about every brand I've come across over the past five years, I've noticed there's a wide gulf in quality—some taste bitter and burned, many have a strangely chalky aftertaste. Which ones are worth the spend? I decided to put the top-rated brews to the test.
How I Chose the Best Store-Bought Cold Brew
First, I scoured the market, looking for the top-reviewed brands, as well as grocery store staples and up-and-coming, buzzy new lines. Next, I called in roughly 15 gallons' worth of cold brew from said brands—bottled, concentrate and instant—preparing them according to the package instructions and scoring them based on the following:
- Value: Is this a better deal than going to a local coffee shop and buying the equivalent amount of cold brew? How does the flavor and overall sensory experience compare to the cost?
- Overall Flavor: Do the suggested tasting notes come through? How smooth is it? Is there any bitterness?
- Quality: Does this taste comparable to cold brew sold at cafés? What are the ingredients? Does it include any standout features, like Fair Trade certification or any eco-friendly component?
- Aroma: While less important than flavor and finish, what does it smell like? Is it chemical-y and offputting, or does it impart a fresh-roasted scent?
- Body: What's the viscosity and mouthfeel like? Is it akin to water or tea, or is it a bit heavier, and more robust? (Water isn't necessarily a bad thing, as long as the flavor is there.) Is there any grittiness to it?
- Finish: This is crucial for bottled cold brew, as many have what I deem a "chalky" aftertaste. What flavors, if any, linger on your tongue? And for how long? Do you immediately want to brush your teeth, or do you feel refreshed?
Using that criteria, each brew was ranked on a 100-point scale, known as the PureWow100, and the best of the best were included in the ranking below.
The Best Store-Bought Cold Brew, Reviewed
- Value: 18/20
- Finish: 20/20
- Quality: 20/20
- Aroma: 8/10
- Body: 9/10
- Overall Flavor: 20/20
TOTAL: 95/100
La Colombe offers a stellar range of canned cold brew and lattes, but for the closest-to-café-caliber experience, reach for the concentrate. There are no preservatives, so there's no odd notes or chalky finish; just smooth, robust cold brew with a crowd-pleasing flavor. (People who prefer to drink it black and those who gussy theirs up with syrups and creamer alike raved about this brew.)
A little goes a long way, too—you're meant to use a ratio of one part concentrate to three parts filtered water, so one bottle produces a whole gallon of cold brew. While I worried it'd taste watered down at that level, since many other concentrates call for a one-to-one or a one-to-two ratio, this was not the case. (And it still packs a solid 170 mg of caffeine, equal to about 2.5 cups of coffee, according to the brand.)
- Value: 17/20
- Finish: 20/20
- Quality: 20/20
- Aroma: 8/10
- Body: 8/10
- Overall Flavor: 19/20
TOTAL: 94/100
With its thick glass bottle and sleek packaging, Stumptown's concentrate makes for an excellent housewarming or college care package gift. But it's so much more than a pretty face: This concentrate delivers. One bottle produces five 10-ounce servings, and with ice, you're easily snagging a 16-ounce (or grande) for $2.60. And it tastes just like the brews you'd drop $7 apop for.
Stumptown's concentrate has a bright, almost juicy flavor, and it was the smoothest brew out of the ones I tested. It also is incredibly energizing, packing one of the highest caffeine counts per serving (257 mg). Some testers said that this was the rare case where they diluted their brew a bit more than the one-to-one ratio recommended as a result.
- Value: 19/20
- Finish: 20/20
- Quality: 19/20
- Aroma: 8/10
- Body: 8/10
- Overall Flavor: 20/20
TOTAL: 94/100
Decaf cold brew is by and large a disappointment—unless you're buying Bizzy. This is decaf you'd never know is decaf, with subtle chocolate and melon notes that give this medium roast a lively flavor without the post-drink jitters. Bizzy's entire ready-to-drink range is impressive, but I had to call out this style for being a gem that makes you rethink all "death before decaf" admonishments.
At $8 per 48-ounce bottle—at least at my local store, though prices may vary based on your area—you score roughly five servings for the same price some shops are paying for a single cup, too.
- Value: 17/20
- Finish: 20/20
- Quality: 19/20
- Aroma: 9/10
- Body: 8/10
- Overall Flavor: 19/20
TOTAL: 92/100
If you're looking for an excellent grab-and-go cold brew, look no further. Chameleon's 10-ounce bottles contain just two ingredients—water and organic coffee—making for a well-rounded, mellow drink. It doesn't taste too acidic, either, so our testers with more sensitive stomachs really appreciated this brew.
It has a more medium body, with a very light aroma, but it's not watery by any means. Roasted notes carry through, and it pairs nicely with milks, creamers and other mix-ins.
- Value: 19/20
- Finish: 20/20
- Quality: 20/20
- Aroma: 7/10
- Body: 8/10
- Overall Flavor: 17/20
TOTAL: 91/100
Sprouts Farmers Market has one of the most impressive lineups of bottled cold brew around. (At least in my Florida store, it's an entire section, with a variety that's unrivaled at any grocery store I've been to—Whole Foods and Publix included.) That said, don't sleep on its in-house brand, like I did for the past year. It's legit—and legitimately a great value.
Made with regenerative, organic-certified coffee, each 48-ounce bottle is ready to drink, no dilution needed, with a rich, dark roast flavor that's lighter on the caffeine (193 mg per serving) and a crisp, refreshing quality that makes you want to sip it at any time of day.
- Value: 18/20
- Finish: 19/20
- Quality: 19/20
- Aroma: 9/10
- Body: 8/10
- Overall Flavor: 18/20
TOTAL: 91/100
In researching cold brew, I'd be remiss not to acknowledge my chicory coffee people. New Orleans-style coffee has a certain nuttiness that's all its own, and while Grady's has a cult following, I'd urge you to give Blue Bottle's instant packs a closer look. Yes, they're technically more of an iced coffee than cold brew, but hear me out: They're great for travel, taking up roughly as much room as a bookmark, and they deliver on authentic chicory-laced flavor, a delicate sweetness and overall quality. You'd never guess this was a just-add-water situation.
- Value: 20/20
- Finish: 17/20
- Quality: 17/20
- Aroma: 9/10
- Body: 9/10
- Overall Flavor: 18/20
TOTAL: 90/100
Whenever I was traveling, if I passed a Starbucks ready-to-drink 11-ounce bottle, I'd grab it. At just under $3, it was the most affordable way to get my cold brew fix without feeling like I'd made a downgrade in the name of penny-pinching. Those single-serving bottles have gotten harder to come by, but the next best thing is the chain's cold brew concentrate—specifically its Cinnamon Dolce variety. While I'm typically an unsweetened black coffee purist, this flavor adds a very subtle, caramel-y sweetness and spice, masking the slightly chalky finish Starbucks's concentrates tend to have. And, at eight servings per 32-ounce bottle (once diluted), it makes for a great deal, too.
- Value: 19/20
- Finish: 15/20
- Quality: 17/20
- Aroma: 10/10
- Body: 8/10
- Overall Flavor: 16/20
TOTAL: 85/100
Finally, a pick for my people who love the nutty, roasty quality of coffee and wish cold brew delivered. It does! You just need to reach for Nescafe's Ice Roast. Another technically iced coffee option, given that you're stirring granules in water and pouring it over ice, but it comes out tasting surprisingly smooth.
This brew had the strongest aroma out of every brand I tested, with a powerful nuttiness. It was also the most bitter, though it didn't taste burned to me (a common complaint for coffee on this end of the spectrum). It dissolved quickly and easily, and with one jar making 85 cups, it's hard to compete with the value, either.
- Value: 19/20
- Finish: 15/20
- Quality: 16/20
- Aroma: 7/10
- Body: 9/10
- Overall Flavor: 18/20
TOTAL: 84/100
When I visit family in rural Pennsylvania, a good coffee shop is hard to come by. What isn't? A local supermarket. No matter where I've traveled, I've found that Stök has become a fixture at grocery stores big and small, and it offers a solid alternative to coffee shop cold brew at a fraction of the price. Their brews have more of the chalky aftertaste than the others on this list, but the unsweetened black cold brew also offers the most distinct tasting notes. Dark chocolate fans will appreciate the rich cocoa notes in this brew, even if they don't add milk or sweetener to it.
VP of editorial content
- Oversees home, food and commerce articles
- Author of two cookbooks and has contributed recipes to three others
- Named one of 2023's Outstanding Young Alumni at the University of South Florida, where she studied mass communications and business
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